A new month and a new country!
Yes, we are in Greece. We started
out at about 6:45am on Sunday.
There was little or no wind, in accordance with our weather forecast. At one point the wind did get up to the
lower end of a force 4 and we put the sails up. But that only lasted for about an hour. Otherwise it was a monotonous motor all
the way at 6 knots. The other
strange thing was that we hardly saw another boat. A motor yacht came out of port with us, but soon
disappeared. Then early on we saw
3 large commercial vessels, probably tankers in the far distance. After that nothing.
It got stranger because by
about teatime, a sea mist descended.
As we were out at sea and out of the sight of land, and there were no
other vessels around we really could not tell how bad the visibility was. Richard put on the radar but it showed
nothing within a 12 mile radius.
The sea was glassy with just a very slight swell. It was spooky. I said maybe we are in the Bermuda
Triangle!
As the sea was so flat,
there was no difficulty in my making meals for the day. We had sandwiches for lunch and I did a
pasta bake for dinner. When the
sun set and it got dark we started doing two hour watches as before. With the motor going, no wind, and the
radar showing no other ships, the watches were a doddle. Only problem is that when there is so
little to do you do tend to close your eyes! I wound up doing the dawn watch as before, but the dawn sky
was not nearly so lovely as the other night. That is probably down to the fact that it has been quite cloudy
for the entire trip.
After my watch we have a
little breakfast of a cup of coffee and jam croissant. I go back to sleep. I didn’t sleep so well on my sleep
shifts and am really tired. We
arrive at Argostoli, the capital of Cephalonia at about 11am. So the trip only took just under the 30
hours after all.
We find the town quay and
note that at the far end some boats are moored side to. We are a little nervous of stern to
mooring here in Greece where there are no lazy lines to pick up for the bows
and you use your anchor to hold you off the wall instead. We have only moored using the anchor
twice before and on those occasions we had someone who directed us where to put
the anchor down. So we are pleased
to join the other boats moored side to.
Just like sailing in England!
The first thing you have to
do in Greece is register with the authorities. We have come to Argostoli, because it is a recognised port
of entry where you can get the paper work done. We make our way to the Coast Guard Station which is where
you get your special document called at DEKPA. They are very nice, but tell us that we first have to pay
the 29.35 Euros and that must be done at the tax office. However, the tax office is closed today
because it is some kind of holiday so we must wait until tomorrow.
So after lunch in the
cockpit we have a walk around the town.
The next important task is to get a Greek phone sim and an internet
connection. The town is very nice,
much to our surprise. We had a
quick drive into Argostoli when we came to the Ionian on a charter holiday
nearly 4 years ago. Then we only
saw a very run down area and never found the better part of the harbour
area. There are long streets with
elegant shops, lots of restaurants and some cafes. There is also a plethora of food shops including a large
market area. We find a Vodafone
shop without much trouble. We
spend a lot of time there. At
first they are convinced we can use the hub machine we had in Italy and only
needed a new sim. But they cannot
make it work so we wind up buying a new device. That makes three in all, one for France, one for Italy and
now one for Greece (which is supposed to work anywhere). Any bets on needing another when we get
to Turkey! But we are all nicely
set up now and the reception and speed of the internet seems better than it did
in Italy.
The only real problem is
that there are no sanitary facilities.
The worst is that if we want to shower we have to do so under cold water
because our hot water maker does not work. We hope we may be able to get that fixed. The Coast Guard have given us the name
and telephone number of a local mechanic who might be able to do
something. The only rub is that
they say they need proof that our engine is OK. I hope that doesn’t turn into a problem. We have heard stories of the
authorities demanding a 300 Euro survey before allowing a boat to leave.
With our new Greek sim we
call the mechanic. He speaks good
English and says he will send a colleague to look at it for us this
evening. If it needs a part, he
might have to do the work tomorrow morning. So we are hopeful.
But as ever our hopes are misplaced. The mechanic sent to us only has faltering English and we
have a lot of trouble making him understand the problem. The long and the short of it is that
after 2 hours and it being 8:30pm, he gives up. He has looked at everything and it seems to him that the
problem is with the pipes inside the calorifier (boiler) which cannot readily be
fixed. Not only that but in
constantly testing the water he has nearly emptied out water tank. So now we not only have no hot water,
we are in danger of having no water at all. There is supposed to be a water supply on the jetty, but I
can’t find it.
It is so late now, we don’t
bother about bathing and just get dressed and go to dinner. Dinner is OK. We are at the restaurant recommended in the pilot book, but
it is pedestrian. At least I get
out of the galley! We have a half
litre of the local red wine, which is quite drinkable!
We have met a couple of men
on a boat right behind us. One is
a Brit and the other is from Holland.
They show me where the water is.
But it is too far away to get the hosepipe to our boat, so if we want to
use it we will have to move tomorrow.
So back to the boat and to
bed. We are both really exhausted
now and need a proper night’s sleep.
Tuesday 2 June
We have had a really good
sleep. The weather has cheered up
and it promises to be a hot and sunny day.
After breakfast we start out
to do the boat registration. We
have been given a map showing where the tax office is and what the address
is. The only problem is that the
streets have no names and there are very few numbers. We are pretty certain we are on the right street. Richard walks into a building, which is
clearly an administrative office of some kind and asks where the tax office
is. We are directed across the
street, but that is clearly wrong.
Finally others confirm we were in the right building all along. We just have to go upstairs. After that the registration all goes
smoothly and we make our way back along the quay to suss the water
situation. We find someone on a
commercial tour boat who shows us how it works and identifies one or two spots
we can move to.
So we go back to the boat
with the intention of moving and getting water. However, Richard reads in the blurb given to us by the Coast
Guard that the free water is not drinkable. So we really don’t want to fill our tank with it. Although for plain water we always
drink bottled water, we do use the tank water for cooking, making hot drinks
and cleaning our teeth. So we give
up on the idea of moving. The
alternative is to call a tanker to deliver drinking water, but we are not keen
on that.
So we have decided to move
on. First we go to the market and
buy some fruit and veg and a few bits and pieces. I am going to try to get Richard to eat Greek Salad - I
wonder how we will get along with that!
We leave port at about 11:15.
We are headed to Zakinthos.
We will want to go into the main town and harbour where there is
electricity and water on the pontoon.
The problem is that again there is no wind and in any event it will take
6-7 hours on motor to get there, meaning we will arrive rather late. However, we press on. After only about 2 hours Richard says
he has identified a port we are just passing which is supposed to have water
and electricity. So we go in
there.
It is called Ay
Pelagia. It is a strange, almost
deserted place. I have got ready
to put the anchor out when we realise that the few boats moored here are all on
lazy lines. So we find a space,
back in and tie up behind (with me lassoing one bollard and Richard jumping off
to get the other). However, when
we try to find a lazy line on the pontoon, there is none. We finally work out that it is a pick
up buoy job. However we are
uncertain which pick ups to use and think they are all in use already. We do see electricity and water tower
things on the pontoons, so we decide to go on the outside of the inner breakwater
where there are more bollards, and we can moor alongside within reach of one of
the electricity/water towers.
After a little trouble getting the lines attached and where I have to
jump off the boat we are safely moored.
We then try to find out how to access the supplies of water and
electricity. I can’t find anything
other than two taps which have water and no sign of anyone attached to
electricity. Finally I ask two men
who are on one of the boats. They
turn out to be English! They
explain that the only empty berth belongs to a fishing boat which could return
at any time. Also there are only
three taps that work, all inaccessible from where we are tied up. Only one tower has electricity and that
is at the opposite end of the jetty, where there is nowhere to moor. Another Englishman comes by. His boat is used for skippered charters
and he is most helpful. In the end
we raft up to his boat (with his assistance) where we can fill our water tank
with water we are assured is drinkable.
Then we were going to move back to our original place on the outside of
the breakwater, where we are told we will be safe, when the first man I spoke
to says he going off on his boat for the night and we are welcome to use his
mooring and his pick up line. So
we do that and are now in this odd harbour. It is very quiet, except that it is next to the airport for
the island and at least 5 planes have gone right over our heads on the way to
the runway! We are told they do
not land or take off at night!
The chap with the charter
boat tells us that he is waiting for an engineer. We wonder if this could be someone to help with our rev
counter. It turns out the engineer
is another Brit (strange isn’t it).
He comes on board. He
checks out the rev counter. There
isn’t any loose connection. He
says rev counters just go and we will need a new one. He is able to give us details of how to contact a Yanmar
agent in Zakinthos who can probably replace it. He also says that the problem with the calorifier definitely
sounds like the internal pipe work has become blocked. He has tried to unblock them before,
but never with any success. He too
says we will just need a new one!
So with no sign of hot water
in the foreseeable future, and after a quiet afternoon sitting in the sun in
the cockpit, I get up the courage to use the shower with its cold water
only. Well, of course I
cheat. I have near boiled a
kettle. With that I fill up the
basin in the heads. Using that
water and a jug I wash my hair. I
also then use it to soap up and rinse off, only having to use the cold water
for a final rinse. And now at
least I feel clean!
The only other thing to
mention is that there was an earthquake!
Well, it is not that interesting.
The fact is, we never felt it!
We were asleep in the cockpit when the chap with the charter yacht came
and asked if we had felt it!
Apparently there have been a lot of these little quakes around here!
So we will now settle down
to dinner and start out for Zakinthos tomorrow.
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