The Northern Sporades

Our original intention was to hang around here for 6-8 weeks so that L could go back to the UK and then K and family could join us. Plans changed however - K will come to the Saronic and connections to and from Athens for L turned into a nightmare. So we decided to cut the visit very short and head down the Evia channel to the Saronic. Nevertheless, we spent an excellent couple of weeks there and will definitely be back.

We made landfall on Kira Panagia in Ormos Planitis. The bay is a wonderful anchorage - completely enclosed, huge, reasonable depths everywhere and gorgeous turquoise water with excellent sand for the anchor to bite into. We stayed two days just relaxing and enjoying the peace. On the way round to Alonisos, we stopped for lunch in the other anchorage (O. Kira Panagia) and found it to be more crowded but if anything even more charming.


Next stop was Nissos Peristeri on the south of which are a couple of useful bays - O. Peristera & O. Xero. We stopped for the night in O.Peristera which was completely deserted other than rather a lot of yachts moored with long lines ashore all around the bay. Usually, putting a line ashore is a nightmare for us with just two on board. L isn't confident enough to handle the boat under power in a tight space with wind blowing so I have to be at the helm. That leaves L to row ashore dragging a heavy line, and get it securely round something while I'm desperately trying to keep control of the boat - a job she hates with a passion. We developed a neat new technique this time. We drop the anchor and motor back till the keel grounds. Lift it a couple of feet and motor back again till it grounds again. Then drop it hard. There we are well fixed to the bottom and we can do everything else at our leisure. Finally we pull forward loosening the line a bit so we are floating properly. Of course we couldn't do this on rock for obvious reasons.  By now we needed water and supplies so decided to go to Alonisos next but first checked out O. Xero To our surprise it was lovely and nearly empty. It's not as well sheltered as O.Peristera but in calm weather or Northerlies would be great.

Steni Vala on Alonisos is a gem. The whole valley is owned by one family who have established tavernas, apartments and supermarkets but all low key and with no sense of tourist hassle. The tavernas are good and reasonably priced, the people are friendly and the supermarkets, while small, are surprisingly well stocked. Best of all for the Sporades, water fill the tanks and hot showers are free as long as you patronise the tavernas or supermarkets.

Next stop was Patriti - the capital town and main ferry port on Alonisos. A pleasant little town with a good safe harbour. The ferries cause less mayhem than we expected. We stopped and walked around for a couple of hours and consulted a travel agent on how to get L to Athens on 12th August. That's when we found that it was going to be impossible for her to catch her flight without a huge amount of hassle and an overnight stay in Athens. We decided instead to head for the Saronic.

We decamped to an open bay on the south (O. Stafoli). It's a picturesque place but the best spots for anchoring are taken up by underwater cables or the huge buoyed off swimming area. The headland seems to be occupied by large up-market hotels who floodlight the anchorage presumably to give their guests something pretty to look at. I hate that! I hope they enjoyed my pretty moon!




Next stop was Skopelos (gradually getting more into grockle land as we went). Skopelos town harbour is huge with loads of good space. The pilot says it gets swell but we didn't see any sign. The frequent ferries create some heavy wash - particularly the vodafone one - but nothing dangerous. The water man tries to rip people off but can easily be beaten down. We got 2 days of water and electricity for €6.00. L did a huge wash which well justified the cost.
The old town is absolutely charming with ancient winding streets, too narrow for cars, snaking up the contours. Care needs to be taken down by the ferry quay where the shops are - we got taken for €8.00 for two beers! We were so shocked we didn't even protest! Welcome to tourist Greece! On the western side of Skopelos is O. Panormou - a great hurricane hole. With highish winds forecast we tucked in there using our neat trick with line ashore again. We met a lovely couple (Peter & Zelda) on a motor boat called Decanter and shared a sun-downer or two watching (and ocassionally helping with) the antics of the charter boats trying to moor. Peter & Zelda were staying put for a few days and said we could use their mooring on Skiathos.

We hadn't been looking forward to the crowding, Tourist development and difficult moorings on Skiathos so we were grateful for the offer. We spent a safe afternoon and evening there buffeted by the extensive water sports going on around us. Everything stopped at dusk however and we had a quiet night and an early start to our next leg - the Evia channel down to the Saronic Gulf and Athens.

Halkidiki - the Western 2 fingers

We havered between finishing our Mount Athos marathon at Ammouliani or at Diapora. In the end, we judged that Diapora was more likely to give us a safe, crowd free anchorage which is a necessity after a long passage so that is where we went.
Heikel gives a clear description of the entry channel which worked fine. The Navionics charts however, showed an extra non-existent island in the middle of the fairway which made for an interesting few minutes. We moored in very shallow water in a lovely sheltered little bay Just North of the SW entrance and chilled for a couple of days. The only sign of habitation was a small jetty and closed gates leading up a drive to a house hidden behind the trees.

We explored the bays around to the little port of Panagia. Several of the bays have beautiful turquoise water and gentle wild scenery although none are secluded as there is a lot of camping in the area. Panagia is one of the bases for boat trips to Akti and is a little gem. The square is lovely, the tavernas friendly, and there are two excellent fish shops selling the fishermen's catch at very reasonable prices.
We went back to our original anchorage but as evening came on, so did the wind and to our horror the anchor dragged. We shot over to the next bay and anchored on sand next to a Odysseus - a French boat. We anded up making friends with Alain and Anne and look forward to meeting up with them again on our mutual way south.
After Diapora, it was off to the southern tip of the middle finger (Sinthonia) to Sikias but the swell was running right in so we hopped the next 6 miles to Koufos.

Koufos bay is totally enclosed with the entrance between dramatic red cliffs. It's very deep but huge and good holding so a good anchorage should always be possible. The tiny village has surprisingly good mini markets, friendly tavernas, a petrol station 200M up the road and even a small hardware / paint / chandlery store.






A few miles around from Koufos, just before the huge French-style marina, hotel and leisure complex at Porto Carras,  are some unnamed bays. They make a very nice overnight stop although they get a bit crowded with powerboats in the daytime. The shores however are marred by nasty blue notices claiming that the land is private and owned by Porto Carras (probably true) but also saying you can't swim - not true. Very un-Greek - more reminiscent of the "keep off the grass" signs back home. We hope this isn't a harbinger of things to come as Northern Europeans snap up bits of Greece on the cheap during her financial woes and then put up the fences!

 

Following our nose, the next stop was Nea Marmara. Another thriving little town - apparently founded by Greeks who lived in Marmaris but moved out during the ethnic swaps of the early 20th Century. There was a very extensive market (Thursdays) going on just above the harbour. The harbour itself has seen better days - the pontoons are mostly held in place by boat anchors and the wave-breaker pontoon is breaking up. Still it was pretty, seemed secure enough for calm weather and offered free mooring, water & electricity. There are laid moorings but they go to floating buoys which easily get tangled in rudders and props. We were told that some of them had dodgy ground connections. The Port Police were miles away but we needed our DEKPA stamped so we hiked all the way over there - they did the paperwork but made no charge. Just beyond them (over the hill) is an excellent butcher.

While we were there a Nielsen flotilla came in and we made  friends with them. In particular the skipper - a lovely young lady called Holly. They didn't trust the moorings so used anchors with trip lines in case of fouling on the scattered ground tackle. Unfortunately they used floating lines and an incoming boat got its prop well and truly snared. It took over an hour to free it - quite a drama. They won't use floating lines again!

We decided to go around the Tornaios Gulf stopping at Yerakini and Port Marina. Not a particularly good plan as it turned out. Yerakini was recommended by Holly, but it turned out that the whole huge beach lining the northern shore of the gulf is heavily developed for tourists and has no real shelter. We were lucky it was a calm night. When we got to Port Marina, it was closed by a newly created sand causeway. Apparently there has been a long running dispute between a developer and locals who both say it is theirs - and the developer has just played his trump card - blocking all of their boats in! We anchored in another open bay just to the south off a camp ground. Nice, but not exactly private!

We had hoped to pick up supplies and water there before the longish hop over to the Sporades but there was no chance - so we went back to Nea Marmara, stocked up, anchored in Koufos overnight and left at first light.

Halkidiki - Mount Athos & the Akti Monesteries

Halkidiki is the three fingered hand at the top of the Aegean. The Easternmost finger is the Akti peninsula that terminates in Mount Athos - "the Holy Mountain". The whole peninsula is administered semi-independently by the Greek Orthodox church - and boats containing women are not allowed to approach closer that 500M or to moor (not that there are any good anchorages anyway). Despite this rather medieval prohibition, we wanted to see the monasteries which are truly spectacular.
Getting around the peninsula in one day is quite a challenge. It's 60 miles round and in any sort of a wind, there are ferocious gusts and vicious seas around Mount Athos (which is 4000M high).
Coming from Thasos, we needed supplies so we decided to go via Kovalla then Ierisos. Unfortunately the huge harbour at Kavalla seemed to be completely taken up with private moorings. The port police didn't respond on VHF and there didn't seem to be anyone around to ask. In the end, we gave up and went to Iraklitsa where the pilot indicated we could probably get a berth. No chance! it was chokka with local boats. We tried anchoring off the beach but the sand was so soft we dragged twice. So off to Eleftheria with the stress level beginning to rise.
We arrived at sunset and tried to anchor in the South bay but the anchor wouldn't hold in the soft mud and weed so we decamped to the rather industrial concrete quay on the north cove. We took half an hour tying up alongside among the fishermen.  Just as we were sitting down to a well-earned Sundowner, a bloke on a motorbike rocked up and warned us that a fleet of large trawlers were due in at 0400 and would probably require us to move. He told us that the left hand cove across the bay has much better holding that the right. After humming and hawing, we cast off and raced against the darkness to get to the cove, dropped the hook and prayed. It stuck!

Next day we crossed to Ierissa at the base of Akti. We moored stern too in a suspiciously empty corner of the quay. Sure enough, a couple of hours later, the wind blew up and threw a vicious slop into just that bit. Aaaaargh! Luckily we were able to anchor and swing in the opposite corner of the harbour. Lindsay yomped into the town and found a supermarket and a Liddle but it was about 4 miles round trip so she was knackered. In the evening we went off and anchored in Ormos Plati which is theoretically part of Akti and so off limits to women but nobody was checking and we had a peaceful night with amazing phosphorescence.

St basil castle. Part of inland Hilandar monastery

Next morning we were off at first light to get round the whole peninsula. The winds were too light or on the nose or both all day so we had to do the whole 60 mile trip on motor. It took over two hours to get to the first castle but from then on it was another monastery every hour. They really are amazing - more like Tibet than Greece. Many are nearly 1000 years old.
Life appears not to be quite as mediaeval as they would like you to think. We saw several 4*4s and trucks presumably doing jobs around the estate and several monasteries were undergoing repairs using modern scaffolding and tower cranes.
We bailed out of the last couple of Monasteries on the Western side as we didn't want to get to our chosen anchorage "Diapora" in the dark.

Here are just a few of of our pictures of the Monasteries and hermitages as we went around...

Stavronikita Consecrated 1536 but site in use from 10th century

Filotheou - Monks earn a living by wood carving

Hermitages high up on the slopes of stormy Mount Athos.

  

Gregoriou including the modern ferry that delivers supplies and pilgrims

Simonas Petras High up on a rocky pinnacle - only connected by a bridge.

Xiropotamou - before the fire, it housed 1500 Russian monks

Thasos

From 25 miles away to the East, all you can see is strange white hills on the horizon. It's only when you get a lot closer and the rest of the island looms out of the haze that you realise they are relatively small. Closer still, and with the aid of binoculars, they suddenly resolve into enormous marble quarries. Apparently, the highest quality marble has been quarried here for 3000 years and shipped over most of the Eastern Mediterranean.
We made landfall at Gramvoussa - a lovely secluded little bay with good holding on sand open to the South and East. We just chilled for a couple of days. During the last night an Easterly blew up during the night blowing in a swell and giving us a rather uncomfortable few hours. Nothing dangerous though.
We decided to go clockwise round Thasos to the main town. Took us 3 days. We looked at Aliki but there was too much grockle and we moved on. We later heard that we missed a treat as it is lovely. Guess we'll just have to live with the disappointment :-) We went on to a bay on the South West tip - just north of the point and had a lovely evening swimming and eating. There was a reather strange beach bar in the trees which went on all night but was very quiet and with rather cool sort of music - sort of hippy.

Next stop was Thasos Town. This is a pretty little place with good provisions - including Launderette with free water & electricity on the quay. Apparently it is scheduled to be completed next year and then will be charged for. The Port police showed no interest in us. The harbour is excellent & safe harbour with masses of space. No sign of Hydrofoils and all the ferries dock outside so no wash.
We met Alain & Anne on Odyssey - one of 3 French boats. There was also 1 German yacht, our yacht plus 5 or 6 Motor boats (all Greek).

The ancient harbour was the naval harbour in classical times. Apparently the new one is built where the ancient civilian port was located. No sign now. The ancient harbour is very well preserved. It is full of fishng boats though, and the ancient walls are just below the surface so even if a yacht could find a space, it would have to take a line ashore. Nightmare!
There is a lovely walk ashore up to the ancient amphitheatre. It's well preserved and still in use. The main gate is locked but everyone goes through a hole in the fence 50 yards above it. Great place to watch the sun set.
Large parts of the ancient city are still there so the old town is fascinating to walk around.
The museum is to die for. One of the best we have seen in Greece. The collection is excellent & well presented but the thing that stands out is the huge effort that has been put into explaining the context and history - in Greek, English and French.

After the museum, we walked east along the shore, past the grockle beaches to the point. There is a very nice, classy little taverna there with good service, reasonable prices, a superb location and it offers free beach chairs to customers