Nearly 20 years ago Marina and I came to Europe to go on a sailing trip – the one I was supposed to propose to her on but wasn’t quite organized enough at the time to do so.
We had planned to go to Mykonos and Santorini but the weather didn’t cooperate. We had a 30 foot boat, tiller with no autopilot, and really crappy ground tackle (aka anchor and chain). After trying unsuccessfully to sail to Mykonos twice, we turned around and went to the Saronic islands – Poros – so 20 years later we returned – this time in a boat with both an autopilot and really great ground tackle. We arrived at Poros around 6pm and the kids wanted to anchor off and eat on board the boat. I guess that we had enough “city” for a while in Athens. The next morning we set off to get some Greek Gas (aka Propane in 2 Kilo bottles – about 1/5th the size we get in Canada for about the same price) but of course, there wasn’t any.
We did stop in at a marine store and continue to build our inventory of equipment and spares to parts to help complete the boat – some rope to make a bracelet for Slovenia and some waterproofing spray for our bimini. We had a quick lunch, did a day of school and proceeded to Hydra or Ydra about 15 miles away. We tried to sail but the wind pooped out on us so we put on our iron-genny and powered into the city of Ydra on …. The island of Ydra. We remembered the harbour from years before – it was tiny, cramped and the boats were Mediterranean-moored 3 deep on both sides. We figured the anchors would end up being macramé so we passed on the city and went to a smaller harbour 5 miles away. We anchored at dusk and were treated to a dog herding goats down the mountainside along with a donkey. The goats came bounding down the mountainside and their bells made for a beautiful accompaniment to the sunset.
The next morning we set off for the island of Kea – some 45 miles to the northeast. There wasn’t much wind so we needed to use the motor most of the way. Marina and I got up early and got the boat going by 8am. Powering at 8 knots we arrived at Kea at 2pm (just in time for the daily siesta) and moored at the mole. There was only one other boat on the mole when we got there but by 5pm it was filling up. At around 6pm two very interesting things happened. A ferry came in that had a jet-drive system. When they reversed it into the pier a species of small fish went berserk jumping out of the water onto the quay, into our dinghy and everywhere. This must be a fairly common occurrence because a couple of kids were ready with nets and caught a couple of kilos of these small fish – a little smaller than sardines, in about 2 minutes. The feral cats loved it too and were feasting on the fish that jumped onto the pier. The action stopped the instant the ferry pulled away from the dock – very curious.
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| Marina's New Truck!!! |
More excitement came a few minutes later when a thunderstorm rolled through. The wind wasn’t too strong but the rain sure as heck was. We ran off the boat (why stay on the boat with the highest metal structure in the neighbourhood when you can go to a restaurant and watch from the dry while eating saganaki cheese and drinking palatable 4 Euro/Litre table wine. Anyway, the storm passed, the rain abated so we went back to the boat and went to bed.
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