A really good sail in the channel between Hydra and the mainland, but as is typical, when we turned the corner between two islands on the headland, the wind totally switched off and we motored the final 3 miles to Poros. Poros has the potential to be a really nice place, narrow streets on the side of a hill, lots of tavernas etc, however!
It’s the first stop generally for charter boats, so as they squeezed in around us, there was lots of shouting as inexperienced boats manoeuvred back to the quay. The fun really started for us at 1030pm when an RYA training boat decided he was going to squeeze in beside us, in the darkness and in a space that was obviously far too small for him. Despite lots of shouting and swearing from us and from a crowd of people on the shore, the instructor continued to tell his two day skipper students to continue. Even as one of our stanchions started to bend, and we let him know in very old fashioned English he continued to reverse. The end result, we had a bent gate stanchion, caused by this idiotic RYA instructor teaching his students the ‘Mediterranean’ way of parking a boat. We were not happy, especially when he told us that he had no insurance documents on board.
The next morning, the instructor reluctantly apologised and we agreed to go to Aegina on Monday and they would look at it and repair or replace.
The boat next to us had a very nice French couple on board. A large catamaran pulled up next to them and tied their lines. The Frenchman was cross because their lines were rubbing on his boat. But the arrogant young skipper refused to do anything about it (he could’ve simply tied a short line to it and pulled it away and tied it to the quay) telling him to get the Port Police to sort it out!
On Sunday afternoon we cycled round the coast to a beach and on the way back stopped off for a coffee and a beer in a very Greek (locals only and menu all in Greek) and very friendly Taverna by the sea’s edge. Must go there for a meal one day. You can also hire quad bikes not far from here.
Monday morning a boat next to us left at 0700 to be immediately replaced by another big charter boat, this time with a generator running. They had to be told! (No need when you can plug in to shore electricity).
Just got time for a walk up the hill to the clock tower then up the other hill to the old mill then back the long way down – a good path and dirt track till it abruptly stopped and we had to tentatively make our way across a bonfire site.
Just before we left, a big ‘professionally’ skippered cat next to us tried leaving, but for some reason he only untied one of his stern lines and as the anchor was raised by one of the boat’s guests, who didn’t understand the word stop, the cat slewed round and it’s stern badly scraped along the boat the other side, so much so that they heard a crack from the hull. We left quickly!
Next time we’ll visit off season or anchor off!
