Cruise Reports MiToS first trip after the rebuilt: Pagasitikos Bay Tour - Sept 2015

[vas]

hello all,

a very long overdue thread on MiToS actually in use and not under construction...

So, end of August she was back in the water, docs all sorted a couple of days later. Schools were starting on the 10th, so rushed to at least have the first couple of days onboard.
Started the four of us, kids were confident that something else will happen and we wont go anywhere, so they conveniently had organised to meet with friends over that w/e. However they were kind enough to follow us for the first day and drop them off at our friends house to continue with their daughter their last weekend before school start... Maybe too democratic considering they were 14 and 15 at the time, but it did pay off in the end.

So typically set off late during the day (aka early afternoon!) 12-14nm from port is Gatzea where a couple of good friends have a beautiful house by the sea. Passed that, anchored in a quiet bay which is amazingly full with urchins (so you cannot actually use this long stretch of beach unless you wear proper boots) and I always wanted to visit it. Had our first swim off MiToS which I have to admit was very relieving...

After the compulsory visit down to the e/r making sure everything is still in place (building up confidence is a gradual process...) rechecking the stbrd packing which was either steaming or leaking (got it in the end!) Angelos cooked the light chicken curry that Anna had prepared at home and we had dinner, compulsory bubbly included (didn't fish the cork though, should have kept it!)

later in the evening we moved back in front of our friends house and anchored there for the night. Not a protected spot but no wind whatsoever.
First proper night on board was without surprises, saw me waking up early and dozing off at the aft deck with the sunrise.

We were at 5m water, all looked good, and you could see the whole village from the salon window.

kids up, straight in the water with all available means, Rafaela is somewhere in there in the next pic... Their target was the ochre painted house with the light blue windows.

and the rest of us eventually moved out to have breakfast with our friends, overlooking the sea and MiToS of course...

Spent all day with our friends anchored there and after dropping the kids we moved on further down the bay. Another colleague from work has a house 5nm down the coast in Horto. He'd invited us so we obliged. Their house is again by the beach on a slightly less open spot protected from the northerlies. Anchored in the middle of the bay again around 5m water, prepared took the small dingy that I've borrowed from another friend and off we went.

Rea took some excellent photos from their veranda, really amazing.

especially the next one:

she also documented our move from the boat to land which I find amusing:

Program for the evening included a jazz(ish) concert in the village hall and dinner (with more bubbly)
Back on the boat for our second night onboard but this time without the kids.

[20pic limit reached, follows next]

V.

 

[vas]

[continued]

Next morning starts again rather slow, we had a tasty espresso on board with Anna (no didn't have the La Pavoni yet onboard!) and use the dingy to meet our friends and have proper breakfast in their house. Plan for the day organised so we take the couple Rea and Pandelis, another couple with baby daughter and Rea's daughter with her friend for a swim at Jasteni.

Following two pics were taken by Rea in the morning while we were asleep, amazing work again from her:

So early morning and after a fair amount of taxing about in the tiny dingy, we set off for Jasteni. If you have ever searched for photos in Pelion/Magnesia, etc you'll definetely have come across this picturesque spot. A small peninsula (15X50m) with three small houses, amazing spot. Was a bit crowded, nicest spots taken, so we anchored fairly open and swam or dingied (sp?) out.

next pic was taken from my Sony Xperia waterproof phone whilst swimming to the beach. I like this angle and really want to have a few more in the same spot with the hard top on!

Water was amazingly warm that day (vaguely remember 28C...), summer 2015 was a very warm one and there was practically a heatwave these days in Magnesia. After 3h swimming and relaxing in the shadow of the trees at the beach we moved back and stopped at Milina for a late lunch in a taverna by the sea.
BTW, if anyone wonders why the passerelle is mostly in the water, er, I'd not had time to even buy a cheap rope ladder so for the weaker of us, the solution was to crawl up the passerele like a seal (or sea lion if you wish...) would!

[btw, this was the roughest weather we had for the trip...]

Plans finalised (yes we're always very organised...) Pandelis decided to come back with us to Volos, his wife Rea would drive the car back next morning. So we bought coffees for the return trip, dropped off the others at Horto and set off at a relaxing pace exploring all the bays on the way back. Interesting to note that although I've been following the exact route from land for years and years (driving my car) there's so much hidden away from your eyes when driving, there were cases we weren't quite sure what we were looking at. In some cases not even the Garmin would help and I'd resort to Google Maps on my mobile for clues.

Return trip was also uneventful, son was waiting at port to help with the lines and finally Anna saw the light and accepted that I wasn't a complete nutter for all the time I spent working on MiToS. So good results all around!
Again many thanks to all that contributed in the rebuilt thread, expect some more activity there before summer 2018!

cheers

V.

 

[Murv]

Fantastic! Stunning looking boat and wonderful pictures :encouragement:
Makes all that hard work worthwhile, wishing you many more in 2018!

 

[rbcoomer]

That's fantastic - thanks for sharing :encouragement:

Great to see her afloat and being used after all the hard work, great pictures and the boat looks superb. I imagine it was all the more enjoyable after having done all that work and waited so long! Awesome, and very well done indeed.

 

[sarabande]

Splendid boat, lots of family and friends, and the occasional glass of wine. What a wonderful result !

 

[longjohnsilver]

Vas what a great report and fab pics. MiToS looks great, the pic taken by your friend when you were all still asleep really shows how all the hard work you put in has paid off. Your family and friends really looked to be enjoying themselves, for me that’s what boating is all about.

So when will the next rebuild project begin?:encouragement:

 

[Greg2]

Superb! Great pics and report that just sum up the best of boating. Very envious of your local cruising ground!

 

[BruceK]

Stunning boat Vas, well done. I'm looking out my window and then at your pics and cant say I'm not a bit jealous of your weather and scenery :encouragement:

 

[Bouba]

Now that is my definition of pleasure boating:encouragement:

 

[rafiki_]

Great post Vas, lovely pics, and good to see MiToS in her natural habitat. Fantastic that your family enjoyed the trip too.

 

[scubaman]

What a fantastic post, thank you! Looks to have been a pretty perfect boat trip in a very pleasant environment.

MiToS looks very nice, btw!

There must be a story to the name, and apologies if it has already been covered earlier, but might I enquire what it is?

 

[Irish Rover]

I missed this on Saturday. Great pics and beautiful boat and scenery. Thanks for sharing.

 

[MapisM]

Superb cruising grounds indeed, with MiToS fully coming into her own!
Some of your pics reminded me of a beautiful IT movie, "Mediterraneo".
Actually, it was mostly made in Kastellorizo, which is pretty far from your area.
Some spots have a similar (and beautiful!) Greek flavor anyway.
Looking forward to next chapter! :encouragement:

 

[KevB]

Great pictures and a timely reminder that summer is hopefully just round the corner.

 

[Andy Bav]

Thanks for taking the time to share, what a fantastic post and pictures.

You have set the bar high for 2018 cruise reports.... And the season has only just started...

 

[vas]

thank you all for your kind words and wishes, I still owe you a few cruise reports, and tbh you have to thank Hugo for this one, as I was trying to sort out pics for a mag article and ended up spending the whole w/e going through and indexing the main rebuilt thread and sorting out 1K cruise pics...

There must be a story to the name, and apologies if it has already been covered earlier, but might I enquire what it is?

yes, there is a story to the name, I might as well explain with a small Greek mythology lesson

Name has to do with Theseus, son of Aegeas king of Athens and Minotaur forstered son of Minos king of Crete.
Minotaur was a man with the head of a bull and lived in a labyrinth (maze) created by Daedalus and his son Icarus (the one with the wings...)
Minos daughter Ariadne was responsible for the labyrinth and for the scarifices done there. Athens was sending young people (7 male 7 female) to be sacrificed (as in eaten by Minotaur - and don't ask why a bull was carnivorous, cannot help!) every 7 or 9yrs. Atheneans weren't happy, Theseus decided to go to Crete as one of the seven to kill Minotaur.
Typical love story, Ariadne fell for Theseus and in order to help him find his way out, gave him the mito (a ball of thread he was unwinding as he was moving in the labyrinth).
That was Mitos of Ariadne.
I thought that unwinding the thread of all the alterations, mistakes, nasties done over the last 35 odd years on the boat ( not mentioning the wiring and piping spaghettis found there...) and restoring her was a good enough reason for the name.

Actually the story has two nautical links as Theseus after killing the Minotaur he forgot to change the black sails with white when returning to Athens. His father was waiting at Sounion, saw the boat coming back with black sails, assumed his son was killed, jumped in the water and died. Hence the name Aegean

Second nautical link is that Minos jailed (or something rather) the architect Daedalus and his son so that they wouldn't leave Crete and built something better than what they did for him. They made wings, wore them and left, Icarus being young and reckless, climbed too high up the sky and heat of the sun melted something in his wings, wings parted he fell in the sea and died. That sea is now called Ikarion Pelagos (east Aegean close to Ikaria island)

Enough of a mythology lecture (not good at it, stories are too complicated with zillions of names...), for more info please search the above names in Wikipedia (or just google them) and have fun reading!

cheers

V.

 

[BartW]

a stunning boat, with stunning people onboard in a fantastic region !
well done vas, really impressed !

I agree with the other posters,
thats what boating is about,
and a well worth rewarding for the huge effort you've done.

 

[Anders_P42]

Stunning boat you have there, I followed build thread and it's great to see her on water being used. You must pinch yourself to check it's real.

 

[vas]

Superb cruising grounds indeed, with MiToS fully coming into her own!
Some of your pics reminded me of a beautiful IT movie, "Mediterraneo".
Actually, it was mostly made in Kastellorizo, which is pretty far from your area.
Some spots have a similar (and beautiful!) Greek flavor anyway.
Looking forward to next chapter! :encouragement:

P.

remember Mediterraneo, good fun, being to Kastellorizo on our uninformal honeymoon back in 1999 or so, lovely place!

Actually my cruising ground includes the isles where the infamous Mama Mia was shot a decade or more ago. Even visited the same beach that some dancing took place in the movie (totally unrecognisable!) last summer with daughter and nieces. They were very happy they stepped on the same sand as the actors (yawn...)
Still got to find the peninsula and little church for the wedding ceremony of the movie in Skopelos (iirc), maybe this year, but wont loose my sleep over it although it's really a lovely spot (unless they've messed it up for the movie

cheers

V.

 

[scubaman]

thank you all for your kind words and wishes, I still owe you a few cruise reports, and tbh you have to thank Hugo for this one, as I was trying to sort out pics for a mag article and ended up spending the whole w/e going through and indexing the main rebuilt thread and sorting out 1K cruise pics...




yes, there is a story to the name, I might as well explain with a small Greek mythology lesson

Name has to do with Theseus, son of Aegeas king of Athens and Minotaur forstered son of Minos king of Crete.
Minotaur was a man with the head of a bull and lived in a labyrinth (maze) created by Daedalus and his son Icarus (the one with the wings...)
Minos daughter Ariadne was responsible for the labyrinth and for the scarifices done there. Athens was sending young people (7 male 7 female) to be sacrificed (as in eaten by Minotaur - and don't ask why a bull was carnivorous, cannot help!) every 7 or 9yrs. Atheneans weren't happy, Theseus decided to go to Crete as one of the seven to kill Minotaur.
Typical love story, Ariadne fell for Theseus and in order to help him find his way out, gave him the mito (a ball of thread he was unwinding as he was moving in the labyrinth).
That was Mitos of Ariadne.
I thought that unwinding the thread of all the alterations, mistakes, nasties done over the last 35 odd years on the boat ( not mentioning the wiring and piping spaghettis found there...) and restoring her was a good enough reason for the name.

Actually the story has two nautical links as Theseus after killing the Minotaur he forgot to change the black sails with white when returning to Athens. His father was waiting at Sounion, saw the boat coming back with black sails, assumed his son was killed, jumped in the water and died. Hence the name Aegean

Second nautical link is that Minos jailed (or something rather) the architect Daedalus and his son so that they wouldn't leave Crete and built something better than what they did for him. They made wings, wore them and left, Icarus being young and reckless, climbed too high up the sky and heat of the sun melted something in his wings, wings parted he fell in the sea and died. That sea is now called Ikarion Pelagos (east Aegean close to Ikaria island)

Enough of a mythology lecture (not good at it, stories are too complicated with zillions of names...), for more info please search the above names in Wikipedia (or just google them) and have fun reading!

cheers

V.

This brought back memories from my primary school days, although this time with a much more interesting context . That's a proper story to a name for sure.

It's been said many times already but that's an amazing job you've done with MiToS.