The Saronic Gulf
Much has happened since my last post so I’ll bring you up to date. It was Monday and we had the entire day to kill before we could try again to cross under the bridge. Port Authority had informed us that they need at least two vessels waiting to cross southbound or the bridge would not be reopened until Wednesday! (Apparently it is closed on Tuesdays). Moreover, we were so ready to take control of our boat. While we greatly appreciate all the assistance and aid we’d been given by our delivery captain, we had now spent four solid days with a completely non-english speaking stranger in our very tiny home. I think he was as eager to be home with his family as we were to have the boat to ourselves. Fingers crossed we sort out this radio snafu and there will be at least one other boat heading southbound tonight! We need to get through this crazy channel so that we can meet up with our children when they fly in to Athens for the holidays in just three more days.
Bye-bye bridge!
The day flew by cleaning the boat, doing laundry and taking walks. Tom had called Port Authority and there was, in fact, another vessel crossing southbound that night! You can bet we were at the channel by 9pm - handheld radio in hand! Again we circled in the choppy bay, along with the other boat, a small freighter. This time we got our marching orders (around 11pm) and cruised under the sliding Euripus Bridge behind the other boat! We tied up for the night on the transient dock just a few hundred meters south of the bridge. It felt SO great to be past the bridge - I couldn’t have been happier.
In the morning I arranged for our captain to get a taxi to the Athens airport to fly home. He had such a huge grin on his face when he said goodbye! We payed for our berthing and slipped the lines around 11am - by ourselves for the very first time! We eased out into the bay with the sun on our backs and sparkling calm seas. We’d chosen an anchorage for the next couple of nights to wait out the windy weather. We cruised at a much slower pace revelling in the fact that it was a beautiful serene day and that we were alone. We arrived at the anchorage and literally, a rainbow appeared as we approached the bay. There wasn’t another boat anywhere in sight as we dropped anchor on a lee shore beneath a forested hillside overlooking a small beach. A brilliant orange and pink sunset spread across the sky and I basked in the glow, tears of joy streaming down my face. THIS. This is what I need. Slow, quiet, relaxing, calm. Time for deep breaths, the smell of the sea, and downtime. I feel so incredibly blessed.
The next day we hung on the hook and Tom spent some time familiarizing himself with the engine room, changing the oil and transmission fluid in both engines as per the recommendations after so many hours. I worked on the blog, cleaned both the outside and the inside of the boat and prepared some meals for our upcoming passages. We settled in to what would become our daily routines.
Temple of Poseidon
The kids would begin arriving Thursday afternoon so I made a reservation for a berth at a marina near Athens so that we could fill the water tank, stock up on groceries and await their arrival from the airport. Severe weather and icy conditions across the US wreaked havoc for many travellers and the kids experienced multiple delays and cancellations, had to reschedule many flights, and add unexpected airports and hours to their transit. Eventually they arrived in Greece and joined us in our new home aboard Meraki!
The next morning we left the marina on a warm sunny day in calm seas and headed west. We cruised past the Temple of Poseidon. This Greek God was widely worshipped by sailors as their patron, and they would pray to the "Sea God" for a safe voyage.
“Ancient Greeks, particularly sailors, believed that storms were a sign of Poseidon’s wrath. They used the temple as a place to offer sacrifices and gifts to appease Poseidon and win his favor and protection while they were at sea.”
Poros quay
We had reserved an airbnb for the kids in Poros, a small Saronic Island just a narrow channel away from the mainland Peloponnese peninsula.
Our next door neighbor was our host’s mother who spotted us one day out on the balcony and offered us a plate of homemade cookies. This became a daily occurance and we began referring to her as ‘Grandma’. We couldn’t speak to her but we let her know, in no uncertain terms, how truly wonderful and appreciated she was.
On December 30th around noon we spotted some children walking into the village in santa suits. While we enjoyed our lunch at a seaside cafe dozens of Santas ran by in a 1,000 meter race along the quay. Lots of bicycles and strollers ran alongside and the whole town seemed to be cheering them on. A Santa Claus suit is provided to each runner for this annual race and a participation medal and a sweet treat await all runners at the finish line!
With Meraki tied up to the quay beneath the apartment, we filled the week with hikes to monasteries and old windmills, tours of olive oil facilities and small local dairies, and leisure strolls through lush farmland and tiny settlements while taking in the stunning overlooks and great food along the way. We enjoyed plenty of playtime as well with lots of games and of course boating and swimming (like all good Alaskans when it’s 63°F outside).
One day we explored the town of Epidavros. The amphitheater is a World Heritage Site and is known for being the finest and best-preserved example of a classical Greek theatre. It was built in 330-20 BC (and enlarged in the mid-2nd century AD). It is marvelled for its incomparable acoustics. Any sound on the open-air stage, even a whisper, is perfectly audible to all spectators, even in the topmost row of seats. It fascinates me that this engineering was accomplished in the 4th century BC! I learned that what makes the sound transmit so well comes from the arrangement of the stepped seating rows which acts as an acoustic filter that deadens low-frequency background sounds, such as the murmurs of the audience, while amplifying the high-frequency sounds from the stage. I’ve no idea who figured that out - but we’ve proven it’s accuracy. Today the theatre remains a venue during the Athens & Epidavros Festival for Classical Greek plays, first performed there over 2300 years ago.
In its day Epidavros was famed across the Mediterranean as a place of miraculous healing. Visitors came great distances to the tranquil Sanctuary of Asclepius, the god of medicine, to seek a cure for their ailments.
After devouring the samples, 7 liters of olive oil were purchased!
Another day we voyaged to Ydra which is another small island in the Saronic Gulf. While many of the other islands have expanded to accommodate tourism, Ydra has remained the same by not allowing the construction of new buildings, only the restoration of old ones, many of which are from the 19th century and older. One of the most charming things about Ydra is that there are no cars. Everything is moved by donkey, including groceries, building supplies and people. The first thing you notice upon arriving in Ydra are the donkeys and mules lined up in the port, waiting for something or someone to carry. There are many paths through the hills that lead to small settlements, monasteries and churches and a walk through the countryside revealed a beautiful array of wildflowers.
Single file now, wait your turn…..
The week ended all too quickly and we said a teary goodbye to four of our five guests. Our eldest daughter stayed on for an additional week and we decided to head to a new island and look for a quiet anchorage for a couple of days to decompress before exploring further.
Blog footnote:
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