Gulf of Volos
Mystic of Holyhead (successor to Lynn Rival)
Rachel and Paul Chandler
Sun 4 Jun 2006 18:22
The temperature was hot (almost 30 degrees C) and the winds light for our sail to Skopelos on Wednesday. The next morning was stormy and we had to beat to windward around the north of the island in F5. It didn't last and the weather settled again that evening and was calm for our trip across to Skiathos on Friday.
It was hot and humid in Skiathos and after seeing Helen and Paul off we had to go in search of gas. After a long hike we found the gas shop and ended up paying 60 euros for 2 camping gas cylinders to replace the Turkish gas cylinders we'd been using since Ayvalik. We'd given away our spare camping gas cylinders when changing over to Turkish gas last year but next time we'll find somewhere to keep them!
We had a comfortable berth, alongside, in Skiathos but it's a noisy place and we were glad to leave yesterday morning. We headed west into the Trikeri Channel, beating into a moderate wind which died in the early afternoon, but the air was much clearer so we had good views of the various coastlines all around us. We stopped for a swim in a bay on the south of the Pelion/Trikeri peninsula and then motored on to an anchorage a bit further west. The headland at the entrance to the anchorage is very conspicuous because of a marble quarry, but the anchorage itself was really pretty with just a few houses and fishing boats dotted around. We went to bed fairly early but had to get up soon after as the depth alarm was bleeping. The wind had shifted and the anchor had not re-set itself. When we lifted it up it was full of weed. We managed to re-lay the anchor in a better spot for the changed wind direction.
A quite picturesque marble quarry:
Today we had another "sail for a bit then motor because the wind has died" trip into the Gulf of Volos and we're anchored in a bay on the west side of the entrance where again we have a few fishing boats for company but little else to disturb us apart from the wind howling through the rigging. The wind often picks up a bit in the early evening and then drops again in the night. Entering the Gulf of Volos we came across this impressive (for Greece) lighthouse, with the village of Trikeri on the hill in the background:
