Sunday, 14^th July, 2013.

Early start of 6 a.m. today so we had had breakfast and were away by 6.15.  As the winds in this area come up with the sunrise we thought it would be best to get on our way early as the winds hurtle down off the mountains and cause gusts from nowhere.  It keeps us on our toes with the sailing, genny out, genny in, one reef in the main, up and down the track with the main always watching for the next new wind coming across the water.

We followed the coast line and kept as close as possible from Marmarim to Voufalo.  The mountains are bare and every now and again we could see in the small bays a few houses but mostly have no facilities for passing yachts.

We saw at least six ferries crossing from the mainland to the island of Evia which is a popular destination for Greek people.  >From what we have seen so far there appears to be a small number of people who actually live on Evia as it is so mountainous.  There are numerous fish farms we have seen along the coast. 

Evia is Greece’s largest island after Crete.  The island was under Macedonian rule in 338 BC and has suffered many occupations.  During the 15^th century Albanian immigrants came to the island and settled in Chalkida the capital of the island and they still speak their own dialect of Arvantika.  The Turkish government ruled until 1833.

We saw one single dolphin which came up near the boat and then swam under it and was gone.  We had hoped he would play but he was off before I could get a photograph.  Jim was hopeful it would be fish for tea when he saw one shear water and put out the fishing rod.  Not to be!

Voufalo is a tiny hamlet with a sand spit with trees extending out from the east side.  We anchored in 6 metres of water in the middle of the pool and although it was gusting strongly all day as soon as the sun went down within minutes all was calm and we had a very quiet evening on anchor.

We covered 21 miles having to motor sail more than we wanted but we were being headed by the wind.