Day 293 - Lavrion Port and collecting the boat

We traveled from Athens to Lavrion, on the other side of the peninsula by taxi, which was a ride of about 2 hours. We had booked into a hotel at the Port of Lavrion. Well it was a marina at least. We had a lovely big family room and the rest of the hotel was practically empty, as it's still the off season.

The next morning we set off for the marina to find our boat and sort out all the paperwork for our voyage. Although I had done a dingy sailing course before and had a Canadian licence for a ship to shore radio, I was in no way entirely qualified to captain a yacht of this size. I managed to swing it with the authorities that I was sufficiently versed and the papers were stamped. We decided to be prudent and we had hired a skipper for the first 2 days. The idea was that he would show us the ropes and then we would take it from there.

The boat, named Phivos, was quite extraordinary. It was brand new and had never been sailed. The steering wheel was still bound in protective tape. However, it was fully kitted out, including SatNav, a dingy with an outboard and every conceivable safety device there is.  

The rental company sent a diver down to inspect the hull. They do this before you go out and when you come back. Just like they go over your rental car at the airport. To make sure you haven't done any damage.

We signed the forms, hopped on board and George, our hired skipper took us out to the open seas. We headed south, hugging the coast line and not long after, as it was now getting late in the day, we anchored up in Temple Bay. It was a lovely sheltered spot and we were in about 30 feet of  crystal clear water. We set up the SatNav with an alarm to warn us if we were going to drift in the night. The boys got snuggled down in the cockpit after we had supper in the galley.

After our first night afloat, George set sail and we headed across the open seas of the Saronic Gulf. It was way more choppy than yesterday and Julie was not at all impressed. The winds got up and there was a significant swell. George set the sails at half mast and we made a bee line for Poros.

It was pretty exciting sailing for this boat load of landlubbers. Some of us enjoyed it more than the others!

And we spotted our destination port on Poros.

George did all the necessary docking manoeuvers, explaining very little in the process and leaving us all with the dread of how we would accomplish such feats by ourselves. He left us at this point and got a hydrafoil back to home base. Now we were on our own!

We got the dingy out and did some instruction for the boys and a little exploration of the port. The dingy was to become Sammy's favourite.

Mummy prepared a meal for us while Sammy went to the dockside and helped the locals with their fishing.