It is now Monday morning, September 16th, Nikea is on dry land, and we are packing up the car. Our flight isn’t until next Saturday (21st) but we’ve had enough of storms and crowded ports.
Continuing on from where we left you, we were awaiting the storm in Vlicho bay. Anchor set deep, food and beer consumed at the Vlicho Yacht Club. The last time we were here, it was due to blow from the south, but instead blew a strong gale from the west. This time, we anticipated the storm from the north-west. Being at the bottom of the bay meant if we dragged the anchor, we would end up in shallow mud. Also, the fetch across the natural harbour (such as it was) could have made for a bumpy night. I have sat in the cockpit during a north-west storm in Vlicho, watching solar panels fly off the roof of a house on the shore. The wind can funnel through this bay quite dramatically, and the venturi effect can increase the wind speeds considerably. Not so, this time. We expected north-west, and it blew from the south. The perfect place for that would have been on the quay wall in Spartochori!
Whenever new people come onto the boat, apart from the brief safety talk, I usually explain why boats have two batteries. I go through the whole “don’t ever disconnect the batteries while the engine is running” stuff, to put the fear of god into them. I show them how to move the battery selector switch from 2 (House) to 1 (Engine) when starting, and then when the engine is running, I show them how to set it to Both and finally back to 2 when the engine is stopped. You’d think I would pay attention to my own blathering lectures!
An interesting couple of days, to say the least! Boats, eh? Between engines, storms, and busy ports, it has been a challenge. Let me elaborate…
Thanks to school exams for Ben, and the small matter of a global pandemic, this was our first visit to Nikea since 2018. Well, that’s strictly not true - I did a quick trip with Tim and Asta in 2021, ostensibly to do some repair work. We are not fans of the high summer heat in Greece, and with Ben’s school year, the only available month was June. Even that has been hard to manage, in recent years. Now that he is away in college, we were free to schedule a more convenient time to visit the boat. It’s not just the heat, though. We’re not huge fans of searching for the last available slot on the quay, and would prefer earlier or later in the season. We chose September, which hasn’t worked out as well as we might have hoped.