We
were up not too early, but early enough to make a decent start. The weather is still settled and the
forecast is for very little wind, but on the nose. So we set out just on motor without even taking the sail
cover off the main. After a while
we think that the wind is building.
Richard decides to put out the genoa to boost the speed of the boat a
bit. Then he decides that the wind
is going up to 9 or 10 knots and as we don’t have very far to go, we should sail. But of course, about 15 minutes after
we get the sails up the wind dies.
So after a short time we give up, put the sails away and motor.
Of
course when we get within 3 miles of Kos Town the wind builds up to a force 4
and it is on the nose. But it does
not cause us too much trouble. The
marina remembers us and helps us to moor into a suitable space, so we are well
tucked up.
The
only problem is that I have developed a terrible pain down my right leg. As I am getting ready to leave the boat
it gets worse and worse and when we get to the marina office I can barely
walk. A sit down in the office
helps. At first I thought it was
my bad knee acting up, but it is becoming very obvious that the problem is with
my back. It has started to ache
badly and the pain in my leg is suspiciously like sciatica! I have taken some ibuprofin, but that
does not seem to have helped.
At
the marina office they phone the coast guard for us to see if we have to check
back in to Greece. To our delight
the answer is ‘no’. We still have
our DEPKA (private yacht certificate) so we are fine. That relieves us of one job. Next we walk (me very slowly) in to town, with a first stop
at the pharmacy where they sell me some stronger pain killers; I can only take
them with food, so I won’t know how effective they are until tonight or
tomorrow morning.
We
are going to look for a Vodafone shop to top up the Greek sim on my phone and
the internet device. However, we
have goofed. We forgot that the
shops all shut for the afternoon, so we have to kill an hour or so before the
shop opens at 5:30.
We
were worried about the immigrant situation. It is very obvious.
On the beach just outside the marina we saw two collapsed large ribs,
obviously used by the immigrants.
However the worst is the tented camp all around the police station and
right at the entrance of the Mediaeval castle. There are dozens of tents, many looking fairly new. The inhabitants are mostly young men,
but there are a number or women and families. There are a half dozen portable loos just by the police
station. It is ugly and dirty, but
there do not seem to be any problems with crime or aggression, that we can
see. However, the tourist shops
and cafes seem particularly keen on tourists being here, so maybe they are
suffering.
After
we kill an hour having iced coffee, we get to the phone shop and top up our
devices so we are now connected!
So
after that we go back to the boat.
We have a quiet evening on board trying to save my back in the hope it
will get better soon. I have had
this once before on the boat. I
think it comes from twisting around while sitting in the cockpit trying to look
forward. I should know better!
Nice
showers at the shower block and then dinner on board. It is a pleasure to be able to do the washing up and not
worry where to drain the water!
We
will stay here tomorrow. We have
arranged to hire a car, so we can see some of the interior of the island.
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