Since Becky is in training for a half marathon in September, we decided that we really needed to continue with her training program (she’d already missed one run) so we decided to go for a run with our swimming gear in the early morning and finish off with a cool-down swim at the beach just around the corner from the pontoon we were moored on.  This was a 35 minute run with 5 minute fast walking either side as warm-up/cool-down.  Despite it being quite early in the morning, the temperature was still high and before long we were regretting not having brought any water along with us.  However the coast road that we ran down provided us with gorgeous views of Poros and the surrounding coast line, so we could easily let our minds wander.  It was lovely being able to cool down in the sea afterwards as well, I can highly recommend it if you have the opportunity!

Having done our exercise for the day, we lent a helping hand for the provisioning by offering to head over to the bakery in Poros that we discovered last year has to have the best baklava in the world.  The bakery as in the middle of Poros so we headed over and brought one of everything we could find (plus some cheese/spinach/pepper pies to eat at lunch).  We had also picked up some cream cakes for breakfast, and upon digging into these we discovered John’s apparent addiction to cake – I’m sure that’ll come up again later on.

Once breakfast was over we decided on our destination for the day – Ermioni.  Having nice strong (force 5/6) northerly winds meant that our trip down south and then west was going to be helped along quite well.  I piloted the boat out of the Poros channel (a little nerve racking as there are warning signs everywhere to avoid the very shallow sand banks) while the women took as many pictures as their cameras could handle (it is a particularly scenic route).  Once out in the open sea, up came the sails and we shot (well as much as a 37 foot yacht can shoot – about 6 – 7 knots) southwards.

The good conditions gave all the crew a chance to helm the boat, so Becky got her first experience in full control of the boat – and as you can see from the pictures, clearly found it all very easy!  As we passed the toad (a rock that, as you can see from the picture to the side, looks uncannily like a toad about to jump) we decided we were getting a bit peckish so I went below to locate a bay to stop in for lunch.  We found an area on the south coast of the mainland between Metochi and Pigadia and weighed anchor there – allowing us to swing on anchor for the duration of our lunch and afternoon swim.  Then it was on to Ermioni for the evening.

John had recommended using the southern quay (as does the pilot book) since it is less crowded and quite a lot more pleasant.  So we headed straight there and took up our position next to Valentine, one of the other Aegean Sailing School boats that was also spending the night there.  After going for a bit of a snorkel (Becky had previously mentioned never having snorkelled before so we’d picked up some masks and snorkels as well as some diving shoes while in Poros) around the coast of Ermioni it was time for the customary evening drinks onboard the yacht before heading off for dinner.  We started off dinner with an aperitif at the Millenium Cafe which was right opposite where we’d moored – not just because we fancied (yet another) drink but because we had every intention of using their facilities, including free wi-fi Internet access to feed the facebook addictions of some of the younger members of the crew – and of course also to check the weather forecast for the next day.

We then headed over the hill into the middle of Ermioni to find a taverna for dinner.  We ended up opting for one that claimed it was the ‘oldest taverna in Greece’ (if I remember correctly it was the Ganossis Taverna) which had a nice outdoors area which opened out onto the main harbour.  After dinner we headed back over the hill to get a good night’s sleep in preparation for our short trip to Hydra the next morning – but more of that later.

For all the photos of our trip, checkout our photo album by clicking here.
For the scrapbook entry showing the route of where we travelled, click here.
To view all of our Summer Holiday 2009 posts, click here.

We got up early again and had a swim out to sea and a quick shower on the back of the boat before setting off from Vathy. We were beginning to get into the routine of getting the boat ready to sail – getting the ropes in place, pulling up the anchor, getting the sails ready etc.

We learnt all about the different points of sail (different positions of the sails to get the best from winds heading towards different parts of the boat) so lots of tacking (changing direction by turning the boat into the wind and adjusting the sails so that the boat goes as fast as possible). We tacked towards Poros (which took quite a long time) and eventually made it to Poros.

We arrived in Poros, ‘parked’ the boat – is that the nautical term? I’m not sure. And went off to have a little look around Poros. We located the ‘famous’ baklava shop (Nathalie hadn’t mentioned it that often!) and looked around for a potential restaurant for dinner. We eventually decided that the best option looked to be one of the ones at the top of the hill as they looked nicer and less touristy than those right by the sea. Then we made our way back to the boat.

After that, we decided to go for a little ride in the dinghy. So we got ourselves ready, inflated the dinghy (well, Ben did) and lowered it into the water. We then carried the outboard motor from its storage position to the edge of the boat (well, Ben did) and lowered it into the dinghy (well, Ben’s mum did). After some careful positioning, myself, Nathalie and Ben were all carefully and strategically seated in the dinghy, along with the outboard motor, some rope and the oars (just in case!). To cut a long story short (or slightly less long anyway), we tried the outboard motor (well, someone did – can you guess who?) the outboard motor was determined not to work. Rather it was a bit broken and so Ben and I decided to go for a little row out to sea. We headed around the pontoon towards a possible swimming area – a little bay around the corner, near to the naval academy. We were slightly alarmed by the pretend (I hope they were pretend!) guns pointing out to sea around the academy and all of the signs saying ‘no entry’ but as we had no intention of trying to get into the naval academy, we figured we’d be OK. We got to the little bay, had a little swim/row and then decided to get back to the pontoon before dark. Ben rowed us back and as I didn’t fancy climbing up the boat, Ben dropped me off at the end of the pontoon and rowed around to the boat, allowing me to take the photos below.

Upon our arrival back at the boat, we stopped for a couple of drinks before going off to explore the restaurants at the top of the hill which we had seen earlier in the day. They were also recommended to us by the instructor and when we finally chose one, at the top of the hill, under a massive tree, we could see that it was very popular with the locals too (always a good sign). We had a lovely range of dishes including a fantastic moussaka – the best moussaka of the whole week, in fact. Then we wandered off down the hill and back to the boat to get more rest for another busy day ahead.

For all the photos of our trip, checkout our photo album by clicking here.
For the scrapbook entry showing the route of where we travelled, click here.
To view all of our Summer Holiday 2009 posts, click here.

We woke up relatively early (considering we were on holiday anyway) after our first night’s sleep onboard and headed off for a swim at the beach around the corner from the marina.  Needing to conserve fresh water on board, a quick dip in the sea and then brief shower to get rid of the remaining salt is the best option for keeping clean.  It also has the fringe benefit of helping to work up an appetite so that we can fully enjoy breakfast on board.  We were happy to find out that Nathalie’s lost luggage was due to arrive on the ferry arriving at 09:00 (although she may have been less happy to have been given the good news at 01:00 in the morning!) so we could make a relatively early start and see if we could get to grips with this sailing thing!

We headed out of the marina with no particular destination in mind to do a couple of man over board exercises (quite important to get that out of the way before there is any potential for anyone to actually fall over board!) and generally get the hang of being on board a boat again.  As you can see by my confused expression, this was also necessary before we attempted to do any proper sailing!

Once our exercises were out of the way, we headed off for a bit of a sail to Kyra Nisida where we chose a nice little bay to stop off and have lunch in.  After lunch we had a discussion on what to do and where to go next, and John our instructor recommended Vathy as being quite nice and also somewhere we had not been before (my mother, sister and I had sailed around this area the year before as well).  Since the prevailing winds were northerly (force 4 or so since you asked), this made for quite a quick trip down to the small port town which is on the Methana peninsula.

The little marina was very pretty, but unfortunately quite small and crowded by the time we got there.  That gave us some instant practice in mooring bows-to against two other boats that were already there.  I think we took them a bit off-guard but after their initial misgivings (read: curses and rants) we all seemed to get along just fine – which was convenient since the only way for us to get off our boat was via theirs!

As we usually do on these trips, we headed ashore for dinner.  John recommended a taverna a little off the marina area, as these are normally better food as well as less crowded and generally cheaper.  The taverna itself was lovely, and we had a table right on the sea (quite literally if you check the photos below!) however, as the waiter kept on informing us, they were having a very bad day.  We’re not sure exactly what that means, or why they were having a bad day, but the result was that there was very little choice on the menu and what we did get was not amazingly good.  Just to round off their ‘bad day’ the entire peninsula lost power towards the end of our dinner – good job I’d brought a torch!

Regardless of their ‘bad day’ we still had a nice meal and relaxed after the first day on the boat.  We headed back to the boat after dinner, looking forward to more of the same the next day – but I’ll let Becky tell that part of the story.

For all the photos of our trip, checkout our photo album by clicking here.
For the scrapbook entry showing the route of where we travelled, click here.
To view all of our Summer Holiday 2009 posts, click here.

We got up reasonably early to get our flight from Zurich to Athens , arriving in Athens around 1pm. We then had a little time waiting in the airport for Nathalie to arrive. This took slightly longer than expected because the very helpful airline had managed to lose her luggage at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam (which was less than useful!). Eventually, we got into our taxi which took us to Piraeus (the port in Athens) and from there we  took a flying dolphin (it’s a hydrofoil, rather than the animal kind!) to the Saronic Island of Aegina (and actually to the town of Aegina too!). There we were met by George from the Aegean Sailing School and John, our instructor for the week. Tentatively making our way over the gangplank, we loaded our bags into our new home for the week, ‘The Southern Cross‘ a 37 foot Sun Odyssey yacht.

We settled into our new home, finding out where things were and how they worked. Following that, we headed into Aegina to explore a little and to get the provisions  we needed. After that, we went back to  boat, unloaded all of the shopping bags and had a couple of relaxing drinks on the deck, enjoying the sea breeze and a lovely sunset. Later on, we popped into Aegina again for dinner near to the fish market – naturally, we had some very nice and very fresh fish. Finally, we made our way back to the boat for our first night’s sleep afloat, to prepare us for a busy week of sailing ahead.

We will be adding the photo album shortly (once we’ve reduced the vast number of photos!!) and we’ll be adding more blog entries from each day of the holiday as time goes on – so keep checking back!

To see where we went over the course of the week, have a look at our scrapbook entry, which has a map showing the places we stopped along the way.