Spétsai

Nísos Spétsai sits in the approaches to the Argolic Gulf. None of us had been there before so, with a brisk northeasterly forecast for the day, we decided to visit. We left  Póros at about 1000, just as the breeze was beginning to build and motored back along the channel by which we had arrived at Póros a couple of days previously. Once in clear water we hoisted the main and genoa and headed off to the southeast, aiming at the short cut gap between the islands of Skilli and Spathi off the Skillaion headland.

Typically we managed to time our arrival in the narrow channel just as a hydrofoil zoomed past in the other direction.

Strevs at the helm with Nicky and Malcolm in the cockpit   

Once through the short cut we turned southwest and headed along the northern coast of Nísos Ídhra. For a short period, we were joined by a school of dolphins; a real bonus for Strevs and Malcolm.

We sailed between Ídhra and Dhokós and from there were able to turn to head directly for Spétsai. However, with the wind dropping and plenty of time in hand, instead of rushing to Spétsai, we took a little diversion and anchored off the beach close to the villa belonging to Strevs’ boss. It was a nice lunch stop and after an hour at anchor, during which time the wind had built again, we headed on. All in all, it was very civilised sailing and, at 32 miles, a perfect passage length to keep everyone entertained.

Approaching Spétsai, Baltiza Creek   

Spétsai’s main town is on the island’s north coast. Our pilot book likens it to the Italian Riviera and it is certainly popular and busy with tourists arriving on a steady stream of ferries and launches. We wanted to moor BV in Baltiza Creek but we weren’t sure that there would be space for us. Some of the comments we’d read about the creek were very off-putting and suggested that it wasn’t worth the hassle, with one of the mooring areas being blocked by 4 old freighters. Nevertheless, we decided to give it a go anyway, expecting to have to run some long lines ashore.

BV moored on the right hand side looking rather small   

The yachts on the outside of the harbour were rather large but we worked our way in and found what we thought was the last available space at the end of a line of anchored visitors. Dropping our anchor most of the way across the creek we backed up towards the shoreline and held position whilst Nicky swam some lines ashore. It took a while to find somewhere to tie onto but eventually we were happy that BV was secure. We were very glad that we had arrived when we did as shortly thereafter the whole sailing world seemed to turn up and fill every last nook and cranny in the creek.

Quite a few large motoryachts turned up and we watched as they dropped their anchors and then secured themselves either directly to the old freighters or to the freighters’ anchor chains. So much for the assessment that the freighters had reduced the available mooring space!

A German couple arrived in a charter yacht and tried to get into the space between us and the catamaran we were ‘next’ to. By this time there was quite a strong crosswind blowing so we called to them suggesting that they sit alongside BV for a while. This they did whilst they tied every available rope that they had on board to try to make something long enough to secure themselves to the shore. They cursed the lack of gear on board their yacht but did manage to make it all work in the end.

At one stage we wondered if we had made a big mistake picking our mooring spot when a ferry cruised in close past us. Fortunately, he was just mooring up for the night and so we were not bothered by midnight comings and goings.

With all of the activity in the harbour it was a great place to enjoy sundowners…

…before taking the dinghy ashore to find a restaurant for dinner. We were pleased that we had ignored the negative comments about mooring at Spétsai and visited the town. It was full of tourists but the town was very much alive and we enjoyed or walk around it. There are lots of lovely looking boutiques and restaurants and overall we were left with a nice feeling about the place. We had a tasty meal at a restaurant next door to the fish market (closed at that time in the evening) though, to be fair we didn’t need to have walked so far for a meal as we passed plenty of busy restaurants close to Baltiza Creek. Back on board BV, though, we found that the Baltiza Creek area was perhaps a little too lively, with loud bar music playing until 0415 – or perhaps we just chose our mooring location unwisely – maybe there was a reason that the space was available when we had arrived!

Spétsai, Greece