Tuesday 18^th August – Nisis Petalas – Messolonghi (Mesolóngion)

38:21.635N 21:25.026E

Over night the katabatic wind off the mountains kicked in for a while swinging us around on our anchor to the NE before becoming still again.

This morning we were up and out early for a trip to Messolonghi.  The early morning light made the landscape very picturesque; there was a light, fickle wind gusting occasionally and so we motored along enjoying the scenery.

As we approached the island of Oxiá off the south west corner of the mainland, the wind built to F4 and we were able to enjoy a pleasant sail for about 10-15 minutes before it disappeared and we had to start motoring again.

As we rounded Oxiá we headed east into the Gulf of Patras (Patraikos Kólpos) and motored past the low lying coast of salt-marsh and shoal water backed by steep hills towards Messolonghi.

Messolonghi is accessed via a 3km long canal to a large basin at the top, either side open salt marsh.  The canal is quite narrow but well marked, deep (around 7m), and has some houses on stilts (pelades) running up the side of it.  These were originally houses occupied by the fisherman of the area but many are now holiday homes and occupied by tourists who seem to love swimming out in front of yachts on their way up the canal.

As we approached the top of the canal where the marina is, Richard took out the binoculars to look ahead and said ‘You’ll never guess who the neighbours are’ recognising a number of boats.  As we went into the marina, there was Jacky from Arwen, who we had met in Argostoli, standing on the end of the pontoon, giving us the information we needed (i.e. park anywhere you like, etc., etc.) and as I approached an alongside berth, two men hopped off their respective boats and caught our lines before Richard even got ashore.  It was ones of the quickest berthings we’ve done.

As I stepped ashore, June from Piper wandered round to fill us in on the area, and by the time Cape arrived, we had all the information any tourist information office could have provided.  It was a wonderful welcome and we immediately felt at home.  Also here are Grand Slam who we saw in the anchorage at Vulcano, so it promised to be quite a party.

Late afternoon, once it had cooled off a little, Cape and Pyxis set off for a walk into town, as it was reputed to be quite a hike.  We found the hike not as far as expected, and quite pleasant.  We found a central pedestrian area with many bars and cafes, quite a few supermarkets and even a small Carrefour.  We had a drink at a bar whilst we scanned for and used the free wi-fi hotspots we had been told about and then came back to the marina.

The marina at Messolonghi is just being developed and by chance we arrived on the day the owners had arranged for a traditional Greek Orthodox blessing of the new marina.  So this evening everyone dressed their boats (with quite a variety of different club and national flags as well as the more traditional signal flags), and themselves, and went to the new harbour office for the ceremony.  The owners had also arranged food and beer for everyone and the party continued into the night.