Freezer failure as we greet guests in unexpectedly lovely island

Poros is an unexpectedly lovely island. You would think, being so close to Athens, that it would be ultra touristy and have lost its authentic Greek vibe but in fact that just isn’t true.

Sure, there are a hoards of yachts tied up at the long, long, harbour wall – mostly charter yachts – and there many more anchored out in anchorages dotted around Poros town. And yes, there are tourist shops and loads of restaurants but because many of their customers are Athenians visiting for the weekend or on a break for a week or two, the island retains its quintessential Greek flavour.

We took a few days to relax after our arrival – after all, we had been on the move almost constantly since we had left Tuzla Marina on 19 May.

Then it was all hands on deck to get everything ready for our forthcoming visitors – our daughter and son-in-law, Hannah and Pieter, and a few days later, our friend Jackie from Sydney, Australia.

We cleaned the boat from top to bottom, caught up with washing and did “bed yoga” (making beds in boats is full on exercise!).

After all that activity we decided to motor round to the other side of the town through the gap between the island and the mainland for a change of scene.

It wasn’t until the next day that we discovered we had anchored right next door to an Aussie boat we know well – called Anthem – with Adrian and Marianna aboard.

We had last seen these two in Didim Marina early in 2022 when they had just launched Anthem after a lengthy refit and we were just starting our trip to Istanbul.

We had originally met Adrian for the first time in Indonesia when we were sailing on our previous yacht, Bali Hai, but hadn’t got to know him well until our time in Didim Marina.

It was Adrian who had coined the phrase “Lucky Bastards Club” and had shared the story – during a barbecue in Didim – on how this saying came about.

For those of you who read my last blog and were wondering about the “Lucky Bastards Club” t-shirts that had been given to us, this is where the idea had stemmed from!

It was great to see Adrian and Marianna again and we had a couple of great get togethers with them – along with their German yachtie friends Peter and Doris from S/V Joy.

Soon it was time for Hannah and Pieter’s arrival and there was food shopping to be done and much stocking up of our fridges. I spent some happy hours cooking up a storm and freezing meals for the next couple of weeks. Then disaster struck. Our freezer completely gave up the ghost!

Fortunately it turned out that Poros was exactly the right place to be as the island has an excellent yacht chandlery store, Pavlou Bros. A new freezer was ordered in from Athens by Spiros at a decent price and it arrived two days later.

It was lucky that by then, Pieter and Hannah had arrived and Pieter was able to help get the old freezer into the dinghy and the new one aboard Sunday. Nothing was wasted from the freezer – Adrian took the compressor and Jonathan kept the power box and thermostat as spares. The freezer itself was picked up for recycling almost as soon as it had been placed in the garbage bin.

While the boys were valiantly getting the freezer aboard, Hannah and I were enjoying an “Ancient Greek” massage at Amaltheia therapy centre.

The technique used by the lovely therapist Konstantina was originally developed by Hippocrates, the father of medicine, and used in wrestling schools and also in healing centres in ancient times.

It wasn’t like any other massage we have experienced but it was absolutely amazing and a great way to de-stress.

We were overjoyed to see Hannah and Pieter again and enjoyed an excellent celebratory meal at Kanali, the lovely beach restaurant that had come highly recommended by fellow yachties.

We spent the following days exploring the delightful laneways of Poros, walking up to the iconic and prominent clock tower and swimming in the refreshing salty sea.

Our friend Jackie had been scheduled to arrive a couple of days after Hannah and Pieter’s arrival but a delayed flight in Munich resulted in her luggage not making the onward flight to Greece. What a nightmare!

Two days later, she still hadn’t received any news about where the luggage was so she took a gamble and went back out to the airport in Athens. After many hours of persistence she found a group of other passengers who were in a similar position and an airport official who eventually hunted down their suitcases. It took a lot of hanging around with nowhere to sit and lots of determination to not leave without her luggage. At last she prevailed and was belatedly able to hop on the afternoon ferry from the port Piraeus in Athens to join us on lovely Poros.