Dusty departure, jet ski chaos and near dragging disaster

Milia Beach on the Greek island of Alonnisos was divine – quiet, gorgeous clear water and really pretty.

The day after our heavenly spa day (described in my last blog) we had a relaxing day – swimming and enjoying the sunshine.

We left our great niece Molly sun bathing on the foredeck to go over to our buddy boat Catabella to have a quick planning session for the next few weeks of sailing in Greece.

That evening we returned to Steni Vala – the small and picturesque seaside village just a few miles from our anchorage.

After cocktails and a delicious dinner there we all crammed into a taxi to return to the boat.

The next day John and Sue’s son and daughter-in-law, Andrew and Lisa (plus their almost five month-old baby and two Samoyed dogs!) arrived at the anchorage on their boat Sea Pony and we all went over to Catabella to say hello before leaving for Skopelos.

After an uneventful trip we anchored at Limnonari Beach on Skopolos which again, was really peaceful and beautiful but also had a couple of low key beach clubs which was perfect for Molly.

Over the next couple of days Molly enjoyed using the facilities and topping up her tan before we sailed back to Skiathos for her to catch her plane home.

But before she flew off, we had the chance to enjoy more of Skiathos – we had drinks at the famous Bourzi restaurant that sits on the tip of a small peninsula. It is named after the Venetian fortress which was built in 1207 and which defended Skiathos from marauding pirates until its destruction in 1660.

Then, after another stroll through the town we ate a lovely dinner in a traditional taverna overlooking the bay in which Sunday was anchored.

The week with Molly had whizzed by and sadly it was now time for her to fly back to England. Fortunately she was able to buy a direct flight to London from Skiathos so it was a very easy homeward journey for her.

As soon as we were back in the boat from farewelling Molly we hauled the anchor and began to sail back to Alonnisos. Remarkably, on the way we were able to see her plane taxi along the runway and create a cloud of dust as it rose into the air!

This time in Alonissos we anchored in the small bay around the corner from Steni Vala – we were the only boat in the bay – and Catabella and Sea Pony were tied up at the small harbour wall.

Time for some maintenance of the kind that no one looks forward to – toilets! Plus, other household tasks needed to be done such as catching up on the washing.

After a few days, the three boats set off bright and early in the morning for Skyros – the most distant island in the Northern Sporades group.

The 7.5 hour trip was uneventful and we sailed almost all the way which was fabulous. We only had one slightly anxious moment when we traversed a very narrow and shallow strait between Skyros and Valaxa Island. We were glad we brought the sails down before we attempted to go through as it was critical to stay well on course when travelling through this narrow channel!

Although Catabella and Sea Pony had chosen to tie up at the town wall, as usual we opted to anchor out in the anchorage nearby – a decision we came to regret!

We had read in the Greek Waters pilot book that the holding was in mud and “very good” but that was very different to what we encountered!

We had several attempts at anchoring and each time we revved the engine in reverse to dig it in, the anchor dragged along the bottom and didn’t reset. Turns out there was an awful lot of weed on that seabed and our anchor was just not suitable for this kind of anchoring. Finally, after trying a couple more times in different places, we got it to hold. Or so we thought!

Fast forward to the following day … after a peaceful night we decided around midday to dinghy over to say hi to Sue and John on Catabella.

It was only about a ten minute trip and soon we were on Catabella which was parked right next to where the ferry comes in.

On the way over we noticed a small flotilla of boats with people aboard waving flags and talking excitedly and then we saw there was a big crowd of people standing on the quayside looking expectant.

Literally minutes after we arrived a big group of about 50 massive jet skis descended on the port – it turns out the riders were participants in the “Akropolis Jet Raid”, a week-long extreme sporting event being hosted on Evia Island.

The jet skis literally roared into the harbour causing massive turbulence and not a little chaos. We were extremely relieved that we had timed our dinghy trip over to the harbour so well!

After all the fuss had died down and the jet skiers had headed off to the bay we were anchored in, we were surprised by a German guy who zoomed up to us in his dinghy.

“Sunday – do you own Sunday?” (he’d spotted our dinghy with the name on tied to Catabella) he spluttered “your boat is dragging her anchor”! We looked over to where he was pointing to see Sunday drifting backwards and we could see she had already covered an alarming distance.

John jumped into the German guys dinghy (he had a much larger engine than the one we have) and zoomed off. Jonathan followed in our dinghy and by the time he arrived John had climbed aboard and started the engines. Soon they had the anchor up and they motored back to the anchorage. Disaster averted! We were so fortunate that Sunday hadn’t drifted into another boat or worse landed on the rocks.

After a few attempts at anchoring they gave it away as a hopeless task and decided we would have to tie up to the town wall.

We weren’t sure what caused the anchor to pull out although the winds were very strong that day ( Skiathos is known for being incredibly windy – it’s ancient name was “Anemosa” meaning “windy”!). Also, the jet skis would have caused a lot of turbulence so who knows? The point is, normally a Rocna anchor resets itself, if for any reason, the anchor pulls out but when there is a lot of weed on the sea bed it just can’t reset properly.

Fortunately there was a space for us to tie up in the port and in the end we were very happy with our new “lodgings”. We were so grateful to our fellow sailor who took the trouble to find us and alert us to the impending disaster. Jonathan took a bottle of wine round to say a heartfelt “thank you” once we were tied up and settled in.

We were very impressed with the way the Skyros Port Authority had organised everything. For example, as well as the usual requirements – great showers, clean bathrooms, really good washing machine and dryer (and very inexpensive), we also received something we have hoped for at every marina we have ever stayed at – a simple welcome pack with all the relevant information in one place. Very impressive Skyros!

Having all that information together with a map of the island made us feel very welcome but wait, there was more! The day after our arrival the very friendly and efficient port officer delivered a set of stairs to get on and off the boat with and a “red carpet” to go with them! How good is that?