Pipedream's Web Diary - 37 44.759N 023 25.699E Aegina. Greece

37 44.759N 023 25.699E Aegina. Greece

Pipedream

Thu 7 Oct 2010 11:59

Had a great passage through the Corinth canal. It was supposed to be closed on Tuesdays for maintenance. Called them on the cell phone about 10 miles out and they told us they were open and to come on. We arrived called them on the fly about two miles out on the radio and got a go ahead with out even slowing down. We were the only boat going through. They dropped the bridge in front of us and whoosh we were pushed through the canal by about a 3 knot current. We were doing 5.5 by the GPS over the ground and I would have slowed down more but could not maintain steerage going any slower. We tied up at the control tower on the east side and paid out 235 Euros.

Well we picked up another hot tip from the 'boater next door' at Galaxidi
and in lieu of going direct to Athens went to the first big island south of
Athens, Aegina. The book said this is the place many Athenians go to play,
and there is ferry service to Athens about every 15 minutes for about 10
Euros. One look at the 7 or 8 cargo ships anchored outside of Athens and
the 'traffic separation zone in front of it convinced me we made a wise
choice. My crew is getting down right good. We approached the city quay
after checking out the overflowing marina, dropped the hook (anchor) and
backed right into the last real space at about 2:00 PM. Not bad for our
second time. Lots of taxes here but the actuall mooring works out to about
8 Euros a night. We had to pay 30 Euros for power and water and are
supposed to get back what we do not use.

I checked in with the local port police yesterday and was told to come back
the next day when the guy with the super stamp was available. Being a
non-EU boat we are special. Went back today and was chewed out a second
time for not getting an exit stamp at Corfu. Come back again before I leave
and get another stamp. They checked my insurance, boat documents, and asked
for my sailing license. I showed them my Coast Guard Auxiliary sailing
course card and seemed to work. I didn't want to go back to the boat to
pull my master's license certificate off the wall. If we were this tight in
America with people visiting, we wouldn't have 12 million aliens running
around we couldn't identify.

Very busy tourist venue. The boats seem to change out about 50% every day.
Lots of tourist joints along the water front. We ate last night at a place
in one of Judy's tourist books. We were the only ones in there. It has
been drizzling since last night and has cooled off enough so we are all
wearing sweats or light jackets. There is a ruined temple here and a
pistachio nut stand that sells nuts to die for.

They just brought another boat in and are stacking them up end on end off
the city wall. First time we have seen that. Suppose to blow about 20
knots tonight and tomorrow AM. We just finished our shopping for the next
couple of days, took a load of wash to the laundry, and plan on heading to
the Vodafone store to get the internet activated when the reopen again at
5:30 PM after siesta.

We plan to hit Athens tomorrow by ferry.