Eretria, Evvia

We have headed on north, hoping to beat the forecast northerly winds due
to interrupt our progress for the next five days. We sailed on and off
to Nisos (Island) Stira but found it was incorrectly charted and too
deep to anchor in.
So we stopped for the night in a remote spot just opposite Stira, but on
the main Evvia island. The water was warm and delightfully clear. The
little fizz-boats left at dusk and we were on our own with a few small
fishing boats out at sea. When we went for our morning snorkel there
seemed to be a lot of pots and bits of pots buried in the sand. We
didn't disturb them, so have no idea if they are ancient or not. Its a
bit of a change from the usual plastic half-buried loot.

The following day we sailed on and off in light winds to a one-horse,
two-taverna town called Voufalo - I challenge you to find it on a map.
It blew like stink from the north by the morning, through the gap in the
mountains and by the time we had everything ready to go it was 30
knots+. I had to remind Stu that people still sail around the cans in
Poole Bay in this wind in winter, and that encouraged us to leave the
safety of the dogleg, sandbar entrance and head out to sea. In contrast
to Poole Bay, it was a flat sea and we flew along at 8 knots. As we
rounded the headland it was blowing 35 knots and we had to beat up to
the entrance of Karastos.
The pilot book says that Karastos is captivating and friendly and
bypassed by tourism, despite the power station on the opposite side of
the bay. As we beat closer and closer to the town for 2 hours, the
cement factory took over the landscape followed by what has to be the
ugliest power station on earth. We dropped the sails and headed into the
harbour, where all the mooring space has been taken up by local boats
and there appeared to be nowhere for visiting yachts. Apart from a few
people in the tavernas on the waterfront, it looked like the the bomb
had dropped here. So we put the sails back up and sailed on very quickly
downwind and on to Eretria. It is very touristy here (Greeks only) and
there are only 2 other yachts anchored with us but I'd rather look at
tavernas and other yachts than a post nuclear fallout zone.
It does have rather a lot of ferries going back and forth to the
mainland, which all appear to be mostly empty. If we find out why, we'll
let you know.
Tues 19th August