Póros

We had expected leaving Athens to be quite straightforward but it was anything but that. When, at 10am on Wednesday 27^th August, Nicky went to check out with the marina’s Port Policeman he told her that our Greek language 3^rd party cover document was invalid as it showed us as having insufficient cover for death or injury (€300,000 vice €500,000) and for pollution (€90,000 vice €150,000). Consequently he would not stamp the departure section of the Transit Log so we could not leave. By this stage we had been in Greece for nearly 2 months and no one else had pointed out that there was a problem………… Fortunately, it was a working day and, though there was still the best part of an hour before the UK started work, when we rang our insurance company and explained the problem they were extremely helpful and sent us a revised cover document by email in under 15mins. The internet is a wonderful thing!

The Port Policeman had been very dismissive when Nicky had said that she would call the insurance company and come back quickly with a new document, so he was somewhat surprised when she did appear at his door an hour or so after having left him. However, he was dealing with another yachtsman at the time so she was abruptly told to wait outside. Half and hour later, the other yachtsman had had his paperwork stamped and, this time around there was no reason not to stamp ours (in triplicate, in two places, and then again on 3 copies of the crew list). We could leave – and we did! Admittedly, with our paperwork in order he was much more civil and there was much more bonhomie around when Nicky left the office.

Póros

Despite the delay, there was still no wind when we left so we motored most of the way to Póros, initially retracing our steps across the Precautionary Zone and past Áyia Marína on Nísos Aígina. The wind picked up after about 3hrs so we were able to sail for an hour or so from the southern end of Nísos Aígina to the entrance of Limín Pógonos, the ‘lagoon’ to the southwest of Nísos Póros. After a short motor across the lagoon we elected to moor on Póros’ northwestern town quay, rather than on the southern quay in the narrow channel between Póros island and the mainland shore.

The northwestern quay is potentially more exposed to the wind but apparently has better holding for the anchor.

We had food on board that needed eating and so we had dinner on board and delayed our exploration of the town until daylight the following day. It was a very convivial dinner and fantastic to have Neil on board to repay some of his generosity whilst we had been in Athens.

Hydrofoil passing the southern quay after visiting the northwestern quay    

The northwestern quay was pretty quiet (no bars playing loud music until 3am) but there was a slop from both the ferries and hydrofoils which go back and forth to the mainland and route fairly close past the quay. We were also little more exposed to the wind which generated small waves across the lagoon.

During our short wander around the town in the morning we decided the southern quay more sheltered from the elements and that is also a much livelier place overnight with lots of cafes and bars; in terms of liveliness we’d made the wrong choice but, on balance, our sleep was not disturbed in the very early hours.

We searched for a hat for Neil, enjoyed the views across to the mainland shore and explored a few of the narrow backstreets too. But, after only a short look round, we knew that we would have to be moving on as we wanted to reach Hydra in ample time to get a space in the island’s notoriously busy harbour. However, Póros is very pleasant; another place on our list of ‘must return to locations’ for next year so we will be back to have a better explore of the town then and a chance to enjoy the cafés and restaurants.

Póros’ southern quay

Póros