Argolikós Kólpos (Argolic Gulf) - Αργολικός Κόλπος
Koiláda (Κοιλάδα)
Monday August 1 - Saturday 6
BS Apartments €80/night (AUD~$118/night)
Monday August 1 - Saturday 6
BS Apartments €80/night (AUD~$118/night)
Tuesday Aug 2
The moment of truth, checking the stores on the boat! There were a few expired food items, and some that had morphed into science experiments, but generally our food provisions were okay. Thankfully we had vacuum packed all our clothes and bedding, and the mattresses were all dry. In fact the boat was as dry as a chip, and the recent teak job in the cockpit looked fabulous.
To get some shade in the cockpit we put up the bimini, then emptied the water tanks in preparation for getting fresh water. Enough for one day.
Wednesday Aug 3
There are some rules to cruising. One of them is the first mate has to inadvertently kick the salt water pump at the beginning of each season and break a couple of toes. I dodged that bullet, however, by wearing my sneakers, clever me, so although I kicked the pump three times it had no impact! Unfortunately there is a rule I didn’t consider - because I thought it was reserved for racing - and that’s getting hit by the boom! In case you haven't had the experience, I can tell you it bloody hurts! A gust of wind caught the boom when we were trying to attach the dodger in windy conditions, and swung it my way rather rapidly. Luckily I didn’t get knocked off the boat as it’s a loooong way down with a hard landing! I guess the advantage of being on the hardstand would be that if I was knocked off I wouldn’t have drowned. Colin gave me the afternoon off from further boat chores to nurse my head.
At 1330 hours our first boat guest arrived, by my calculation just in time to help Colin with the boat chores I'd just been excused from. Zig travelled by ferry from Hydra to Ermioni, then by taxi to the Basimakopoulos Shipyard where Colin picked him up. After lunch and a rest the boys returned to the boat to pull the anchor up* and assemble the dinghy. They also went food shopping, but on returning to the boat found the fridge wasn’t really cold. We had thought there might be something wrong with it in 2019, but kinda ignored it, hoping it was just having trouble keeping up because it was so hot. Colin got the number of a fridge mechanic from the BS office manager.
We had a booking for dinner at Mouragio Restaurant, where Colin and I had dined the night before and enjoyed, and where we had eaten with Jackie and Mel from SV Feisty the last season we were in Greece.
*Mark Rogers, who inspected the boat a year ago, removed the anchor and chain from the anchor well to prevent rust, and Colin repainted the depth marks on the chain while it was out.
Thursday Aug 4
went like this...
Click images to enlarge
The moment of truth, checking the stores on the boat! There were a few expired food items, and some that had morphed into science experiments, but generally our food provisions were okay. Thankfully we had vacuum packed all our clothes and bedding, and the mattresses were all dry. In fact the boat was as dry as a chip, and the recent teak job in the cockpit looked fabulous.
To get some shade in the cockpit we put up the bimini, then emptied the water tanks in preparation for getting fresh water. Enough for one day.
Wednesday Aug 3
There are some rules to cruising. One of them is the first mate has to inadvertently kick the salt water pump at the beginning of each season and break a couple of toes. I dodged that bullet, however, by wearing my sneakers, clever me, so although I kicked the pump three times it had no impact! Unfortunately there is a rule I didn’t consider - because I thought it was reserved for racing - and that’s getting hit by the boom! In case you haven't had the experience, I can tell you it bloody hurts! A gust of wind caught the boom when we were trying to attach the dodger in windy conditions, and swung it my way rather rapidly. Luckily I didn’t get knocked off the boat as it’s a loooong way down with a hard landing! I guess the advantage of being on the hardstand would be that if I was knocked off I wouldn’t have drowned. Colin gave me the afternoon off from further boat chores to nurse my head.
At 1330 hours our first boat guest arrived, by my calculation just in time to help Colin with the boat chores I'd just been excused from. Zig travelled by ferry from Hydra to Ermioni, then by taxi to the Basimakopoulos Shipyard where Colin picked him up. After lunch and a rest the boys returned to the boat to pull the anchor up* and assemble the dinghy. They also went food shopping, but on returning to the boat found the fridge wasn’t really cold. We had thought there might be something wrong with it in 2019, but kinda ignored it, hoping it was just having trouble keeping up because it was so hot. Colin got the number of a fridge mechanic from the BS office manager.
We had a booking for dinner at Mouragio Restaurant, where Colin and I had dined the night before and enjoyed, and where we had eaten with Jackie and Mel from SV Feisty the last season we were in Greece.
*Mark Rogers, who inspected the boat a year ago, removed the anchor and chain from the anchor well to prevent rust, and Colin repainted the depth marks on the chain while it was out.
Thursday Aug 4
went like this...
- Zig rents a car from Elgea Group in Kilada
- The three of us take both cars to Ermioni to drop the Nissan Micra back to Pop’s Cars
- Home via Jumbo Supermarket (half way along the road from Kilada to Porto Cheli), specifically to get an Orange & Cinnamon scented oil reed diffuser, and bins for loo paper. (When in Greece...)
- I get dropped at the laundry to do washing while the boys go to check if the boat fridge is working and pay bills to the electrician (Andreas), who had replaced the house battery and engine batteries, and mechanic (Dimitri), who had serviced the engine
- Lunch in town, then the boys returned to the boat to load the luggage
- Evening drinks on the verandah
- Dined like kings at Giannis Megas & Son Fish Tavern. Fabulous starters, friendly staff, cheap as chips.
Click images to enlarge
Friday Aug 5
The big day arrives. SV Loch Fyne Lass is goin’ back in the water. I knew I had to be ready by 0730 to head to boat and unplug the power and make sure she was ready, but my ability to gauge how long things will take me leaves a lot to be desired. Thinking it best to leave me to my own devices Colin and Zig attended the ceremonious relaunching, then Zig came back to collect me. Dimitri had attended the launch, not to drink champagne but to ensure everything was fine with the motor. You can’t start a boat engine when it’s out of the water so he hadn’t been able to test his work. Unfortunately it didn't pass the pub test, and although it started nicely it wouldn’t turn off! As Dimitri couldn’t find the problem we had to motor directly to the jetty and wait for him and Andreas to meet us there. They spent a couple of hours trying to nut out what was going on, to no avail, so we sought out an anchorage and planned to meet Andreas at the jetty again the next day to try and nail down the problem. The fix, though, would most likely not happen until Tuesday when he had time and parts, depending on the problem (possibilities were the alternator, regulator, the wiring, or a loose connection).
Meanwhile, after we’d dropped anchor, the bloody thing came good and turned off like it should! There were a lot of complicated theories being thrown around between the onboard auditor and electrician (as trip photographer and blogger I stayed out of it) about “Smart Regulators and the like, but in the end they concluded it was a bit of wriggling that solved the problem, which was probably a loose connection or sticky switch.
More sticky situations ensued with the dinghy motor lock being rusted shut. Colin was ready to take to it with the angle grinder when the CRC finally did its job and a little more wiggling opened the lock. Next challenge was to get the motor, which was acting decidedly dead, to work, which it eventually did with a magic sequence of twists, turns and pumps by Zig that he said he couldn’t repeat if he tried.
Colin was able to get hold of the fridge mechanic too, after days of trying, so we planned to go into the jetty the next day anyway.
The “Lass” was shaping up nicely.
We jumped in the dinghy and came to shore for dinner, dining like kings at Giannis Megas & Son Fish Tavern. Fabulous starters, friendly staff, cheap as chips.
Saturday Aug 6
Early to the jetty and a long day of waiting, waiting, waiting. Zig took the car back, having hired it for a second day, and did some shopping. We stayed cool by washing off at the back of the boat. The fridge mechanic, Chris, came early afternoon and with one look said the fringe needed to be re-gassed. Fifteen minutes later it was done!
As the Port Authority had been to the jetty and charged €15 for the night we decided to stay, dining again at the Fish Tavern.
Click images to enlarge
The big day arrives. SV Loch Fyne Lass is goin’ back in the water. I knew I had to be ready by 0730 to head to boat and unplug the power and make sure she was ready, but my ability to gauge how long things will take me leaves a lot to be desired. Thinking it best to leave me to my own devices Colin and Zig attended the ceremonious relaunching, then Zig came back to collect me. Dimitri had attended the launch, not to drink champagne but to ensure everything was fine with the motor. You can’t start a boat engine when it’s out of the water so he hadn’t been able to test his work. Unfortunately it didn't pass the pub test, and although it started nicely it wouldn’t turn off! As Dimitri couldn’t find the problem we had to motor directly to the jetty and wait for him and Andreas to meet us there. They spent a couple of hours trying to nut out what was going on, to no avail, so we sought out an anchorage and planned to meet Andreas at the jetty again the next day to try and nail down the problem. The fix, though, would most likely not happen until Tuesday when he had time and parts, depending on the problem (possibilities were the alternator, regulator, the wiring, or a loose connection).
Meanwhile, after we’d dropped anchor, the bloody thing came good and turned off like it should! There were a lot of complicated theories being thrown around between the onboard auditor and electrician (as trip photographer and blogger I stayed out of it) about “Smart Regulators and the like, but in the end they concluded it was a bit of wriggling that solved the problem, which was probably a loose connection or sticky switch.
More sticky situations ensued with the dinghy motor lock being rusted shut. Colin was ready to take to it with the angle grinder when the CRC finally did its job and a little more wiggling opened the lock. Next challenge was to get the motor, which was acting decidedly dead, to work, which it eventually did with a magic sequence of twists, turns and pumps by Zig that he said he couldn’t repeat if he tried.
Colin was able to get hold of the fridge mechanic too, after days of trying, so we planned to go into the jetty the next day anyway.
The “Lass” was shaping up nicely.
We jumped in the dinghy and came to shore for dinner, dining like kings at Giannis Megas & Son Fish Tavern. Fabulous starters, friendly staff, cheap as chips.
Saturday Aug 6
Early to the jetty and a long day of waiting, waiting, waiting. Zig took the car back, having hired it for a second day, and did some shopping. We stayed cool by washing off at the back of the boat. The fridge mechanic, Chris, came early afternoon and with one look said the fringe needed to be re-gassed. Fifteen minutes later it was done!
As the Port Authority had been to the jetty and charged €15 for the night we decided to stay, dining again at the Fish Tavern.
Click images to enlarge