Amazingly we seemed to be heading for some settled weather again, as the pressure was rising.
Leaving Poros on June 19th we had a 20 mile broad reach in glorious sunshine, making 6 knots in 10 knots of wind, couldn’t be better.
We headed for the island of Dhokus which had eluded us a few weeks earlier as it is open to the north and was then untenable. However this time with southerly winds it offered perfect shelter. We anchored mid way round the bay and spent two nights relaxing and enjoying swimming in beautiful clear water.
Next stop was Spetses, a first visit for us, and once again we chose a sheltered anchorage on the west end of the island called Ormomoryia Bay. There were quite a few large motor boats around, a few yachts, but nothing spoiled the peace and we felt richly blessed to be in such lovely surroundings with gorgeous blue water.
We continued west to the Eastern flank of the Peleponnese to Leonidihon, a favourite port that we had last visited in 2018 on our previous circumnavigation of the Peloponnese. We were pleased to see that little had changed. Once tied up we received a charming welcome from Margaret, proprietor of the Michael and Margaret taverna, and were served a very tasty plate of grilled sardines and greek salad for lunch. We had the pleasure of the company of a young German couple, full of conversation and tales of their 3 month adventure in a camper van around southern mainland Greece. It turned out they were on holiday from their day jobs of being Christian missionaries and, in the short time we had, we enjoyed some lively debate. Was this serendipitous? We said our pleasant goodbyes with plenty to think about!
As we sailed north, deeper into the Argolic Gulf, we identified with the very predictable weather pattern; light northerly winds in the morning and a brisk southerly in the afternoon, locally known as the Bouka Doura.
We chose to tack north to Astrous, a port favoured by Heikel, author of our pilot guide, and we spent a couple of nights tied up to a harbour wall in this busy town. It was hot and quiet during the day, lively and engaging during the evening but unfortunately the party music did interfere with our beauty sleep, so, although we enjoyed the visit, we were not sorry to depart on Sunday 25th June. Images of Astrous below.
That morning we discovered a half eaten peach in the fruit basket and tell tale droppings on the decks and inside the cabin. A worst case scenario manifested itself in our minds of a rat on board, now hiding in the bilges.
We anchored in a bay off Tolo, sheltered from the regular strong southerly afternoon breeze and addressed the possibility of a resident rat. We moved all our packets of food to sealed cupboards, searched as many hiding places as we could reach and simply failed to find any trace nor routes ‘Ratty’ as he was now called, could have taken.
Clearly there was a need for a rat trap, so we carried on north on Monday 26th June to the large port of Navplion in search of a hardware store.
Our stopover in Navplion was interesting and it turned out to present more problems than Ratty, of whom we found no further trace despite leaving food out. The problems we encountered were with the Greek authorities and the controversial, unclear bureaucracy that has arisen for British flagged boats since Brexit. Unfortunately we had to spend the best part of a day in police and customs offices until there was a resolution to suit them. We now have to carry a document that has to be stamped in and out of every port we visit. A royal pain in the whatsit. At the same time Nigel has been closely engaged with the Cruising Association attempting to navigate a coherent and consistent path through this bureaucracy as all British flagged boats are affected and the arcane laws are being unreasonably and inconsistently enforced resulting in many skippers being faced with unreasonable fines. I am sure our first hand experiences in Navplion have illuminated many of the issues we, and others, are grappling with. A formal complaint has been lodged with the EU commission and Greek government as it is appearing that some of the Greek regulations breach EU laws.
Navplion itself is an old historic town with castles, ruins, fabulous old streets full of shops, bars and restaurants. We tried to rediscover places we had visited here some 30 years ago, but either much has changed or our memories don’t serve us well! We enjoyed the holiday ambience in spite of the other issues! Images below of the old, the history and some dereliction.
We’re back in the anchorage opposite Tolo, too nice to leave! We had a lovely meal ashore which reminded us of Caribbean shorelines. No sign of Ratty we are pleased to say but we are the proud owners of a trap now and will be ready if evidence reappears. In this case we think Ratty must have obligingly got off the boat after gorging on the peach and leaving his trail of poo!
Our final anchorage is Khaidhari, a fjord-like inlet east of Tolo, sheltered from most winds, although we are being buffeted by the southerly swell from the afternoon force 5 breeze.
Tomorrow we head down to Koiladha where the boat is to be lifted out on Monday 3rd July. The next couple of days will be busy cleaning and packing up before we fly home on Wednesday 5th July. It is promising to be very hot here next week, so this is perhaps a timely exit, as we understand the UK is cooling down! Back again end of August for a return trip to Preveza, hopefully via the Corinth Canal.
Deja Vu 
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