Gordon and Clare

Poros Squall!

Posted: under News.

The guests had enjoyed the tranquillity of Dhokos bay so much that we didn’t actually leave until late afternoon the next day. The day’s sea breeze had turned to its evening wind which happened to be right on the nose so unfortunately we had to motor the 2 hours to Poros town. I’ve mentioned in a previous post how beautiful Poros is so that was why we were heading there. After passing a small pod of huge dolphins who spent a few minutes swimming our bow wave we anchored up in the bay overlooking the town and had a table booked at the local fish restaurant that has its own jetty to drop the guests off right at their table, which incidentally overlooks the anchorage and the town, the best of both worlds.

Some black clouds had formed on the horizon over the high mountains of the mainland but I wasn’t too worried as they usually pass before getting to Poros. This cloud was a bit different though, over the next hour or so we were entertained with an amazing natural fire work display, with lightening in the clouds and hitting the ground. I realised that we were in fact in the path of this storm and having the largest mast by some way in the bay decided to play safe and switch off everything electronic on the boat including anything that might use power on the mast. Just as I had finished this one guest mentioned that the rain was coming and looking out the cockpit I saw a black squall line coming towards us fairly quickly! Poor Concerto was pushed to about 20 degree heel when this hit. I have no idea what the wind speed was as I had switched off all the instruments but I couldn’t stand up in it or the horizontal rain that felt like hail stones. The boat started to drag its anchor even though we had 60 metres of chain down in 14 metres of water. After I had put down another 25 metres we held safely. Looking up I noticed that the whole anchorage had dragged to some extent and a 50 metre Super yacht that had been trying to dock was really fighting to stop itself being broadsided on to the dock. It managed to get away from the dock but didn’t manage to turn around so sat with its stern to the wind for 40 minutes quite happily until the wind died, showing that simple tricks we use on the small boats is just as effective on the very large yachts. Thankfully it was all over pretty quickly with no casualties other then the dinner booking and two very wet crew members! Poros had been plunged in to darkness by an island wide power cut so Clare rustled up a mushroom and tomato confit risotto which warmed everyone up.

Gordon

Comments (0) Sep 21 2009


Skindos Bay – Dhokos

Posted: under News.

After the crowds of Spetses, the guests had asked for a more relaxed day, so I took them to another favourite spot of mine, Skindos Bay on Dhokos. This island is very barren and only has a few inhabitants including goats, turkeys and a very friendly donkey as well as the farmer who looks after them all. It is a very quiet island and as the bay is quite deep (we were anchored in 25 metres) it only fits a few yachts and most only stay for lunch. After some swimming, a lazy lunch with the last bottle of provencal Rose we had bought in Bandol earlier in the season and an even lazier afternoon, I took a couple of guests ashore in the tender to climb the hill overlooking the anchorage. It is not a terribly strenuous climb but it was quite steep in places and as there was very little vegetation it was quite slippery underfoot. At the top the views we were rewarded with were well worth the climb. We could see the whole length of the Kolpos Idhras (Gulf of Hydra ) which looked like it had plenty of breeze judging by the wild heeling of some of the flotilla boats.  On the other side of the hill where we had left Concerto, it was flat calm. Also on the top were a few olive groves with some of the trees so thick that two of us would not have been able to get our arms around them.

Clare picked us up from the beach and most of the other yachts then left leaving us to the peace and quiet only interrupted every so often by our friend, the donkey, ashore. We had a whole leg of lamb in the fridge so it was decided that this was a good evening to get the barbecue out. Although I do say so my self, it was rather tasty!

Gordon

Comments (0) Sep 18 2009


Armata Festival, Spetses

Posted: under News.

We had some friends staying in the same anchorage as us near Spetses having just completed a circumnavigation onboard their 54 foot Oyster Capriccio who knew the area very well and so gave us some invaluable information on the best places to eat and drink whilst we were there.  They also told us of the Spetses Festival that was apparently well worth the trip and so much so that their trip to Majorca for the Oyster Regatta was going to be postponed until after the festival.

The Armata Festival happens every September and it celebrates the setting on fire of the Turkish fleet on 8th September 1822.  At this time, Nafplion (around the corner from Spetses) was in Turkish hands and so the Greek fleet (owned by a local Spetsai woman called Laskarina Bouboulina) were positioned near Spetses to stop any supplies reaching Nafplion.  When the Turkish fleet approached Spetses, a large fight broke out between the two countries and a local man Kosmas Barabtswis rushed through the Turkish ships and reached the flagship vessel.  It was set on fire and according to tradition, it sank just off Spetses.  To commemorate this, each year in September, they set fire to a model ship just off the harbour along with a huge fireworks and music display.

Saturday came and we all set off for Spetses donning our waterproofs (it poured with rain all night!).  The whole town was alive with people as well as a huge array of superyachts anchored off and in the harbour (it felt like we were back in Cannes!).  There was a large separation zone however around the model ship so that they all kept a safe distance from the pyrotechnics that were to follow.  The model was the most amazing replica of a traditional square rigged sailing ship complete with sails but on a slightly smaller scale.  We took cover in one of the local drinking holes whilst the worst of the rain fell and before the excitement began before braving it outside and finding a spot with a decent view (there weren’t many left at this stage).  There was then an introduction into the story and history (all in Greek so who knows what they were saying!) followed by the beginning of the musical performance through huge speakers along the harbour front.  Five water taxis then took off from the harbour armed with their flamed torches as the supposed armada to some very appropriate music and circled the bay quickly before heading for the ship.  It didn’t take long to light (we’d heard there was the a massive amount of gunpowder loaded inside to ensure it gave a worthy performance) and suddenly the whole ship was engulfed in flames.  We watched eagerly as the first mast fell and then soon after came the second and every time the flames found a box of gunpowder, there was the most extraordinary show of fireworks dancing out of the hull!  Back onshore there were more fireworks lined up along the harbour wall which were brilliantly choreographed with the music and matched up beat to beat.  We thought the best fireworks of them all were these long bright lights that would rise into the sky and then fall towards the floor but then suddenly rise again, all whilst the music in the background sang “rise, rise rise”!

It was a truly impressive fireworks display and didn’t seem to be anywhere near stopping but after about half an hour of amusement, it all started to calm down with just the faint burning of the ship in the background.  The rain had finally stopped falling so we went for a little walk around Spetses.  It’s one of those harbour fronts that seems to go on forever with these wonderful hidden inlets with an array of brightly painted local fishing boats but most of the harbour was completely bursting with every possible gin palace/superyacht/sailing yacht possible.  All the shops were still open even though it was 10:30pm and the restaurants were suddenly bustling with all the Greeks having their dinner once the celebrations had finished.  We hope we’ll be able to attend again next year…

Clare

Comments (1) Sep 14 2009