2021
After many months of lockdown and Covid restrictions we enjoyed a wonderful time at Harry and Eimile's beautiful wedding on the shores of Crummock Water in the Lake District.
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Our planned road trip to Greece leaving at the beginning of July didn't happen because each country we would have been traveling through had its own rules and regulations and we could have been stuck in quarantine at any point. We decided instead to fly out on 9th August which meant transporting quite a lot of parts / supplies etc in our cases. It caused some consternation at Gatwick airport when they discovered the sewing machine in my cabin bag and insisted on unpacking it to check. At that point I wished I hadn't used my underwear to pack around it!!
We had been monitoring the dreadful wildfires around Athens and on Evia online and contacted the boatyard who assured us that the fires were not near them and the road out of Athens was now open.
Back on Serenity in the boatyard. Temperatures up to 38 degrees (apparently it had been 45 last week). Very hot for working but getting up at 6.00am before it got too hot meant that we got the clutch, that we had rewound at home, fitted back onto the auto helm and it works!! Other work included putting the sails on and replacing the starter battery having eventually realised that was what the awful smell was - no wonder cleaning the drains didn't get rid of the smell - it was the battery "gassing off" hydrogen sulphide having decomposed over the long break.
Mystery photo - what is this?
Once in the water we headed straight across to Eretria on the island of Evia - well south of the fires. We had anchored here several times last year but this time we were on the wall to make it easy to resupply and get the jobs done. Dinghy inflated, toilet serviced, electronics fitted to AIS system, cleaning, shopping, eradicated weevils from food cupboard, new parts fitted to BBQ, spray hood refitted etc etc.
Two fire planes collecting water from the bay behind us to take to the fires in the north. So sad, such devastation - 50,000 hectares of forest lost, 25 villages evacuated and numerous livelihoods lost as well as an unknown number of animals. Firefighters and planes came from Russia, Ukraine, America, Poland, Romania, Cyprus, Serbia, Slovakia, Moldova, UK, Qatar, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Kuwait, Israel......
Sunrise across the bay looking towards "Dream Island" on the right - mentioned in last year's posts.
The fishing fleet in the evening light along the wall in Eretria
Skipper enjoying a well earned pita gyros and beer........
.........followed by ice cream on the seafront, of course!
Good sail south from Eretria to Buffalo bay (also known as Voufalo). Typical sailing weather - started very calm, motor sailing then had gusts of 37 knots as we approached the bay.
Anchored in Buffalo bay - looking from the village to Serenity with the Silence yoga retreat in the background.
"Elevenses" Greek style!
We ordered two tsipouro drinks with water and got a plate of tomatoes, cucumber, olives, marinated anchovies and cheese plus a huge chunk of fresh bread for free - whole bill was 8€50 for the two of us.
The small village of Buffalo. Not a lot here other than two tavernas and a fruit and veg van and a bread van that come each morning. It was while we were anchored here one night that, at midnight, Dave had a dreadful nose bleed (unknown for him). I won't go into details but his warfarin INR level had gone up so the blood would take five times longer than normal to clot. Very worrying - it got to the point where I was packing a bag with necessary documents etc and preparing to take him ashore in the dinghy and call an ambulance. Next dilemma - do I go with him and hope Serenity holds on anchor in the predicted strong winds to come (she has been known to drag her anchor) or do I stay with the boat? Difficult decision at 2.00 in the morning! Luckily, after over an hour, it finally stopped bleeding.
Serenity on the right sporting her anchor riding sail that we made in Licata some years ago but have never managed to use successfully. With strong gusty winds she tends to swing around on the anchor so this should keep her a bit more steady into the wind. Attaching it further back on the boom seems to work better.
There are very few boats out this year - we haven't seen any other Brits - but we met Katy and Oliver on Lady Blues who had been in the boatyard with us.
From the beach looking back to the village
The outdoor cinema - we couldn't work out what the snippets of music, loudspeaker voices and strange sound effects were one night then realised it was an open air cinema outside the chapel at the end of the beach.
The sewing machine has been put to good use while we have been sheltering in the bay here - new mosquito net for the companionway.
Adjusting the anchor riding sail to get the maximum effect.
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