Exploring the Aegean 2011: Eveia Channel

We only had 4 weeks to get L on a plane from Athens and we while that is masses of time to get down to the Saronic Gulf, we were concerned that we might get delayed by strikes at the bridge (it happened earier in the year) or bad weather. So we resolved to get through the bridge as soon as possible ( Monday we started on Thursday)

Wonderful beach at Oreion

We sailed into a F5 with a heavy chop from Skiathos to the mouth of the Eveia Channel. From then on, the wind moderated, the seas died and we had a lovel gentle run past a continuous golden sandy beach (almost un-developed) to Oreion. It's a nice sleepy little town with a well-run harbour (water and elecricity on a card), a butcher, small supermarket that delivers, tavernas etc. In the rather run down square there is an amazing ancient statue of a bull that was dredged up by local fishermen - they must have thought they had caught a whale! Sorry, the picture isn't very good as its behind glass.

Life-size stone bull dredged up by local fishermen

When we tried to leave in the morning, we found that a motor boat had laid its anchor over ours and when we finally got it up it was so tangled it took nearly an hour to free them. All the time, the bloke on the motor boat just watched!
After Oreion, we rounded the northern tip of Eveia and started south. We really wanted to visit Aidipso but there isn't anything approaching a safe harbour there so we decided on an anchorage in O. Yialli just before it. As we were rounding the point to turn North into the bay, we realised we were on sand with only 4M of water and decided to push our luck and anchor there rather than flogging an hour up into the bay and another hour back next morning. We were very exposed and had a bit of a bumpy night but got away with it. Could have been a different story if the wind had got up seriously.

Hots springs at Aidipso

Edwardian hotel

Aidipso is Greece's premier thermal spring area. There are apparently hundreds of them in the town and they have been healing people for thousands of years. The whole place was re-built early in the last century and nothing much remains of the ancient baths. Nevertheless some of the old hotel/spas are very atmospheric and there is a huge modern hydrotherapy center.
Hot (almost scalding) water still falls down cliffs into the sea where locals (and we) can sit and be alternately heated and cooled as the waves come in. A very strange feeling. We anchored off the hot beach in good holding with no trouble and swam ashore. A very interesting few hours! We needed to make the bridge in 3 days time so we had to press on although more time would have been welcome.
We stopped at the small Island of Atlantis for the night - nice enough. Nothing spectacular though. The best anchorage is spoiled by a factory and the main highway runs right along the coast.

The 'sliding' bridge a Halkis

On Monday afternoon we got to Halkis. It's a large town with a reasonable quay on the Eveia side where some of the tavernas are pretty loud, pretty late. That doesn't really matter because the bridge only opens once night at between midnight and 0200 so you have to stay awake anyway. You pay at the port police office which is now just south of the bridge on the Eveia side. Follow the road from the bridge across a square and just after it reaches buildings bear right up a tiny alley. The port police entrance is to your left. It cost us €35.00.
That night, the bridge running all went pretty smoothly and we flew through at SOA 11 knots and slid easily into the huge empty but very dark anchorage on the south side.

Suspension Bridge south of Halkis

After the late night, we cut ourselves some slack and didn't get under way until just gone ten. We motored gently down to the suspension bridge (you're not supposed to be under sail) to be met with a fisherman with nets across the channel! I started to steer round him but he was waving and shouting so I stopped and waited for him. To my amazement, the bridge was closed from 10.00 to 15.00 and 17.00 to 19.00 each day for most of this year! Under-water working or something. And they weren't nets, they were a no-go boom. Nobody had bothered to tell us this so there we were trapped! After hanging about for 5 hours, we finally went through at 15.15.

Eritrea

We had intended to stop at Voufalo but with the very late start had no chance of getting there. We settled for Eritrea which turned out to be a surprisingly sheltered anchorage with even the continuous stream of car ferries not making much disturbance. It looked like a nice little town but we didn't need anything so didn't go ashore.

Boufalo

Voufalo (or Βουφαλο in Greek) is an amazing little place. It has a perfectly sheltered circular harbour with a muddy bottom surrounded by several houses and a low-key taverna. The village is very Greek - we didn't hear a word of anything else spoken (other than be a couple of ladies on the next table at the taverna - and even they live in Greece). A lovely place to stay and the taverna is very reasonable if slightly light on service. The name apparently came about as cattle including Buffalo used to be exported from here.

There didn't seem to be much of interest until we got quite a bit further down Eveia so we aimed to stay at a wild anchorage at Nissos Stira. Turned out to be completely useless - steep to and rocky. Not a chance of anchoring. Both the chart and the Pilot are wrong! We ended up at Vliko bay. Holding like a rock in pleasant if slightly developed surroundings. Good shelter from the North although fairly gusty.

End of the shopping trip at Nea Marmara

By now we were getting short of supplies so we were looking forward to a day in Nea Marmara. What a disappointment! There is absolutely no space for visitors on the quay and loads of permanent moorings all along the beach. We managed to get the hook down about a mile along from the town but the holding was dreadful. I stayed with Rosa while L went shopping in the Dinghy. As soon as ahe returned we set off for Nissidha Petali.

Dawn at N. Petali

This small group of islands turned out to be idyllic. We stayed for 3 days in various anchorages all safe as houses in beautiful clear blue water on sand. Several of the islands are private and have fabulous villas on them with private harbours and one even with a helliport. You can anchor by these but are discouraged from landing. After the third day, we set off at the crack of dawn for the long treck down to the Saronic.