Sunday 18^th – Thursday 22^ndSeptember – Messolonghi (Thunderstorms & Greek Coffee)

38:21.685N 21:25.019E

We have continued with various boat maintenance jobs around Pyxis this week... 

The Sunday BBQ was well attended as some people are starting to arrive for the winter and others are arriving back for an Autumn break.  

Monday was the lull before the storm with clouds starting to roll in by evening.  Mary and I went for a run up to Lidl with Lynn and John in their car for bulk supplies and then Richard cycled into town for a few odds and ends and some chandlery.  Late evening we joined Russell aboard Aqua Domus for a drink.

In the early hours of Tuesday the weather broke and we had thunderstorms all around, the pitter patter of rain around 4am was shortly followed by a severe squall.  Within minutes the wind leapt to over 30 knots of wind from astern and the instruments showed an averaged max of 41.6 knots, blowing dust from the quay through the mosquito nets and into the cockpit (more cleaning L).  Fortunately the wind soon eased but the thunderstorm continued for some time.  The poor weather continued throughout the day with more thunder and lightning and winds up to F5-6 at times. 

We have heard that boats taking shelter up in Vliho Bay have not been so fortunate during the storm, where the wind came through much stronger.  Many at anchor dragged or were knocked-down, some were blown ashore or lost their masts and a catamaran was completely turned over.  Many of the boats ashore in the boat yard were blown over with a lot of damage.  Sadly, there have also been some fatalities.  Quite a shock as Vliho is one of those places to go when the weather is bad.

With a couple of days of poor weather forecast, Richard had set aside time to sort out our forward heads.  One of the outlet pipes needed changing and so, having picked up some pipe from the chandlery, he set about changing the pipe.  Sorting the heads is never a pleasant task but somewhat necessary.  As ever the old pipe needed cutting off and proved to be well furred up but the new section went on relatively painlessly and hopefully we are sorted for a while longer.

Despite the weather Tuesday was music night in the café and we all had to dash up between the downpours to get there.  5 or 6 of the yachties arrived with their guitars and took turns to sing and play.  There were a couple of dozen of us sitting around enjoying the music, even those who had just come in for a meal were joining in.  The lightning made quite a spectacular backdrop for the evening.

On Wednesday the weather was overcast but improving, just occasional showers during the day.  The cloud formations over the lagoon and mountains have been quite impressive over the last couple of days.  Temperatures have been cooler and more manageable as a result; in fact it felt positively chilly this morning at 21°C.  Richard has had another go at piecing together the old sprayhood and cockpit enclosure so we can use them over the winter; the stitching is not in a good state where the sun has damaged the thread. 

On Thursday afternoon Mary, Lynn and I went for a coffee at one of the tavernas down by the town quay, having abandoned our plan to go for a ‘mud bath’ by the lagoon.  Well… ‘Greek coffee’ turned out to be a euphemism for ‘lots of white wine’ and we weaved our way back to the marina after a lively, perhaps raucous afternoon. 

Richard, meanwhile, took the opportunity to replace the new cockpit enclosure with the old one ready for winter.  This evening I managed to make pizza for dinner, which turned out rather good.

Messolonghi:  End of the summer sun

© Pyxis 2011