Greece: Corinth Canal to Thessaloniki

Wow, where do I start? I guess I will start where we last left off, leaving Dubrovnik, Croatia. It seems like that was so long ago. It’s amazing, when every day is filled with amazing adventure, time slows way down and you get lost in time. It’s hard for me to believe that Mike and I left Florida just over a year ago. It’s hard for me to even remember what it was like living on land. Anyway, I digress.

We have a friend from Guam, he was one of my docs in the ER, who is still in the Navy and is stationed in Europe. We haven’t seen him since 2015. Anyway, I got ahold of him and after Mike’s family left we planned to meet up with him. We decided on Athens Greece. We decided to take the route that would take us through the Corinth Canal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corinth_Canal

It has an amazing history and is one of those things that is a must see in Greece. Boats travel in only one direction at a time because it is too narrow for two way traffic. Getting to the entrance of the Corinth canal was a journey in itself. We checked into Greece in Preveza, which was a bit of a boondoggle. It turned out that Croatia did not check us out to our boat properly and technically we were illegal. Initially they were going to make us go back to Montenegro, which is not part of the EU Schengen, to completely check out of the EU before checking back in on our boat. Super confusing, but after some pleading of our case, they went ahead and checked us out of the EU and in to our boat as crew. We are now legit and can stay as long as we want.

So we started our several day journey to Athens. We first made our way through the floating bridge at the north end of Lefkada. It only opens at certain times and luckily we were there about 20 minutes before opening. Unfortunately a big squall came through, bring high wind, thunder, lightening and rain. Due to some of the other boat captains going through at the same time, who were complete idiots, the journey through the very narrow bridge and along the channel to open water was a bit sketchy. But we made it through without incident and began making way to Corinth.

I I “The journey was breathtaking. The islands were beautifully lush and green. I wish we would have had the time to stop along the way and spend more time, but due to the Preveza fiasco we were running late.

After an amazing journey, we finally made it to the Corinth Canal. Luckily we didn’t have to wait too long to be able to go through. It was definitely worth the trip. There are a couple foot bridges along the way that go over the canal. People gather just to watch the boat go through the canal. It a pretty awe inspiring experience.

From the east side of the Corinth Canal to Athens was only about 35nm. We made it in later that night. Athens was much bigger than I had imagined. I couldn’t believe the number of cargo and tanker ships anchored just outside the city. It definitely is not a cruiser friendly area. Although we didn’t experience it, many have said that the port police run them out if they are anchored off of any of the beaches, and the marinas won’t allow you to tie up your dinghy anywhere to go to shore.

We met our friend and took him out on the boat for the day. We did anchor off of one of the beaches and spent the afternoon swimming and catching up. It was amazing to see him and we were so glad he was able to take the time to visit us.

Before leaving Athens we needed to provision. Luckily there was a 4 story grocery store across the street from the marina. No, we didn’t ask permission before we tied up our dinghy.

We didn’t stay long in Athens, since we didn’t really feel welcome as a cruiser, and that was ok with us. We headed south and before rounding the southern point, we stopped and anchored in front of the Temple of Poseidon. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_of_Poseidon,_Sounion What an absolutely incredible structure. Much of the monument is still intact. It amazes me so much that it was built so long ago, without the help of machines. It’s especially amazing to see it at night when it is al lit up.

From here we decided we wanted to go north, first to the National Marine Park of Alonissos. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alonnisos_Marine_Park , then continue north as far as we could, eventually ending up in Thessaloniki. Thessaloniki is so far my favorite place in Greece. We spent several weeks here, getting parts for the boat and reprovisioning. It was a really nice time to get our folding bikes out and see the city. It’s not as big as Athens, but it has so much to offer. Getting into the city was an easy bike ride from where we were anchored. We stayed at the marina for about half the time, so we could fill our water tanks and clean the boat and it was much easier to get the bikes to shore. We went out almost every day, either loading up what we could fit on our bikes at the grocery store, or eating and one of the many fantastic restaurants. By the time we left, the weather had definitely started to turn. We had several days while on anchor that the winds howled. One night we had sustained winds of 30-40 knots. Unfortunately the wind blew a set of our cushions off the boat. The backrest was zipped to the seat portion, so the whole thing became a kite and disappeared into the wind. A couple days later, when the winds died a bit, we went looking for it.

We were in a large bay, and with the way the wind was blowing, it would hit land, instead of blowing out to sea. We scoured the coast and when we were just about to give up, Mike saw something on the beach that looked like maybe, if you squinted, could be part or all of our cushion. The waster was still really rough and the wind was still blowing pretty good, so we couldn’t get the dinghy right up on the beach. Hmmm. Someone was gonna have to swim to shore. Did I mention that it was getting really cold now and the water temperature was well below 80. We were both bundled up in our foul weather gear, beanies and gloves. So, whose going swimming? Well, with the waves and surge as it was, I didn’t really feel comfortable driving the boat, so I went for a swim. Man that water was cold. I got to shore and made my way to the object. Holy smokes, it was the back rest. It had come unzipped from the seat and washed up on shore. It was water logged and full of sand, but intact. I walked up and down the beach looking for the other piece. Unfortunately we did not recover the seat. But we were very lucky to find the backrest, since it is a molded piece of foam that would be very difficult if not impossible to recreate. Fortunately the chandlery by the marina was able to come to the boat, measure and make us a new seat that would replace the one we lost.

After a couple weeks in Thessaloniki, we finally had the supplies and provisions we needed and were ready to start heading south. Unfortunately we didn’t get out before the winter northerlies showed up. It was shaping up to be a very sporty trip south.