“Medicane”

Last Monday we left the lovely little north bay of Poros as the weather forecast from Poseidon showed the worst weather forecast we had ever seen.  We had escaped from Evia but now needed to be safe for the next few days until it had blown through and the weather would return to normal.  Friends phoned to say “The BBC is talking about a Mediterrian hurricane and you are going to be in its way. Stay safe.”

We were lucky to be on the wall in Aigina with our stern to the north with the restaurants and houses shielding us. It was horrendous as once the storm hit Aigina the boats were bouncing up and down and snatching back and forth. Jim spent four hours in the dark keeping us off the wall to help the anchor from slipping. Over days the wind then changed direction and it was now more north west blowing over the harbour wall and into the entrance.  The ferries didn’t run for two days and then on Saturday one arrived and dropped off visitors for a tour of the island.  It didn’t return to pick them up until Sunday late afternoon. The coaches sat on the harbour wall on Saturday for quite a while until they took the people to hotels. The rain didn’t stop and we collected nearly a bucket of water in the time.  Boat crews came in from where we don’t know but there were no places for them to find safety. Some we felt sorry for as they didn’t have any wet weather gear on and with the constant heavy rain it was cold. Some were lucky as the Dolphin ferry didn’t come and they allowed them to raft off the quay six deep something we had not seen before.  Nine boats for the first two days anchored off the beach behind the harbour wall but they jumped up and down it was awful to see them.  Although we couldn’t leave Ariel as the weather was to rough with the lines on the quay and the anchor holding us we knew we were doing our best to keep her safe. The surges didn’t make you feel good as we were continually worried the anchor would give and we would be knocking against the wall. 

The storm went through and then it returned.  We thought from the weather forecast it was going to a couple of days not five as it turned out. We couldn’t see further than the harbour wall with the rain falling so heavily and everywhere was in mist. It rained until we got up this morning (Monday) and then gradually the cloud base rose and the mist cleared and blue skies started to appear and the clouds moved away we were into a different time.  Taking up the anchor today it wasn’t going to move as it was in thick mud!!! We don’t want to experience anything like this again.