We left Monemvasia in the dark watching the rock rise out of the sea with the sunrise. (see slideshow).Our initial destination was Neapolis – a big town with a shop at which we could buy Internet connection. I needed access to organise a flight back to meet the school deadline and we needed to get access to weather files.
En route, we rounded Cape Maleas. It has a reputation for fearsome weather and winds – Odysseus was blown off course here – but was a mill pond today. Shrines and tiny churches are dotted around the cape – commemorating souls lost and offering prayers to whomever is looking after the sea? Disquieting.
The most interesting thing about Neapolis was the enormous car ferry that parked next to Hakuna Matata. We had lunch there, organised Internet access, and hurried onto Elefanisos to swim and anchor overnight.
The bay at Elefanisos was beautiful, but the bottom was “poor holding” a thin layer of sand on rock. The children swam, snorkelled, dived and jumped in the fantastically clear waters. David led a shore party to the beach – towing Alex in the rubber ring.
But, the holding wasn’t good enough given the wind direction to shelter for the night. So we decided to make for tomorrow’s destination – Plytra. More accurately, Archangelos, an anchorage opposite Plytra.
This proved to be an exciting (bumpy) passage culminating in anchoring in the pitch dark reliant on the GPS, torch and shore lights. Fortunately the anchor “took” first time (it seems to be most reliable in depths over 20m), the shelter was good and we could sleep (relatively) soundly.
Pictures: Top: Cape Maleas green arrows indicate shrines/churches
Middle: A happy crew
Bottom: A big ferry and a little catamaran
