40:14.20NN 23:16.63E

01 Jul 10

We have enjoyed pottering about the central of the three peninsulas since we arrived on the mainland and today headed north to Nea Mhoudania, a small, working harbour at the northern end of the western peninsula.  A nine hour sail and motor that included everything from no wind to too much wind and a choppy, uncomfortable sea so we were pleased to arrive.  The electronic chart plotter map was completely different to the one in the pilot guide book so we entered slowly, past a ferry and took a look to try and work out what was what.  What was what was that the harbour had been redeveloped (thanks once again to millions of Euro’s from the EU) and the Chartplotter was right.  Once again we were faced with a fabulous harbour and complete chaos.  It was pretty clear from the layout of the boats that no-one was organising anything and there was no one to guide us into a berth or take our lines .  In addition it was pretty shallow so we nudged our way in, Mike shouted over to a couple of people on boats to ask about depth and we found a space.

Fantastic bollards to plug into for electricity and water.  Not working.  Swish harbour office.  Completely empty and deteriorating.  Plumbed in fire fighting equipment – no idea, but doubt that would have been much help if we had needed it.

Not a tourist in sight although the rest of the town had clearly had money spent on trying to make it look smart and attractive and, once again many shops with hardly any stock at all.

Roland and Michael arrived with 1,000 Typhoo teabags, gin, vodka and Marks and Spencer pillows.  Comfort and sustenance all in one go.

We set off the next morning back to Porto Koufo where they paddled ashore to find the perfect restaurant.

And they did.  A fabulous fish and selection of wine to sample.

Michael had done a couple of sailing courses with Mike so was keen to refresh his skills; particularly in the area of sail trimming  which he got down to a fine art.  He will shortly be writing the definitive guide and producing a regular column for ‘Sail Trimmers Monthly’.

Roland is an experienced sailor who Mike met when they crossed the Atlantic together a few years ago.  So experienced he can sail without the use of his hands.

Meanwhile, with everything under control the skipper can take a nap.

We were generally lucky with the weather and had plenty of wind so could put Tashi Delek through her paces and enjoy the sailing.  We headed for the most eastern Peninsula – ‘Akti’ – and spent a few hours motoring down the coast looking at the monasteries which are worth a blog of their own.