Ak Kastri and Órmos Peristéri

Ak Kastri

Whilst we were at Skópelos Nicky proposed a plan for getting ashore at Ak Kastri. We had been disappointed that we had not been able to climb up to the chapel on our first visit but the conditions had not been safe to leave BV. However, the forecast was for little wind in the morning and we knew that it is often a flat calm first thing with the wind only starting to build by mid-morning. So, Nicky and I got up early and we left Skópelos at 0730 to motor the 6 miles back to Ak Kastri.

With Nicky on the bow rock spotting, we crept our way into the bay. There were some quite shallow areas and large boulders and so we were very glad that we hadn’t risked anything the previous day. But, with so little wind today it was much easier to spot the underwater obstructions. Eventually we anchored on a good sandy bottom, a little further away from the chapel’s rocky outcrop than we had expected, and ran a line to some rocks ashore so that BV wouldn’t swing whilst we were away from her.

After waking up Charlotte and Sophie we packed towels, T-shirts, shoes and a small camera into a dry bag and swam ashore to the beach. As the strongest swimmer Nicky towed the dry bag behind her. Once ashore we were able to change from dripping swimmers into slightly scruffy and damp tourists which caused some interest from the first sunworshippers on the beach; what were these strange people from the boat doing?

Almost straight away we could see the view of the pathway up to the chapel used in the film and headed on up towards the summit. As you can see from the photo above, it’s a surprisingly steep path; not quite the quick dash you are led to believe watching Meryl Streep in the film.

The other piece of artistic license is the size of the chapel; it’s actually a tiny building and even smaller inside because of the rood screen, whereas in the film the whole cast sat in the chapel for the wedding scene. However, these were just minor observations; the setting was lovely and we had achieved our objective of getting to the main filming location on the island. A major result for our 2 Mamma Mia tourists.

After one last look at the chapel from the angles used in the film we went back down to beach and packed the dry bag for the swim back to BV. Tourism for the day was completed by 1030 just as the first breaths of wind started to be seen on the water; the early start had been very successful.

Once back on board BV we carefully made our way out of the bay and turned ESE aiming for the gap between the islands of Skópelos and Alónnisos. We wanted to get the the next island east of Alónnisos, Nísos Peristéra; a passage of about 17 miles. We motored the first half of the passage to the south of Alónnisos and then, pleasingly, the wind built enough for us to sail NE up to Peristéra.

Órmos Peristéra

On the south side of the island is the beautiful bay of Órmos Peristéri. It’s a lovely sheltered anchorage and perfect for showing Charlotte and Sophie what life on board in a remote anchorage is like.

As you would expect, they loved it. Lazy days spent reading, sunbathing and swimming; perfect holiday activities. They swam a lot and were amazed by the number of fish, describing it as like swimming in an aquarium. A starfish caused much interest and after watching it move around in a bucket of water they carefully returned it to where it had been found.

We were also very lucky benefitting from the generosity of one of our neighbours. The anchorage could hardly be described as busy. A few extra yachts came and went for lunch but by evening there were just 4 or 5 of us left anchored. On board one of the other yachts was a Danish family and the father had been snorkelling with a harpoon gun. He clearly was a good shot because he came back with more fish than he needed and gave us 2 large fish. The larger of the 2 he called a ‘Jack’; perhaps that was what I had caught when we were in Patitíri. Dinner plans were changed and the fish quickly filleted. Charlotte and Sophie took over the galley and treated us to a very tasty fish dinner.

Throughout the afternoon we had experienced the odd strong gust into the bay and that continued on Wedneday 22 July. We had intended to sail the short distance (4nm) up between the islands of Alónnisos and Peristéra to visit Stení Valla on the eastern side of Alónnisos. It is supposed to be very pretty and we’d missed seeing it the last time we were in this area because of our engine battery problem. It also concerned us a little that when we had passed by the yachts moored there were getting bounced around and seemed to have little shelter. Today we had exacly the same wind direction as then but not quite as strong. Even so, looking to the south we could see lots of white horses on the waves. We took a vote. A short but probably rough trip to Stení Valla or more holiday lazing in the sheltered surroundings of Órmos Peristéri? Lazing in Órmos Peristéri was the decision, so we stayed another night finally leaving at 0830 on 23 July.

Órmos Peristéri, Greece