And finally for 2008

Aqua Marina

The trip over to Zea Marina in Piraeus (the port of Athens) was uneventful despite all the comings and goings of ferries, tankers and assorted other large vessels. Pays to have eyes in the back of your head around here!
Athens was only just visible through a thick layer of pollution and there was no chance of seeing the Acropolis from the sea. Slowly the city emerged, blinking from the dirty haze and we saw Piraeus clearly for the first time. A jungle of high rises and towers extending to the very boundary of the sea front; clinging precariously at some points to the crumbling cliff edges.
As we come into the main marina area we noted the sunken boats on the north quay… not exactly good advertising and considering it happened around 2005 you think they would have made the effort to get rid of the evidence! Sobering stuff…
We had booked a berth in Zea but when we arrived organisation seemed nonexistent and we spent an hour trying to get someone to show us where to park. Finally Murray picked a staff member at random and motored behind him all over the marina until he finally relented and parked us on D pontoon… amongst the super yachts and launches. Much to his surprise (“humm, I think your boat is too small for the space”) we managed to make Mae fit and settled into our new spot. We are getting used to being referred to as “the little English boat” and it still amazes us how big all the charter boats have got. 50ft is now the norm and they manage to cram 8 to 10 people on them… the overflow sleeping in the cockpit each night.
The marina is run by the same people as Lefkas and Kalamata and like those it had different rules from the others! Water and power cost 7 euro… we try to explain that we only need a hundred litres not 1 cubic metre but there is no budging a Greek from rules once they are written down so we decline that option.
Our jobs in Athens included buying a new anchor. The 10kg bruce is great in sand and mud but really need up-rating so we opt for a 16kg Delta. A bit over the top maybe but we have discovered we tend to anchor more than most and the added security might be nice! Now we just need to get the bow roller adjusted to fit!
One of the reasons we had gone to Athens was to go to the National Museum… all 10 hectares of it… luckily they have reduced the viewing area to around 2 acres but it still took us all morning and part of the afternoon to go through it. Some excellent pieces but maybe a little too many and not enough interpretation to explain them for the most part. We called it a day in the vases room and made our way out to do a bit of on foot sightseeing. The public transport system in Athens is amazing and really efficient. 3 euros gets you a 24 hour ticket to the metro, buses and trolley buses… why did we decide to mostly walk then?! It is a great place to walk around though, with the dirty back streets hiding some really interesting stuff including archaeological digs being worked on. Every time someone pulls an old building down here they find another layer of history. No wonder some of the major sites are a little dowdy, there just isn’t enough money to go around. We spent the rest of the afternoon plodding up Lykavittos hill to survey Athens and the plains of Attica. Just stunning views. Athens goes on and on into the distance, a crammed collection of tiny whitewashed boxes interspersed with rocky mounds and iconic buildings. Like everyone else we snap many photos and enjoy the breeze that is keeping the smog at bay.
Enough views… it was off to the Craft Brewery… unfortunately there appeared to be an issue with the red on tap (everywhere… slightly sour) and so after a couple of samplings of different beers we headed back to Mae. It had been a big day and an early night was in order! (Good Chinese food to be had right next to the marina!)
Bright and early the next morning I set off to use the wifi connection to finally up load the blog… no such luck… no cards left and no I couldn’t use the public computer… I washed the boat as a protest! So long Athens… see you next year!

The wind down…
And so back to Aegina and Poros it was… had to have one last meal at Theo’s!
Really nice to have a relaxing few days in an area we know well and we cruised down to Dhokos and Ermioni to catch up with Uncle Richard. On the way we meet up with Jane and Trev (“Summer Breeze”) who we met in Sami. They are looking to sell their Moody 46 and buy something smaller… something to be said for the little boat after all!
Small things are starting to wear out… the impeller failed on the way back from Athens and the up button on the windlass ceased to work… thankfully they are all minor things that are easily fixed and we have plenty of spares on board. I think we are all looking forward to a “winter” break.
We head up the gulf to Spetses and Naplion and then back down to Vavari and a beautiful bay just south of Kaladhia, our final destination.
It’s time to get ready of laying up and it’s all polishing, oiling and washing, sails come off and halyards frapped etc. The big pull out day is Wednesday the 8th of October… it has been a great first season (about 15oo nautical miles of Greek coastline including the coast of the Peleponese, most of the Ionian, Saronic and Cyclades and goodness knows how many engine hours!) and although we are excited to be going home it is nice to know we will be back next year… northern Greece and Turkey are beckoning…