20 th April 2013

Arwenofbosham
Rob and Jacky Black
Mon 22 Apr 2013 11:43

Kithera

36 13.5 N 23 09.9E

Avelomona Quay

We left Chania, Crete on Saturday 20th of April having had a week there exploring the town which is really interesting and then waiting for the strong northerly winds to abate. The sea stae for our passage began with quite a large swell from the north but with light winds there were no wind waves so we had a failrly good passage for the first 6 hours. However as the wind increased and came round even further to the N west we decided that we would not head staright to Monamvesia but divert to the island of Kithera and to a tiny harbour on the south east coast recommended by a couple of berth holders in the marina at Chania.. It was a rather overcast morning and with a north east wind quite cold too. Howvere by the time we arrived in Avelomona the sun was out and we were in shorts and T shirts again! On arrival there seemed to be no room inside the tiny harbour as the quays were all occupied by fishing boats along side. So we proceeded to anchoir in the western section of the bay. It appeared to have some sand but the anchor didn’t hold so we had to try and re-set it. However before doing this we noticed the largest of the fishing boats preparing to leave so we asked them if we could take their space and they were more than happy for us to do this. Cautiously we proceeded to the quay – it appeared to be really shallow and there were some large boulders too. But we managed to get tied up and the depth showed 1.9m so all was well. The tiny village had some holiday homes and a few lived in places plus a very convenient bar right beside the harbour where we enjoyed a cooling drink before retiring for supper on board and an early night.

We planned to leave early again to free up the berth for the returning fishing boat. This we duly did and we were off the berth and motor sailing for Monamvesia just after 0700. We had a swift passage with an ever decreasing swell and the wind freeing to the west. The headland of Malia was left a couple of miles to port and we duly waved to the monastery on the way past. We had several large cargo  ships pass in both directions but other than that no other vessels until late in the morning when we spotted another yacht actually sailing coming from the west! They later arrived on the quay at Monamvesia and turned out to be CA members so we enjoyed a good chat and drinks on board Hamble Dawn 111 as the guests of the owners Frank and Lin.