With the next storm on the horizon, our next hide-out was planned to be Zea Marina in Athens, where we could take some time on land and meet up with friends. We weren’t expecting to make it in one go but intended to get around the point at Sounion and effectively out of the Aegean on the first day.
We left early at 08h00 – it was going to be a long hike and we were expecting some challenging conditions. In the end, it was not as bad as we expected for once – we had following seas and after the first hour things were pretty calm and warm. Sounion is usually pretty busy and quite exposed so we decided to head for Ormos Paleo Fokia, just slightly to the North of the Cape of Sounion towards Athens. It had been an 8.5 hour sailing day and we managed to just about get in the anchorage. There were several boats quite close by and we were concerned about space with the overnight wind turns – it may not be great but not much choice.
We were on our way again at 09h45 the following day for the short hop to Athens – Zea Marina is another of those familiar places and the approach to Pireaus is always fun with all the shipping! There was no wind or waves but we still had reasonable swells from the ships and it’s much warmer here on this side! We pulled into Zea at lunchtime and were berthed by 13h30 and settling in for a few days of land life sitting out the latest meltemi. It seems this time of year our life revolves around the weather forecast and making use of the odd day in between when we can move!
On Saturday, we met up with our long standing friends Vasso and Jason who live in Athens and as usual they treated us to a fabulous meal and night out in Glyfada. We’re only planning on being land-lubbers for a few days, but it’s nice to do now and again.
Ed took the opportunity to stock up on spare parts and things we would need for winterisation and of course we had the chance to visit one of our favourite snack bars in the marina. Zea is a big marina very close to the centre of Athens and the port of Pireaus so it’s a great location to visit the capital of Greece.