Week 68 - Packing Matilda

Packing the boat and heading back to Athens… Adventures in Greece cruising the Mediterranean on our boat Matilda.

So much cleaning…

It was a tough start to the week — living on the hard is definitely not the easy option. You can’t use the toilets and any water you use on the boat or rain turns the ground into a quagmire of mud which then gets traipsed onto the boat, causing more washing, which makes more mud…. you see where I’m going with this. Eventually we just gave up. Let the mud build up and wash the boat once at the end of the pack up.

There’s a lot more to do than we expected and it all takes time and has to happen somewhat in order. For example, we want to stand the mattresses up to air them, but that means emptying the cupboards of the clothes we want to take, which means needing to complete all the washing first, but that requires cleaning the deck (where we hang the washing to dry), but it didn’t make sense to do that until the paddle board was stored away so we could do it properly.

The motors are rinsed out with freshwater, the cushions are aired and then brought inside, all the lines get washed and are hanging up inside in the bathroom now. The holding tank is rinsed and filled with fresh water (to stop seals deteriorating, drying out and to prevent smells). Dropping the anchor and all the chain over the front of the boat so it can dry properly, we can check all the links and also clean out the anchor locker. Basically endless little jobs all making Matilda ready to sit up on the hard for the next few months.

Of course she won’t just be sitting there — we have a lot of maintenance planned, some of which is already under way. During this winter season Matilda will get:

• A new refrigerator
• A major service of her engines and generator, including the cooling system on the engines
• Replace all the taps
• Adding air conditioning (subject to quote)
• Replacing the leaking water tanks and a new water maker and drinking water filter
• New blinds and some new covers where they are missing on the front windows and upper nav station

Anyway, as you’d expect, this kept us very occupied up until Tuesday afternoon when finally we were packed and headed into Aegina port to spend the last night with Markus and Isa in their apartment. We enjoyed a lovely dinner together and then on Wednesday lunchtime, boarded the ferry back to Athens.

Our new temporary home for the next few months is an apartment in Petralona, a small suburb on the edge of the historic centre (SW of the Acropolis beneath Phillopappou Hill). It’s been interesting adjusting back to land. We’re excited by things like a large local supermarket and easy access to shops.

In the last few days we haven’t done much that’s touristy, it’s all about settling in and making ourselves comfortable and if I’m honest, unwinding from the boat. I love being aboard, but there’s also a constant low level of “attention” required on the boat that I didn’t really notice until Karina asked me what the weather was looking like for Saturday and I was able to honestly reply “No idea”. A whole lot of “admin” and “attention” just disappeared from my life.

Instead there’s all that basic stuff like “book a dentist”, “get my eyes checked”, “sort out a booster shot for COVID”, “get a flu shot”, “get Rosie groomed”, lots of things that are difficult to do on the boat, but we can make happen a lot more easily here in Athens.

The coming week will be more relaxing, a bit of shopping (we need some serious winter clothes for our trip to Berlin) and lots of running around then it’s off to Egypt (Omicron allowing) when no doubt we’ll have some more interesting photos to share!

Until next time,

Tim & Karina