Poseidon's Temple and journey to the Corinth Canal

I had spent over a month in Lavrio including the three weeks on the hard at Olympic Marina at the end of last season, so I was pretty pleased to finally wave it farewell. 

Sal and I also spent some time at the Greco Hotel which looks across the bay at Poseidon’s Temple and at the time resolved that we would anchor in that bay as our first stop…. We hadn’t included two weeks in the Cyclades in those plans, but what the hell?

The winds had finally got a better grip on themselves but still gave us a powerful sail to the Bay with the promise of subsiding altogether the following day.

There were quite a few vessels in the bay on arrival, but having such a shallow draft allowed us to pick the best spot right up close to a beach and completely out of the wind but we did have to put out a stern anchor to avoid being pushed onto the beach by incoming swell from passing ferries if the wind stopped altogether.

As a reminder, the temple was the last glimpse of civilisation to departing seafarers and the first welcoming sight of it on their way home. 

I'd love to have seen this in its day. These photos do little to evoke the feelings experienced of actually being here.

It was also the story of how the Aegean Sea got its name: Aegeus, father of Theseus who flung himself into the sea when he believed his son had been killed in Crete. In short his son forgot to change his sails from black to white on his return to show he had not been killed in Crete. When his father saw the black sails returning, he topped himself.

They do a great job of lighting it up at night, this view is from the taverna deck. 

Sunrise. Nil wind as promised. Absolutely bucket list perfect. 

At 11:30am on the 14th July, we pulled up the anchors and made for Perdika on Aigina Island which would put us within shooting distance of the Corinth Canal.

It sounded as if we would have great difficulty getting in, but on arrival we were ushered into a tight little corner opposite the restaurant we were now obliged to eat at. This turned out to be fortuitous because the supermarket was all but empty and due to a power failure, there was no water for boats to be had. 

The restaurant provided us with their hose and for a dozen eggs, two liters of milk and 400 liters of water, 9 Euro. 

At 10:40am, probably later than planned we cast off and headed for our next big bucket list item..... which, I'm afraid, you'll need to wait for..... Carol-Ann!