Back to Nisís Palaio Tríkeri

We hadn’t intended to return to Nisís Palaio Tríkeri quite so quickly, it just worked out that way. We enjoyed a peaceful night on MacCat’s buoy in Órmos Vathoudhi and left late morning on Saturday 4 July.

Kotte in Órmos Tríkeri

Our intention was to take a look in the next big inlet to the west and then stop for lunch at the small island of Pithu just north of Nisís Palaio Tríkeri before heading out of the Gulf of Volos in the afternoon. There really wasn’t enough wind to sail so we gently motored along the Tríkeri peninsula and into Órmos Tríkeri. Tucked away in the corner of the inlet is the small village of Kotte. Typical for this area, it’s a small settlement of just a few houses and a couple of restaurants right on the water’s edge. Our lunch stop was planned to be a Pithu so we moved on enjoying the scenery as we went.

Nisís Pithu

Nisís Pithu is less than a mile northwest of Nisís Palaio Tríkeri and it has a small bay on its south side where we anchored. The water was clear and on either side of the bay are sandy and rocky headlands that made for good snorkelling. We also took the opportunity to clean BV’s bottom. There really wasn’t very much slime or weed to wipe off but she now has a super-smooth bottom again and so should go a fraction of a knot faster.

With lunch and cleaning chores completed we raised the anchor and headed for the entrance to the Gulf of Volos 5 miles south of us. 10 miles beyond is the port of Oreí where we expected to be for the night. However, the wind was less than 8 knots which really isn’t enough to get BV sailing properly going downwind. We could either motor for 2½ hours or change destination. We opted for the latter and turned north east to head back towards Nisís Palaio Tríkeri and that small bay just to the east of the port that we had spotted the day before.

The harbour at Nisís Palaio Tríkeri

Our destination was now directly into wind and so we zig-zagged our way there. BV sailed much better pointing towards the light wind than she would have done with it behind her so we made 4½-5 knots which we thought was quite good with an apparent wind of just 8.2 knots. Clearly all that scrubbing had been worth it!

As we approached Nisís Palaio Tríkeri I took some photos of the harbour, as I had meant to do when we last visited, before concentrating on tacking between the headlands in the narrow part of the channel between the island and the mainland. Just a short distance ahead was Órmos Pithos, the bay we would anchor in.

When we arrived in Órmos Pithos there were 4 other yachts and a motorboat anchored, each with a line running to the shore. We picked a gap between them, dropped our anchor and then reversed up to the shore before deploying the ‘Nicky mooring device’. She dived off the stern and swam at great speed towing a tape line so that she could secure us to a tree or rock on the shore. I couldn’t get the tape off the reel fast enough and then jammed it so Nicky came to abrupt halt half way to the shore. Not wishing to swing into one of the other yachts, she came back and this time took a normal mooring warp ashore to secure us. It took some speedy work and a quick delve into the lazarette to get the warps and tie them together but we managed to salvage the situation. With the line secured to a tree we had lots of time to free the tape and run that to a different tree to hold us in the correct position.

Órmos Pithos on Nisís Palaio Tríkeri

With 6 boats in the bay we thought that would be it for the night but as we relaxed in the cockpit more and more yachts turned up. In the end 12 boats spent the night there; it’s a popular place! And, it’s not entirely cut-off from civilization: there’s a small footpath which runs along the coast to the village and the water taxi can run people back to their yachts at the end of the evening if they don’t want to walk back.

Nisís Palaio Tríkeri, Greece