Today was supposed to be a simple sailing day and started out just like that.
We left Pylos early and made our way south down the coast to Methoni for a late breakfast on the boat. Methoni is one of the most attractive spots in this area. The Venetian fort sticks out into the water offering a distinctive historical profile. That has looked roughly the same for the last four hundred years or so. On the adjacent and newer mole the bollards for tying boats are actually the barrels of cannons. I am not sure that historical societies in the US or the UK would approve of this but it certainly adds to the character.
The idea now is to head across the gulf to the Mani peninsula. At the head of this gulf lies Kalamata (where the olives come from) but we will head farther south and try either to round the cape or head for Limeni about 20 miles north. The wind is supposed to be light and largely favorable.
So this is where plans meet reality head-on (and head-on is a very appropriate phrase). First of all the wind direction (from the east, not forecast) was not going to support our trip to the cape, so we pointed for Limeni. Next, the forecast 4-5 knots of wind turned into 39 knots of wind dead on our nose. With a constant Force 7 and gusts at Force 8 this was the strongest wind Lori and I have encountered in Greece. True Colors temporarily changed her name to "Flying Colors" as she met every test that the wind and waves threw at her. There was a lot of slamming with our bow below the water on occasions but "Otto" our auto-pilot and Ruari steered us safely into Limeni where shelter was not quite as good as we had hoped.
The wind was still blowing quite hard and our first anchorage was adjacent to the resort development on the south side of the bay. (This is a really tasteful project with architecture in the traditional Mani style). We seemed to be well set on our second attempt and we're just about to settle down to some wine and dinner when we started to drag. So we upped anchor and head to the head of the bay near the beach and set the anchor really firmly in the sand.
A watchful night followed but without any additional adventures.
