Saronic Gulf

Specialized crews of the Corinth Canal Company were demolishing unstable sections on the slopes of the Isthmus Canal over the weekend as part of a large-scale restoration work to make it safe for navigation again.

Since 2021, a team of researchers from the Swiss School of Archeology in Greece and the Ephorate of Antiquities of Piraeus and the Islands has been exploring the top of Mount Hellanion, the highest peak on Aegina island, as well as the entire Saronic Gulf. A sanctuary dedicated to Zeus previously stood where the Analipsi Chapel stands today, overlooking the gulf.

Malvina Panagiotidi's solo exhibition, "All Dreams Are Vexing," at the National Museum of Contemporary Art (Kallirois & Amvrosiou Frantzi, emst.gr), stems from her 2023 research on the Saronic island of Spetses, where one of the first great female artists of modern Greece, Eleni Boukoura-Altamoura, sought solace after her children's tragic deaths.

Aegina's water pipeline was not sabotaged, as previously believed, but rather burst due to technical faults, the island's mayor Giannis Zorbas said during municipal council meeting on Wednesday.

On the one hand, the government repeats it is pushing for "innovation, extroversion, modernization," but, on the other hand, in the bowels of the shadowy deep state, some illegible "interests" are following a reverse course. On Friday, serious acts of infrastructure sabotage were made public that had affected two Greek islands, Aegina and Crete.

The Attica Regional Authority has attributed the latest damage to the underwater pipeline for Aegina island in the Saronic Gulf to sabotage. 

It was the fourth time that the pipeline has suffered damage and now there are indications that an explosive device was used.

Waves batter the port of Rafina in Attica. Ferries remained tied up at the ports of Piraeus, Rafina, and Lavrio on Sunday and Monday due to gale-force winds reaching up to 9 Beaufort in some places. Hydrofoils that service the Argo-Saronic Gulf islands (Salamina, Aegina, Hydra, Poros and Spetses) were also prohibited from sailing.

Passengers on Apollon Hellas ferry faced disruption on Thursday after the ship suffered an engine failure before its departure from the port of Piraeus. 

The ferry, operated by Saronic Ferries, was schedule to travel to the island of Aegina, near Athens, early this morning. It has 130 passengers, 35 cars, 13 trucks and six two-wheelers on board.

Passenger ferries will resume their schedules from Piraeus harbor after 5:30 p.m. as winds have moderated. The exception will be the flying dolphins plying the Saronic Gulf routes.

There will be no departures from Lavrio and Rafina, as weather conditions in the seas east of Attica are still unfavorable.

The Explorers - Friends of Cultural and Hiking Excursions have planned a three-day trip to the Saronic island of Aegina, starting from and ending at the port of Piraeus, to change the year in an adventurous spirit.