Now I remember why I let my blog slide - I was rubbish at remembering to write it! So...apologies for the gap...here we go again!
We never did get ashore on Spetses. We went to an anchorage at the north end of the island but it was too windy to stay there, and then we went to Spetses Town, thinking we'd tie up and have a lovely evening on shore. It wasn't to be - there isn't a proper marina there, although a few yachts and small motor boats were anchored near the entrance to a ramshackle port, but they had ridiculously long lines tied to the shore which would have been a real hassle to fix, had there been any space available. In the end we gave up and decided that we'd take a water taxi across the next time we were in Port Keli. that next time turned up a day or two later; we'd anchored in one of the creeks off the channel leading up to the port for shelter, and took the dinghy into the little town one evening, intending to hop across to Spetses, but the water taxi turned out to be 45 euros each way, and we decided that an extra 90 euros on top of the cost of dinner was ridiculous, so we shelved the idea for some point in the future.
We'd seen various boats ploughing north, past Porto Keli and Spetses and checked the pilot book to see where they were going. The main destination was a port called Navplion, and we decided to follow in their footsteps and check it out. A lovely trip along the coast was only marred by the wind coming up as we reached our destination, but we tied on successfully and stepped back to survey our surroundings. Navplion is at the base of a towering cliff with a castle perched on the top, and Frank's first thought was that it would be a good idea to go up and explore it. His second idea - after he was told that he'd be on his own - was not to bother! The town itself was charming, elegant old buildings set close together to create narrow streets lined with colourful shops and thriving cafes and restaurants. A beautiful square, paved in white marble similar to ones we've seen in Croatia, marked the centre of the old town and was a focal point for the evening activities, with street vendors and musicians entertaining the crowds that thronged there. Navplion also claims to be the town where the ubiquitous Greek worry beads originated, and here, strangely, they are often sold in tobacconists stores, sharing the window space with a range of gnarled pipes!
We decided to stay for two nights and during the day we set out for the only beach within walking distance of the town. It turned out to be narrow, rocky and hugely overcrowded, with barely a space on the pebbles to accommodate our towels, but we had a fun afternoon there, flinging ourselves into the water every half hour or so to try to keep cool, and eating a surprisingly good meal at a beachside cafe complete with loud music and dancing girls!
After Navplion it was time to head back towards Flisvos, via Poros again, and another trip back to Jersey. We intended to anchor off a small island off Aegina on the way up but had problems with the thrusters so instead went straight back into port. We had hoped that the thrusters would be fixed when we got back from Jersey and the engineer was confident that they were back in working order but when he went to demonstrate, they failed to work. That meant ordering a new part from Italy and what a fiasco that turned out to be! We arranged for the required computer chip to be couriered to Greece, assuming that was the quickest way to get it here but instead it turned out to be the slowest and took over a week to get across the Adriatic, going via Austria and Hungary en route! We could still use Zaffina without the thrusters (they enable her to be moved sideways, pushing either the bow or the stern, or both at the same time) but wouldn't be able to go into a difficult berth in a wind, so we took ourselves back - yet again - to Poros, finding a couple of beautiful anchorages in Russian Bay and just relaxing. The second site was particularly gorgeous, the only down side being the number of wasps that decided to share it with us! We'd slept outside for three nights in the previous position and when we moved to this second place we decided to sleep on the bridge again. All went well until about 5am when the light of the new dawn suffused the sky, at which point all the wasps in Greece descended upon us! They didn't seem vicious, merely inquisitive, and during the hottest part of the day (from about 10am until 5pm) they disappeared somewhere cooler, only to reappear as the temperature started to drop again.
So it's been a frustrating couple of weeks; we had intended using this time to go up to the Sporades and visit Skiathos and Skopelos, islands which are supposed to be exceptionally beautiful, but instead we've been stuck around the Peloponnese. The piece of equipment we required from Italy finally arrived today and the engineer is stepping on board as I write, but whether or not this will fix the thrusters, we're not sure. Our fingers are firmly crossed.
Greece is extremely hot now and even the sea is tepid, although still refreshing. We certainly don't want to be stuck in the city in this weather, but we have to return to Jersey again for personal reasons later in the week so we can't go too far from the port between now and Saturday. We're just looking forward to having everything fixed and being ready to cruise properly when our various visitors arrive later in the month.
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