Blog

Muskrat
Chris and Alison
Sun 8 Aug 2021 14:50
38:02.8N 24:19.0E

6th August 2021

We moved on to Vlikho, a lovely quiet anchorage in a secluded bay. The pilot book said “gusts into the bay” and sure enough we had 20knts on the nose again to enter the anchorage. No towns or villages just some deserted houses and a small community scattered about the hills.

We spent a lovely quiet night, after the slightly noisy night before. No wind and no other yachts.

The next day we decided to move onto Marmari. The “gusts into the bay” hit us again as we left which made retrieving the anchor tricky but we managed it without putting Muskrat onto the beach. These gusts then continued as we motored out and got onto our course. We set a very small genoa and were surprised how fast we could sail. For the first time though, we decided to wear life jackets as there was about a metre of confused swell and gusts up to 29knts. 


These conditions stayed with us to Marmari but fortunately as we approached the harbour entrance it calmed down just in time for us to meet a very large ferry coming out. We avoided it by tucking ourselves in just outside the breakwater and waited for it to get onto its course before entering. The conditions were smooth inside the harbour but the wind continued to gust all afternoon and into the evening; but the anchor held firm. 

Marmari has grown from a small fishing village to a tourist resort. It still retains some of its charm though. In the evening we were treated to a spectacular sky, mind you it would have been very spectacular if we hadn’t known what was causing it, the wild fires burning on the mainland and on Evia.


The next day, when the wind had calmed, we went ashore to explore and get some much needed supplies. Tomorrow we move onto Karavos.