4 to 8 Sept – Had a wonderfully lovely relaxing day at anchor in Chapel Cove. The 20 to 25 knot winds we had when we arrived continued most of the evening (you may not believe this but in the strongish wind we had to get pullovers out as we were feeling a bit cold!!!) but the wind abated a little overnight and the next day was only a light breeze. Peace and quiet was only disturbed by a boat laying his anchor over ours, then dragging down close to us and was about to re-lay his anchor again over our chain until we explained rather clearly that we didn’t think this was a great idea for us. At last he understood that in an empty bay it might be a good idea to anchor a distance apart from the only other anchored boat! Apart from this we just chilled out. Don’t actually have many days like this and it was great. Next day we had a great sail (15 to 20 knots so one reef in) around the cape and then north to Olympic Marina. Now moored up and getting jobs done (backstay adjuster serviced, shower filter cleaned, boat washed down etc etc). We plan to set off from the mainland on 13th or 14th September to cross the Aegean heading for Kos and then Bodrum in Turkey. Our route will depend on the winds but we want to stop in Mykonos as Anne is joining us in Athens and then flying back from Mykonos. Then we’ll try and make our way through the islands with reasonable day sails – hopefully F3/4 just abaft the beam (full main and gennaker sailing!!). Hope the Meltemi winds will have died down a bit by then. Let you know how the trip goes. Best wishes Iain and Helen

On the subject of mooring fees, we’ve frequently paid either no or only a minimal fee in Greek harbours. After leaving Corfu we didn’t pay any fees for 5 nights until we arrived in Vathy. It takes some time for the harbour master to calculate the fee - involving it seems 3 or 4 different calculations (when you berth there he comes along and calls you over to a table at the cafe/restaurant on the quayside where he gets out his calculator to work out the fee and fill out the official form). The fee came to E11! Electricity was an additional E1.60! The second night (another round of calculations) came to E6! In Aegina where our fee was about the same, a charter boat which berthed next to us paid E1.44 for the night!! We are always asked if we are a charter boat or private boat but I hadn’t known the fee for charter boats was so minimal. Can’t understand why given the economic situation they don’t just impose a sensible minimum fee in all ports/harbours. And despite the economic situation there are more yachts here than perhaps in the rest of the Med in total. It’s hard to get a berth in a marina in the most indebted country in Europe!??

1 to 3 Sept – after Michelle left on Sat morning we stayed on in Aegina for another 2 days – we quite like the town and it is a great place to provision, do laundry, has good cafes (with wifi!)and shops and even a reasonable barber! We also found a terrific restaurant and had the best meals (we went twice!) we’ve had so far in Greece. The town has a lively bustling busy feel to it. However, it is NOISY – all day and most of the night. So eventually on Monday morning we went in search of quieter anchorages. Heading over to the mainland from Aegina we had to cross the shipping lane from Piraeus but it wasn’t as busy as we’d expected although there were a lot of ships anchored off the port – perhaps a sign of the economy that cargoes are less plentiful. We had hoped to get into Voulagmeni marina which is little bit outside Athens but here we encountered the first unfriendliness/unwelcoming attitude we’ve found in Greece – the mainland and especially Athens is perhaps very different from the islands. Anyway the harbour staff made it VERY clear we were not to berth there (although there were several available berths) and came out in their RIB to chase us away. As they didn’t want our berthing fee we continued down the coast and anchored in a lovely little bay (“Chapel Cove”) just to the west of Cape Sounion which is the SE point we need to round to get to the marina on the east coast where we plan to leave ALMA for a week while we fly to Istanbul for a short break for our anniversary.

29 Aug to 1st Sept - Next morning Claire left to go to a wedding in France and we continued eastwards through the Corinth Canal. Wind was from the east and there was a 2 knot current flowing against us so we made slow progress. All the time we were expecting the control office to call us on the radio to tell us to hurry up (we were reluctant to push the revs too high) but fortunately they must have either made allowances for the wind/current or just were more relaxed than our previous trip as this time they didn’t chase us. So now were back in the Saronic Gulf and we went back to one of our favourite ports – a tiny harbour at Vathy. We got in to the last place on the quay and then late evening had a french boat (Jerome from St Marine (which we’d visited in 2009)a beautiful little port opposite Benodet in south Brittany) raft alongside us without an anchor out – fortunately a very calm night and to overcome any concerns we might have about supporting both boats on our anchor, Jerome produced a bottle of very nice Breton whisky! – and then an even later arrival berthed stern to between the bows of a couple of boats berthed stern to the quay ie starting a second rank of parked boats!! Crazy and of course anchors get tangled up but somehow it all gets sorted out. We like Vathy so much we ended up staying 2 nights and it was lovely to have a day chilling out after the trip from Corfu where we’d sailed every day and most days from around 0800 (breakfast on the way!) until evening. Then we went to Aegina (pronounced we now understand as “Eggina”) where Michelle could get the fast ferry to Piraeus and taxi to the airport. This is much quicker, easier and cheaper than us sailing into any of the marinas around Athens and getting a ferry is perhaps an essential part of a holiday in Greece.

24 to 28 Aug – Michelle and her friend Claire had arrived late Thursday evening to help me sail to Corinth (where Helen would join us after attending a school reunion in Glasgow) and on Friday morning we set off motoring in a flat calm only for the overheating alarm to come on after an hour. Swam under the boat to see if anything blocking the water inlets but all seemed clear; checked inlet pipe and water impellor pump on engine but also clear. So restarted and nursed engine along at low /medium revs and all went ok although it left us concerned about the rest of the journey if we didn’t have enough wind to sail. I’ts about 240M to Corinth and for most of the journey there are no good service facilities. Fortunately the overheating problem didn’t recur – perhaps because we didn’t push the engine too hard or perhaps because whatever had blocked the inlet had been flushed through or dropped away. I do wonder whether with sitting in the marina for a month there is a build up of crustaceans in the inlets but with some use the inlet gets cleared a bit. Anyway we had a fantastic trip with lots of great sailing (top speed over 10 knots in over 30 knots of winds and another lovely day in 10 to 12 knots when we had a great sail with the gennaker set). In addition I had an easy time with Michelle and Claire doing most of the work! We visited Paxos (met Rick from Blue Planet again and had a nice dinner with him and his clients), went through Levkas canal to Meganisi, anchored off Messalongi, moored up again in lovely Trezonia and then in Corinth (just – as harbour very small and nearly full; managed to get onto the quay for the inner small boat harbour but with only 0.3m under our keel and the depth alarm going off continuously and loudly as we came alongside!). Great surprise to be met by Paul and Jackie from Dignity (Rally Portugal) – the Med cruising world is small! Helen also was there waiting.

21 Aug - Arrived back on boat after flight from Geneva via Rome (0400 start – why do we take these early flights?!). Great relief to find everything OK on boat – always some concern with leaving it for a few weeks but couple on next boat had kindly emailed to let me know all seemed fine when they returned to the marina about a week before me. Also found a few boats we knew had come into the marina – Riviera Magic (Brad and Diane) and Blue Chip (Jeremy and Swee) who we knew from Rally Portugal and Festina Lente (Nick, Julia and David) whom we’d met in Lagos where we stayed after the Rally and Nick arrived after a round the world trip. Had several lovely evenings catching up with them and discussing boat issues, future plans, etc. Also got a few jobs done on the boat including a new gps antenna (chartplotter was having great difficulty getting a signal) and a new gearbox dipstick (the old one broke off (it’s plastic) when I checked the oil level – of course at the level of the gearbox casing so I couldn’t get any grip on it to get it out. Fortunately the mechanic in the local engine shop gave me a smart tip – to heat a screw driver so it will melt a slot in the “plug” and then when that’s cooled down just insert the screwdriver again in the new slot and unscrew! Worked a dream. Amazing what one learns. Also fortunately they managed to get a new dipstick by courier from Athens the next day – great service and not expensive. Only major issue on returning to the boat was that the deck caulking, which was already deteriorating badly, has now almost completed melted or dried up and is coming out daily leaving an awful mess. Anyway that’s why we’re going to Yatlift Yard in Bodrum so there is no doubt now that this does need to be fully replaced.