Corinth Canal - Athens

Serafina
Rob & Sarah Bell
Mon 4 May 2009 21:11
37:56.1N 23:38.9E

Monday 4th May
Blustery, cold and grey, but we had to get going around 7.00am as we spotted
several large ships heading for the canal entrance and that was the clue to
rush over and join them for the passage South East to the Aegean Sea.

Not a great day for taking photos of this historic canal, but we managed
loads and once again a select few have been posted at www.rhbell.com.

It is very expensive to make this transit and it is a wonder where they
spend this money as the state of maintenance of this stunning heritage site
is woeful. British Waterways would be appalled if this was one of their 2000
miles of canal for sure! The banks on both sides for the first mile from the
western end have eroded very badly and no serious attempt has been made
anywhere to stop this deteriorating further. At some stage in the more
recent past they have added a few lights along the length of the canal. This
consists of single lamps placed roughly every 200 metres and the power is
provided to each one by a cable dangling down the rock face from the top of
the cutting. Not exactly maintaining the built heritage of this world famous
feature!

Emerged into the Aegean Sea right next to an oil refinery and what with the
grey skies and the biting cold wind today, it was just like being back in
Southampton Water and the River Test! At least the wind got up and we
enjoyed a chilly but fast sail for the 30 miles to Piraeus (Zea Marina)
which is the sea port for Athens.

Along the way we met an extraordinary craft which turned out to be not
unlike the sort of boat they use to row across the Atlantic, but this one
was powered by pedals and had three very cheerful Dutchmen on board, one of
whom seemed to be photographing us almost as enthusiastically as we were
photographing them! We were also challenged by a Greek warship who called us
up on the radio, presumably because we were passing through a submarine
exercise area, but apart from checking who were, they merely acknowledged
that we had a good radio signal! (Now, it is entirely possible that
something here was lost in translation, but they steamed off anyway, leaving
us to continue our journey.....)

We then passed through an anchorage off Piraeus Harbour with no less than 38
ships at anchor, crossed a traffic separation scheme and finally approached
Zea Marina which is in an old port that once housed the Athenian War Fleet.
Had to hang around at the entrance for an hour and a half as they were busy
trying moor a large motor yacht that clearly had engine problems, but we
finally were led in by charming and apologetic marineros and ushered into a
nice berth close to the marina office. Sarah energetically washed the
decks, followed by a big shop at a large Carrefors (height of luxury!).

Seems a great spot from which to spend a few days visiting Athens doing the
tourist bit.