Órmos Vathoudhi

On the chart the southeast corner fo the Gulf of Volos looks as though it has several interesting bays to explore. So, having left Nisís Palaio Tríkeri on Friday 3 July we headed that way. We had expected just 10 knots or so of wind from the east but, as we headed towards Milina, the wind increased quite unexpectedly to 20 knots (and a bit more in the gusts) so we dropped in 2 reefs. We weren’t the only ones surprised by the extra wind; there were several windsurfers screaming up and down but as we got closer we realised that all was not well. Five of the windsurfers were unable to get back to the shore and were sitting on their boards making distress signals towards the beach as they drifted further and further away. Not a lot seemed to be happening to recover them so we dropped sail and stood by to assist. We radioed to the beach safety team and eventually their safety cover RiB came out but it could only tow 2 boards at once so it took some time before we felt we could continue on our way.

Nísos Alatas

We made our way into Órmos Vathoudhi and explored the various coves but none really appealed or had sufficient shelter from the wind. We therefore tried anchoring just to the south of Nísos Alatas. There was a larger yacht anchored in the centre of the small bay and they seemed happy but we couldn’t get our anchor to bite properly. We think that there was just a thin layer of mud over smooth rock and the anchor was skipping along the rock with little resistance.

To ensure a peaceful sleep we moved across to the moorings in the bay opposite and secured ourselves there. We had been lucky to meet the Alan and Deborah from ‘MacCat’ when we were in Néa Klima; they keep their yacht in this bay and had said that we could use their mooring buoy if ‘MacCat’ were not in residence, so we did. Having fussed over making sure that BV was secure, and having watched the larger yacht also move across from Nísos Alatas to get properly anchored in the bay, the wind died and we were treated to a lovely sunset over millpond-like water!

Órmos Vathoudhi, Greece