Summer Dayz – Autumn Haze

After the departure of Warren and Helen we stayed on the town quay at Paros for the rest of the week due to a nasty weather system which really chopped up the bay. By Friday we were ready to get back on the anchor and plan our next foray. Suddenly the early morning temperatures were a little ‘nippy’. A light blanket was required at night as temperatures had uniformly dropped to the mid 20’s although we continued to swim off the back of the boat as the water is still so warm.  I had a wonderful birthday in Paros and joined a couple of gorgeous WWSM (Women who Sail the Mediterranean) Claire and Jenny, for a bus ride up to the hill top town of Lefkes for a wander and to look at the beautiful old churches (of 15th and 17th century), ruined windmills and pidgeon – lofts. The church of Saint Triadas is of white marble with rare Byzantine pictures and it is very beautiful. We indulged in a few birthday cocktails to pass the time until the next bus arrived . Simon and Claire were off a Catamaran called Red Lagoon,  in the same anchorage as us in Paros and Jenny was their guest and a very accomplished sailor in her own right. The girls decided I needed some GF time – especially on my birthday – so nice of them and we had a great time.

On Saturday we checked the forecast and, would you believe it, another bout of extreme weather was heading our way. If you look at the picture of the forecast below be aware that RED is nasty! The Port Captain had even made a point of saying to make sure we were going to be ‘somewhere safe’ next week as it would really blow.

We left early on Sunday and had a bumpy ride to Serifos (one of the few Cyclades islands we hadn’t yet been to. The hillside town of Livadhi looked so picturesque being all little soft white box-like houses – like someone had spilled small marshmallows on the summit and let them run down the hill. We were hoping to get a taxi up the next day and walk back – but this was not to be.

Cruising is meant to be relaxing and slowing down I hear you say, well that impending storm meant we could either have a good sail the next day to Poros, or do the sightseeing and leave 24 hours later and have to motor for 6 hours with no wind. Of course we left the next morning. Poros is a very pretty place to be stuck in and the worst weather days were meant to be Wednesday and Thursday so we were resigned to spending these on the boat.

On Tuesday mid morning we took the hydrofoil to visit Hydra, famous for its history and small quaint fishing harbour. A few weeks earlier we had tried to visit here on MacSea but couldn’t get a spot in the harbour and the anchorage was very poor holding. We refer to the hydrofoil as the Grasshopper because it is bright green and looks just like one when it is out of the water on it’s foils.

The wind had been building all night and when we got out of the harbour at Poros the seas were very confused – check out the weather map below. Our 30 minute ride turned into a 60 minute nightmare when one of the foils got stuck in the trough of a wave and we were tipped sideways quite drastically. Thankfully the captain was able to take action and immediately slowed so that we now wallowed in the waves and had a very slow trip. Hydra was extremely pretty and quaint and interestingly is the only island which has banned all motorised transport and also bicycles so the only way to get around is on foot or by horse/donkey/mule. The guidebook said not to be surprised to see a mule carrying a washing machine or any manner of household appliance. There are also large pushcarts carrying hotel guests baggage and supplies. Life is certainly tough for some of these people given the number of steps to be negotiated and multitude of goods to be moved from the docks to their destinations.

                         

The excursion was worth it and we came back on the wave piercing Flying Cat, which we thought was going to handle the conditions with ease. The cat was completely booked because it was the last service of the day – the remaining ones had all been cancelled due to the sea state. We had a very nervous girl sitting in our row and she was one of the first to ask for a sick bag. John and I had topped up our seasickness medication so didn’t have a problem. The seas were much worse now with huge waves on top of the swell and even in the Cat it was a very uncomfortable ride and took much longer than the schedule. We saw a few hardy souls in charter yachts trying to reach the safety of Poros harbour and more than one with torn sails and canvas – won’t be getting their damage deposit back methinks!

 

The storm struck that evening and even in the harbour it was uncomfortable for the next 48 hours. We have a good anchor which was well dug in and were able to wait out the storm in safety. Friday dawned all peace and quiet except for the ‘highway’ of charter boats steaming out of the harbour on their way back to base at the end of their charter holidays. The sea state must have been truly awful because none of the ferries were running for the next 5 days. This was partly due to the NEXT big storm – this time a hurricane  named Zorba which spun off Italy and came down around the south of Greece, then up as far as Athens. Talk about the gods of winds ….

This time we were a bit more wary  (and weary!) and spent the day getting supplies, tidying away anything that could possibly come loose and generally preparing for the worst. All day the town quay and marinas filled up with boats seeking shelter. From past experience you can sustain more damage being tied to a dock and to other boats around you who may not be as prepared as you, so we prefer to stay out on the anchor and just keep a good watch. This weather map clearly shows the hurricane and we experienced over 54 kts ( +100 kmph) at times which is pretty scary. It raged for most of the afternoon on Sunday then went through the night. The eye passed over us at 10.30 pm and the complete calm lasted about 40 minutes. We knew that the wind when it came back would be from the opposite direction so in the calm we slowly turned the boat around and reset the anchor, pulling back on it at 3/4 throttle to make sure it was well tucked in again. Sure enough the wind came back with a vengeance and continued unabated until about 4am. The anchor held firm and we finally got some sleep.  We have experienced more severe weather in the last few weeks than we did in our whole 18 months USA to Australia ocean crossings in 2001.

Follow this link to a short clip on YouTube I made during the storm :MacSea in Hurricane Zorba

The morning after Zorba had passed through we saw plenty of damage to those boats on the concrete quay and some terrible reports from all around the Pelopenese and Cyclades of wind damage, flooding in the islands, sinking of more than a few boats and countless accounts of anchors dragging and rescues. We were happy to have come through that one unscathed. Global warming and wild weather for sure.

 

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