The Northern Sporades

Naama and Yael's parents left us in Lavrion on July 14th, and we started sailing towards the bridge on the following day.

We had the wind straight on our nose and we had to tack towards the bridge of Khalkidas. We left Lavrion late, at about 1pm, and were thinking to do the 60 miles to the bridge non stop and try to get there before 10pm which is the time the bridge may open.

As we proceeded, the wind got stronger and stronger with considerable waves. At some point we had 24 knots of apparent wind, we had one reef on the main and some jib and were heeling “nicely”. It was a little hard for Noga and Yasmin to hold themselves up in the cockpit, and then we were hit by a small wave at the stern that got Yael and Noga all wet. This was too much and we turned back. We sailed 8 miles back to Porto Rafti. We were doing 8-9 knots in a back wind. We anchored for the night in the middle of Portp Rafti bay, swinging around in strong gusts. But the boat was holding very well and we had no problems.

The next day, the wind died, and we left relatively early in the morning towards the bridge, motoring all the way up. After a lunch stop in the famous town of Eritrea, we proceeded to the bridge. We crossed the bridge at 1:30am. Both Noga and Yasmin woke up for the occasion.

After another night stop in Orei, we reached Koukounaries beach on Skiathos. I think we spent 3 days on that beautiful beach. One evening, while we were sitting in the cockpit, Yael mentioned that there is absolutely no wind, and then with no warning (but according to the forecast), the wind picked up to 30 knots. Of course we were anchored properly and saw a few other boats turning on their navigation lights and starting to find a better place for their anchor.

After Skiathos, we sailed in perfect wind (15-18 knots), to Steni Vala where we have friends from our long trip to Greece 10 years ago. Their parents live all summer in Peristera. It's a deserted island with just a couple of houses. They produce their electricity from the sun. They have water from a small well, they have trees, chicken, goats, etc.
We visited them about 3 times in Peristera. It’s not safe enough to stay overnight, but we could go ashore to see the goats, the chicken, the well, and so on. Like people used to live a few centuries ago.

After several days in Steni Vala (where we had an episode with our batteries and had to wait for the local engineer) we were starving for some nice quiet bay, so we sailed down all the way to Skantzoura (about 12 miles). It’s a small uninhabited island half way down to Skiros. This is where we found the perfect bay.

The water is really crystal clear. When you swim you can see the “walls” of the bay, like in a swimming pool. With a white soft sand it’s really beautiful.

I went walking on the island to see the breath taking view to Alonissos, Kira Panayia and Pilion (on the mainlad). While standing there, staring at Alonnisos, I heard the bush move a little. Then I saw a huge male wild goat, with huge horns like the ones of a buffalo. We were looking carefully at each other for a good minute. I didn’t know what his plans were, so at some point I slowly turned back and started to walk down the hill and back to the beach.

The following day, we left after lunch and tacked against the wind the 20 miles between Skantzoura and Kira Panayia where we are now. This is a huge land locked bay, almost completely closed (the opening is only 80m), and the water here is like a lake. Very quiet, with green hills and cliffs around us, and many wild goats walking around. We couldn’t go to the beach here as the bottom is full of sea urchins in numbers that I haven’t seen before.

All around this area there are many dolphins. Some of them escorted us for maybe 20 minutes.


Next - Skiros, the Island of winds.