Tuesday 2^nd August – Nisís Dhiaporos, Khalkidhiki (Panayia)

40:12.248N 23:46.741E

Today was a day of marked contrasts.

After breakfast we shipped anchor in fair conditions, having decided to take a trip to look at the other anchorages around the island of Dhiaporos, before heading up to Panayia.  As we rounded the first corner from our anchorage to go around the inside of the island, the water shallowed considerably in front of a sand spit and so I was despatched to the bows to guide us through.

As we emerged from the sand spit, the water became deeper and we motored on happily intending to look at the anchorage at the northern end of the island that also has good shelter.  As we motored along the clouds rolled in and the wind started to increase.  As we emerged at the top of the island the swell and wind became such that investigating the narrow entrance to the northern anchorage with wind and swell pushing us into it didn’t seem like a sensible idea, especially as we’ve noticed that the charting of this area is highly suspect and the cloud cover and swell meant we had lost the light for spotting the shoal patches from the bow.

As I looked around I spotted heavy cloud and lightning over the land at the head of the finger.  We really don’t like being out in lightning so we looked at our options and decided to make straight for the small town of Panayia a couple of miles away on the mainland where we had heard that there was a new, small, unadopted marina we could go to moor alongside (another EU funded project).

We arrived just ahead of the storm and went alongside the outside of wavebreaker pontoon.  We put the cockpit enclosure up and the sides down, just as the rain started.  The thunderstorm we had seen passed to the north of us and we caught just the edge of the rain.  However, as we sat there, another thunderstorm closed in and passed behind us to the south, out to the island anchorage we had just left.  We sat and watched the lightning flashes as it passed.

After the thunderstorm passed the rain eased but we could see more thundery cloud approaching in the distance.  We looked to see if there was a space for us inside the tiny marina but it looked like it had already been filled by local boats with their own tailed moorings – we would have to stay on the outside. 

Panayia is just across the inlet from the marina, a short distance to go by dinghy but a long walk around.  So we launched the dinghy and dinghied across to the small village before the next weather front arrived.  Whilst there we checked out the tourist boat trips which run across to the Akti Peninsular, walked to the petrol station with a small can to get petrol for the generator, went to the small but surprisingly well stocked supermarket, and then visited the fresh fish stall on the quay.  I saw some fresh tuna and couldn’t resist buying one, so it looks like dinner will be tuna-centric for a couple of days.  As we walked round, the rain visited us on and off but was quite refreshing.

When we returned to Pyxis, we found the wind had gone around again and had got up from the north, the direction the bay is open to.  It was blowing us hard onto the low pontoon and the swell was working its way into the bay and tossing us around – it was very uncomfortable as I put the provisions away.  We decided this was not a good place to stay.  Eventually it eased enough to allow us to get away from the pontoon and we set off back to the anchorage. 

Once outside again, the weather was suddenly so still and calm that it was difficult to believe it had been so rough earlier – the weather is just so unsettled up here at the moment.  On the way back we decided to have another try at looking at the northern anchorage on the island.  We discovered there was quite a disconnect between the chart and the land plus there was a fishing pot right in the narrow entrance; we decided to save that adventure for another day.

We went back to our original anchorage and tried to set the record for the number of times it took to set the anchor – I think I must have weeded the entire area before we managed to get enough purchase for our standard reverse throttle test (4 times it took before we were happy).

Guess what, it was tuna for dinner!

Panayia, Khalkidhiki

© Pyxis 2011