Farewell to Chloe in Zakinthos town

Jessie and Ross’ cousin Chloe graduated from Highschool this year and is going to UVIC next year. As a graduation gift we bought her a ticket to come and hang out with us for a couple of weeks – shortened because of her participation in a Provincial Fastpitch Tournament in a week or so.

Chloe doing a family selfie

We were trying to figure out how to best send her home. As we have mentioned many times we can often tell you where we’ll meet you or when, but not both because sailing is weather dependent. Our original plan was to rent a car and drive from the Peloponnese but the water temp was pretty low on the Peloponnese and we kicked our engine into high gear and did a couple of 60 mile days to make it to Zakinthos. Our last night with Chloe was in Zakinthos town. We pulled into the quay, going stern to, and then the girls went shopping. Chloe wanted to take some gifts home for friends and family and did most of her shopping in one go – good for her. They then came back to the boat and decided the restaurant they liked best was the one 50 feet down the quay … so that’s where we went.

Not the actual restaurant but a reasonable facsimile

After a whirlwind of appetizers including mussels, calamari, saganaki, Greek salad, zucchini fritters, and cheese croquettes washed down with a ½ kilo of Rose wine, a couple of 500ml Mythos and a couple of Baccardi and Cokes. We had a lively conversation and reminisced about the last 10 days and what the best parts were. Chloe was a great guest and is welcome back any time. I think that she loved Greece … particularly the water, how clean and clear it is. She said the highlight was the encounter with the dolphins we had the day before – how lucky was that to see them?

The amazing classic yacht Altair

After dinner we did a walking tour of the town eventually finding a Gelato place everyone liked. We walked through the very vibrant town square where many generations of Greeks hang out at once, Grandparents, parents, 20-somethings and kids all sharing space and experience. It is far superior to our programmed “Play Date” mentality in North America.  I truly believe that kids need to run wild and we teach them responsibility and respect for the family and community unit.

Walking around the lively town of Zakinthos

Enough preaching … we got back to the boat, Chloe started packing, I got into a bit of a row with the rest of the boat about iPad chargers – since I own the only iPads I was wondering aloud why I don’t have any chargers and they belong to others – ‘that’s not your iPad charger it’s mine’, to which I respond ‘you don’t have an iPad, how do you have an iPad charger’. Anyway after a bit of searching most of them were recovered and harmony returned.

Chloe set her alarm for 05:30 and she got up on time, her bag was mostly packed and she stepped off Tara for the last time this year at 05:50. We had arranged for a cab the night before and was assured that he would be there. Indeed at 05:52 we saw him careening up the quay at about 60kph. For 20Euros he took her to the airport. I got a text from her at 06:03 that she was already through security and waiting for the plane … good experience all around. 

We got another text around 9:30 saying that she was in Athens and checked in for her fight to Montreal and that they hadn’t selected the gate yet. We all had a chance to send her at text and wish her well. We’re going to miss her.