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.