Monday, December 11, 2017
We arrived in Corinth on Saturday afternoon as planned, and the plan went off track from there. We really didn’t plan to do anything in Corinth, so we pulled up to the commercial docks (the small boat harbour didn’t have room). We tied up and settled in for a nice sleep.
About 5am the boat began smashing against the wall. Hmmm, there is only supposed to be 5 kts of wind. Short version, by 9 am the winds were topping out at 35 kts with sustained winds in the 25 kt range. While we were considering making a run for the canal, a local suggested that we stay for a few hours until things calmed down. We took the advice, but the weather didn’t calm down until well past dark and of course we chose to stay the night.
We spent the better part of the day trying to hold the boat off the rubber bumper with fenders. The wind was such that it was very difficult to keep fenders in place and we spent the day babysitting the fenders. With the boat beating against the massive rubber bumper at the stern all day and the difficulty keeping a fender in place, the rub rail will need some work.
By the time we turned in for the night, the winds were down to 8 knots and the wind had turned enough to push us off the wall. When we woke this morning, the water was flat again and the air calm. We untied and made our way to the canal. Going through the canal was a highlight for me, but it was an expensive transit. The canal is 6 km long, and the price was 250 euros but it was quite pretty.
On the way through…
The East side of the canal (after paying the bill)!
As we approached Piraeus (Athens), the traffic was crazy. The harbour has a traffic control channel (13) to keep everyone going in the right direction and far enough apart. It was more like an air traffic control centre. But we made it through with only a couple of warnings and got to the marina by 3pm.
That’s it for tonight.