Saturday 6^th August – Néa Marmarás, Khalkidhiki – Néa Skioni, Khalkidhiki

39:56.786N 23:31.652E

Last night we found out why maybe the harbour at Néa Marmarás is free.  We were tired and initially managed to sleep through the fun fair at the end of the pontoon, and the disco from the other side of town that went on until 3am – it was just finishing when we were woken up by the thunderstorm and rain passing overhead, some of the lightning was quite close.  From then onwards there was a steady stream of large fishing boats coming and going, depositing their catch into lorries and, as they were working, they were understandably quite noisy.  We didn’t sleep the rest of the night and were feeling pretty rough and groggy by the morning. 

This morning we dragged ourselves out into town for some bread and a walk around; the town is really lovely and well worth a visit – it has charming cobbled streets and steep narrow roads leading out of town.

However, not being able to sleep being an issue, we decided to move on and set off back down the gulf, and across to the first finger, the Kassandra peninsular.  We rounded the tip and once again hit heavy swell running down from further east where the meltemi has been blowing hard.  The swell ran with us as we headed along the foot of the peninsular, but gradually eased as which approached Néa Skioni. 

Néa Skioni is a fairly small fishing harbour and is where the Nielson flotilla is based.  Although we knew it was their change over day and so the harbour would be busy, we also knew that these guys are really nice and experts at squeezing boats into harbours and would get us in somehow.  Sure enough, when we arrived the quay where the live aboards were was full with a few yachts tucked in amongst the local boats and fishing boats.  However there was a large new mole just inside the entrance which doesn’t appear in the pilot book where the flotilla were berthed stern to with a single space on the outside edge (fortunately it was only the one-week flotilla changing over).  We asked if they minded and of course it wasn’t a problem and they caught our lines and I ended up chatting to them for ages.  Interestingly, these were the same guys we had met at Epidavros earlier this year when they had been doing the delivery trip.

We went for a walk around the harbour and then into the small town; it is very pleasant, well stocked with shops and tavernas, there are small beaches either side of the harbour and quite a few holiday makers.  Traders were busy setting up a number of stalls along the front and there was a stage with loud speakers set up at the end of the mole so we knew it was going to be a noisy evening.

After dinner we went along and enjoyed the local music and traditional dancing on the stage and had a walk round the stalls along the front.  Fortunately the entertainment stopped at a sensible hour and we were able to get some sleep.

Néa Skioni, Khalkidhiki

© Pyxis 2011