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21st September - 5th October Aegina and our first
Aegean experience
On 21st September we flew out to Madison on Aegina
for the beginning of a 3 month holiday. We're not quite
sure exactly where we're heading but thats the beauty
of what we do.
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After a night in Athens, as we couldn't make the last ferry
we arrived in Souvala, Aegina about 3pm on 22nd September.
Since then we've met loads of lovely folk and we've only been
here a fortnight. Initially we rented an apartment in Souvala
for the first 5 days so we could complete the jobs that needed
doing on Maddie. The apartment owner, Vangeli, was lovely
and even met us from the ferry in his car to help us with
our bags.
We hired a car during our time at the apartment, which meant
we could be in Aegina Town when we wanted. A French couple,
Dominic & Claire, (Yacht Optimiste) came to the yard.They
were in moored Aegina
Town and looking for somewhere to haul out so we gabbed
to them and went to meet them later. Here we also met Kim
and Ray, Yacht Karma Waters who were from Brisbane, Australia.
Ray kindly let us climb over his boat to get onto Optimiste
as it was too big a jump for Laura's little legs from the
quayside. So a pleasant time was spent having a drink and
a gab. We proceeded to swap lots of useful information as
is the case with the floating community.
One day while we working on Maddie there was a terrible storm
and the road to the yard was actually flooded and we had to
wait for it to clear. When we got to the yard there was a
small river flowing through due to the amount of rain. It
was crazy weather. Thankfully there was a little snack van
near the yard where we could enjoy a frappe or beer while
we waiting for road to clear.
Once in the water we spent a few days in Aegina Town (harbour
rot sets in easily when you find somewhere you love). We had
to take Ken back to the airport so had a 7.00am start to get
the ferry. Hopefully there won't be too many early starts
like that. We had dinner with Ray and Kim too. Whilst moored
in Aegina Town we were lucky to meet an Edinburgh family,
Colin, Louise, Isla (4) and Maggie (2), on their catamaran
Skyran,
and spent a lovely few days in their company. Maggie and Isla
are very lovely and very funny and it was great to hang out.
Finally on Friday 1st October (Laura's
birthday) we left Aegina Town to travel a whole 4 miles
to Perdika. It was exhausting ;-D Our friends, Tracy, Adrian
and baby Rose are coming to Perdika on 7th October for a holiday
so we wanted to suss out the harbour so we could visit them.
We had a lovely meal in a seafood restaurant as part of the
birthday celebrations. Unfortunately in the early hours of
2nd October a terrible storm hit Perdika and 3 yachts (including
us) lost their holding and the anchors went loose which resulted
in Maddie scraping herself along a big rock. However its nothing
too major albeit not a great thing to happen. Just another
repair job to add to the list. At least Gelcoat repairs are
something we have already experience of and the supplies to
carry out.
Why does the bad weather always hit us in the early hours
and never during daylight hours! We tried to leave Perdika
to get somewhere a bit safer but the weather was too bad so
we had to come back and try another berth. As it was within
a few hours the storm went, the sun came out and you wouldn't
have known there had been any problems at all. A 60ft luxury
motor yacht came in alongside and let us tie onto them aswell
as the quay for extra security just in case the weather turned
bad again. Thankfully it was great that night. Dominic and
Clarie also came into Perdika so we hooked up with them again.
On Sunday we left Perdika and sailed across to the island
of Poros
which is absolutely stunning. We moored up and explored the
town. A beautiful classic British Gaff rigged yacht called
'Planet'
with Simon, Cat and Simon's dad, Martin came alongside too.
So we spent a few hours with them aswell exchanging tales.
Simon and Cat are one year into a two year tour of the Med.
The next day Colin and Louise came alongside too with Isla
and Maggie so we had a fab time just socialising. We spent
last night on anchor with Simon and Cat and had a evening
together again. Colin brought Isla out on his dinghy to us
too so Isla could get a swimming lesson. I think we spent
more time talking than swimming though.
So thats the first 2 weeks over. Think we will anchor again
tonight. We love Poros so might stay another day before heading
over to meet Tracy, Adrian and Rose. We are going to anchor
over near Galatas tonight as there is a Lidl so we can take
the trolley and get some extra supplies and I also need to
get some fuel for the outboard and there is a petrol station
over there.
Madison
is so far performing very well. We are still working on getting
her leak free on the topsides as the sun and heat are playing
holy hell with the sealant on any of her deck fittings and
we are forever re-sealing something to stop the ingress of
rain and sea spray. Despite these little issues we can't complain
with how great Madison has turned out to be.
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