Orie and southward between Evia and the mainland

Only 19 miles southward through the mouth of the Gulf of Volos and across to the northern end of Evia to the very comfortable little harbour of Orie.

Comfortable because it is easy to get into, loads of room on a new quay to go alongside, a few long term sailors to swap stories with and a laid back hamlet adjacent to the harbour. We cast off and weighed anchor at twenty past one in the afternoon, the wind behind us and a cruisy motor sail all the way.

There is nothing particularly remarkable about Orie, we went there to check out a place where a few sailors we met winter their boats and raved about it. It would only cost us around 2000 Euro whereas, Olympic will cost us 4,700 Euro for 8 months on land, so worth a look. About a kilometer west of the harbour I could see some masts protruding through the trees on land so I got the bike out and peddled over.




No photographs for you, but.....

Heath Robinson on Afghani Black would cover it. A huge trailer that gets re-welded to fit each new arrival is reversed 50 - 60 meters out, no ramp, just gently sloping pebble beach.... Float the boat onto the trailer and it gets winched up to a waiting tractor which then positions the boat in a visually nightmarish field/boat yard guarded by a Rottweiler, a
Bull-Terrier and a vicious looking Bitsa chained at the extremities of the yard.

Thanks guys... couldn't care less if it was FREE!

Orie was so pleasant however, we stayed a couple of nights. There was a decent beach, tavernas and chandlery.

I finally managed to get to the bottom of the smell coming from the guest toilet. A faulty non-return valve was the culprit and has now been replaced. Apologies to any guests who experienced the unpleasantry and didn't say anything, I seldom go that side of the boat....

Only a few days left before we had to get to Lavrion and the Olympic Marina so three, maybe four more stops...

The first would be another anchorage recommended to somebody by somebody else. Kolpos Atalantis, tucked behind a little island on the mainland side, protected from a growing South Easterly looked idyllic.

A 35 Mile run so a good 5 hours, most of it under sail, we cast off at 12:45 on Tuesday the 15th. A few things happened this day, two of which were; Summer lost a tooth and Sally finally finished the Istanbul Food Tour blog!

It wasn't quite what we expected. Not overly protected so we anchored in close assuming the wind would persist and hold us off. Well, you know what they say about assumption!

Well after setting a camp up for the kids on the starboard trampoline, a swim, home cooked dinner and moonless darkness I went out on deck only to find the wind had done a 180 degree change and we were, once again headed for the shore!

Nothing for it but to up anchor in pitch black, rely entirely on the navigation instruments and steam slowly over to the protection of an adjacent island occupied by a large fish farm, the extent of which was impossible to either see nor judge.

We anchored well off in fairly deep water, waited and watched using a powerful torch to ascertain whether or not the anchor had bitten and eventually crashed for the night.

The morning showed we had pulled it off with plenty of room for a wind change and a good distance from the fish farm. The kids had slept well and were still out till well after 9:00am by which time we were surrounded by these amazing jelly fish. Ugly from a distance but really beautiful up close with tiny fish darting amongst the tentacles... They looked as if they were playing 'chicken'...