Greek salads and Minoan Palaces
23 April 2008
Our first stop in Greece was the island of Symi, just north west of Rhodes. We anchored in Panormitis Bay on the south coast and then took a bus with a group of other yachts over the hills to the town of Symi in the north to check in. We, and a few others, had been concerned about bringing Forever back into EU waters, as a lot of yachties seemed to think that VAT would have to be paid again as we had been away for more than five years. This was a case of the usual scare-mongering and we had no trouble at all. Being British we didn’t expect to be charged but the harbour master charged us all €45. The town of Symi was very pretty, and we went with a few of our new acquaintances for a good fish lunch. Why is it that Greek salad tastes so absolutely delicious in Greece?
Symi town
The anchorage at Panormitis Bay was sociable and reasonably secure so we stayed a couple of days. It was Easter weekend and the Greeks celebrate Easter with much gusto, this being the most important religious holiday of their year. There was a very ornate church on shore and Good Friday passed with a lot of singing and early fireworks. In theory, the fireworks are supposed to be set off on Saturday at midnight, but there are always those who like to start early!Good Friday was also Mike’s birthday and we had drinks with Rapture I and Deliverance. We also met Ed and Annette on the American yacht Doodle Bug.
Low on fuel and water, we sailed south in the morning and stopped for the night at an uncomfortable rolly anchorage on the small island of Halki. That was Easter Saturday night and at midnight all hell broke loose. Cannons fired, bells rang and fireworks exploded – all night long. The faithful gather in the church with candles which are lit at midnight. It was a beautiful sight, all these beautiful little flickers of light trailing down the side of the hill from the church as the people returned to their homes. Still very sleepy the next morning we tried for fuel but there was none to be had, so we moved on again. The winds were very miserable and couldn’t make up their minds – one minute so good we thought we might go straight on to Crete, but then so capricious we had to turn back and anchored at Diafani on the island of Karpathos. We spent a peaceful night disturbed by only the occasional bang from late fireworks. Again, there was no fuel to be had so, now dangerously low, we took a short sail further down the island to Pigadia.
We arrived there on Easter Monday which was, of course, a holiday. However, the anchorage was reasonably safe and comfortable so we relaxed and the next day shopped - a bit expensive but so nice to get bacon again - and got water. We had to take a very long walk to get a bit of fuel in a jerry can.
Our next stop was the small island of Kasos, just south west of Karpathos. We tied up on the wall of Fry Harbour next to Doodle Bug. The harbour master in this tiny little village was hospitable and obligingly gave us a weather report for our next leg to Crete. We managed to find some decent fresh food, including lovely artichokes, and got a little water. There were noisy celebrations on shore all that night, followed by a very quiet holiday next morning, the first of May. In company with Doodle Bug, we left for Crete. They took some good photos of Forever, heeled hard over in strong winds
My father had often spoken of Crete – as a soldier (Rhodesian battalion) during the war he managed to miss the evacuation in 1941, was captured by the Germans and spent the remainder of the war in a POW camp. I spent a wonderful month camping on the island in 1975 with my dear friend Trish and we visited the fabulous ruins of Knossos.
Once again, we were anchored next to Doodle Bug, and Ed and Annette became good friends. We wined and dined on each other’s boats regularly. They hired a car and we all took a fascinating day trip to the ancient Minoan Palace at Malia – not quite as famous as Knossos, but nonetheless very impressive, and had an interesting lunch in the town.
Elounda was a nice little town and we spent ten days there. Collecting water was an eternal schlep; we’d row in every day and fill up two or three jerry cans from a tap on the roadside and struggle back with them full. But shopping was reasonable and we found a good internet cafe. Whilst here we finally heard that the sale of Forever had fallen through. This was disappointing as the sale had included us delivering the boat to Ireland and we’d been looking forward to the trip. It was also why we’d been moving along so quickly, but now we could relax and take our time. Ed and Annette were very kind to us – they gave us (that’s me, the cook) a kitchen timer and a cute Jolly Roger wind sock. When their daughter, who’s a mechanic with Harley Davidson, came to visit she gave us each a very nice Harley t-shirt.
Leaving Spinalonga
We said goodbye to the Doodle Bugs, who went off cruising, and early on 11 May, we lifted anchor and sailed north and then westwards along the north coast of Crete, heading for Sicily. We decided not to stop as there aren’t any good anchorages along that coast, but our first day was slow with little wind. Once we got past the island and into the Ionian Sea we hit one of the worst storms we’d ever hit in our entire seven years of cruising. I can’t say what the wind speed was as we didn’t have a working instrument, but although we took in the main sail and were running with a very small genoa, the waves coming up behind us were terrifying. I am easily scared by the sea, but Mike always loved it as feisty as possible so when he began to look tight lipped I knew it was bad. I was seasick a lot of the time, of course. Fortunately, the storm was blowing us in the direction we wanted to go so for a while we made very good, albeit uncomfortable, progress.
This nasty 540 mile trip took us 5½ days. Here’s a little map of our journey from Bodrum through Greece and into the Ionian.
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