Author: Gisela Wuerfel

Under sails all day in light winds. This is how Walter sails into the Seventies on his round birthday. It couldn't be more beautiful. From Ermioni to Poros. Here we have champagne in the cockpit and a delicious meal at Taverna Karovolos. Lamb kleftiko, hmm …

Ermioni (east side Peloponnese) yesterday. First we are almost alone for a day at the pier on the south side of the headland. But towards yesterday evening we feel like we are in another world: one catamaran after another circles in front of the pier looking for a place. The big marinas of Athens are not that far away and flotillas are obviously not only on the way in high summer.

Rain the next day. Nevertheless, everyone is gone and the next invasion comes in the evening.

We already knew that Leonard Cohen lived in Greece for a while - now we know exactly where. One of the most beautiful Greek islands is Hydra in the Saronic Gulf. It may be barren and not very fertile, but the inhabitants have managed to keep mass tourism away. The houses climb picturesquely up the hill from the harbour, the main town and the harbour look like a high amphitheatre.

In 1960, Leonard Cohen bought a house in Kamini, a small village next to the main town, and lived there until 1970, there he fell in love with his muse, the Norwegian Marianne. World hits like "Suzanne", "Stranger Song" and, of course, "So long, Marianne" probably originated here. His favourite pub in town was the Douskus, for whose landlord he even wrote his own song.

The island is pristine, of course there are many tourists, but there are no cars, only mules for transport - and that's how the inhabitants want it to stay. 

Coming from Porto Heli, we briefly put our bow into the small harbour of Hydra. It is supposed to be very crowded most of the time. When we arrive, there are already two rows of boats nested inside each other. Anchor salad is inevitable when we cast off. We sail one nautical mile further and anchor in the quiet bay of Mandraki. From here, the next day, we take a beautiful panoramic path to the main town and also to Leonard Cohen's favourite places.

We say "So long, Marianne!" 

On Greek Orthodox Easter Monday, Tillmann and Claudia came on board for a short visit. Tillmann sings in the Heidelberg Jazz Choir, in which Gisela still likes to sing when she is at home in Heidelberg.

Actually, we wanted to take them out for a day of sailing. No wind. So we make a shore excursion to Kilada and walk along a very beautiful footpath to the Franchthí Cave, one of the most important prehistoric sites in Greece. It was continuously inhabited from 10,000 BC until the Neolithic period 6000 to 1800 BC. It is impressive how large the cave is. 

We make another small detour to Kilada, see the two shipyards and the many boats standing on land. We had already heard from other sailors that this is a good and safe winter parking place for boats. In any case, Kilada is a beautiful and very well protected natural harbour where it is easy to anchor.

After a delicious Mythos on tap, Tillmann and Claudia drive us back to Porto Heli. Thank you very much for the nice visit and the beautiful excursion! Ciao until the next choir rehearsal during the winter break!     

Windy predicts a nice westerly wind. It could well take us across the Argolic Gulf to Porto Heli. But: hardly any wind, but dolphins at the boat.

We drop anchor in the large, well-protected bay of Porto Heli. Two years ago, we were here once before on our thirtieth wedding anniversary. At that time there were 35 knots of wind. The next morning we move to the marina. We need shore power and a warm shower. The marina is now fully functional, has moorings and a house with showers and toilets, as posh as we have never seen before in Greece. The mooring fees are correspondingly high: 50 euros per night for our boat. We enjoy the luxury and are pleased with the very friendly staff. Here we can also get a new gas bottle and renew our food stocks in the nearby supermarket.

And yes, now it's the Greek Orthodox Easter for the next two days! This is what we experience here in Porto Heli: The church bells ring for a whole series of services, Easter bonfires, lamb on the spit outside, music, fireworks and dancing in the evening.

Now we are in Gerakas, a tiny village in a fjord a little north of Monemvasia. The small blue and white houses are reminiscent of the Aegean. Above the entrance to the fjord are the ruins of the ancient acropolis Zarax. Pure idyll!

We had said goodbye to our visitors, Annegret and Christoph, the day before in Monemvasia. It was a wonderful time for the four of us, although completely different from what we had planned. We wanted to sail in small stages in the Argolic Gulf. On the first day of sailing, we had to motor a bit. The engine failed. We had already reported about that.
As it turned out, it was due to the contents of the two diesel tanks. We feared diesel plague, i.e. microbes that form sponges in the tanks. Willi, the mechanic called in by the Coastguard, pumped about 150 litres of diesel out of our two tanks. Probably no diesel plague, but lots of sludge at the bottom of the tanks. It must have accumulated over the years. It all had to come out. All two tanks were cleaned and filled with "good" diesel licensed by Shell. 300 litres. That's a real blow to the boat's budget. But we want to sail and not motor. So hopefully we won't need a new tank filling any time soon.
The whole thing took three days. A lot of work for the mechanic, a really nice person, although we had a hard time communicating. He no English, we no Greek. But he has a brother who lived in Berlin for ten years. So there was translation work by mobile phone from time to time. Yesterday everything was ready. And dear Willi came over especially to give us a bottle of olive oil and a bottle of wine, surely from his own production. At least he assured us that the wine doesn't make a head. After our experiences with him, we take his word for it.
Fortunately, Annegret and Christoph were there with a rental car. This made excursions into the surrounding area possible. In a very uncomplicated and spontaneous way, they got to know what there was to discover here - from the bakery in the neighbouring village, which also sells very good olive oil, to the drive into the mountains and through the villages. Not to mention the many flowering plants they determined. And they cooked super tasty meals, which you probably hardly ever manage in the patry of a boat. And then there was the live on-board music every evening. It was great with you both! Thank you!

There is no ship's piano on Aglaya. But two of Walter's guitars travel with him - an Epiphone for swing and an Ortega for bossa nova. From the band "Jazz Pastry", in which Walter plays guitar at home, we are far away. But the Pastries came to us on the boat. Unfortunately, the pianist didn't get holidays for Easter, but Annegret brings the vocals and Christoph the bass. There's something going on, every evening, after the delicious home-cooked dinner. Unfortunately, we don't have a warm Greek spring at the moment, but cool Irish showery weather. So no music on the pier. But our salon is perfectly made for small house- no(!) boat concerts.

Our Scottish boat neighbour Alexander, who wants to circumnavigate Europe with his boat (partly overland), is also part of the party on one of the evenings. Some pieces we can sing as a trio.

So the good spirits on our boat get to know such beautiful jazz standards as "Agua de beber" or "Night and Day" or "Don't be that way" ... A nice change from the howling of the wind in the rig.

Little taste of ”Night and Day”