Two
Power boaters Spend 
Three Weeks on a Sailboat in Greece!.
Click on the text links below to go to the photo albums
Some notes on Chartering a sailboat in Greece
Almost a year in the works, we finally have the opportunity to take a real vacation together. In 18 years, Kirk and I have only really had vacations that tagged onto the end of family trips, weddings, conferences, or research trips. We left Vancouver on April 29th 2005 at 8:30pm.
We Made it! Our flight to England was long and sleepless. And when we arrived in Heathrow airport at 1:30pm, we realized that we had over 7 hours to kill! What to do, what to do. How about a trip to Piccadilly Circus on the tubes?! Store our carryon bags at the "Left luggage" centre, change some cash to Sterling, buy a couple of day passes...and we were off!
7 Hours to Kill in London - Photo album
Enough of that, another plane ride and on to Greece!
We arrived at 2:10 am (Greece time) after 21 hours in transit. A Greek taxi driver was waiting for us and drove us in a most maniacal fashion through the almost deserted streets of Athens into Piraeus and down onto the dock. We found our vessel, the "Pink Elephant" and fell into unconsciousness. The next morning our Charter company representatives (Ria, Poppi, and Sokrates) came down and greeted us...not sure how coherent we were on four hours sleep...but they didn't take the boat away from us so we must have said something right as we spent two hours going over the boat stem to stern.
Note to self....when traveling 21 hours to a foreign country....try to make sure you don't arrive during a three day holiday because you can't buy food! The odd street kiosk and gas station is actually open so you can buy alcohol at Shell...but for food...well, be happy for cookies and breadsticks.
However, on the upside, all national monuments are open to the public for free during holidays...so you can't buy groceries...but you can sightsee. We hope to actually provision on Tuesday and head out either then or Wednesday at the latest!
May 1 and 2 at the marina and around Athens - Photo album
Not sure when we will find another internet cafe, this one was tough enough to locate! Hopefully in a few days...until then..... we're off to the Islands........
Well, we finally made it off the dock. We spent the morning trying to find an internet cafe... The first one we came across was managed by kids playing computer games who were pretty much techno-useless. We then got back on the tram and found another place a few blocks away...they didn't mind us unplugging their machine and hooking up the laptop.
After we did an upload we went grocery shopping....a few times. Cheap wine!
Finally off the dock at 1500....for a three hour tour! No pun intended...we really did hit our first hurdle (literally) after roughly three hours. OK everyone...take note.....they do not have deadheads in the Mediterranean....they do however....have lots and lots of plastic! At least you can see a crab trap line....maybe a little late occasionally (Rob?) but clear plastic is a little more difficult. Hmm, how much do we actually want to divulge on this trip...is the HA limited to the Pacific?
Alright...here's our tale of woe. We left Piraeus at 1500 hrs...we felt like motoring instead of sailing because it was blowing directly at us and we were limited in our daylight hours available. We marvel at the unbelievable blue of these waters!
At 1557 hrs we discovered to our surprise that Mediterranean charts are somewhat less accurate than those we are used to....and one should not necessarily rely on ones GPS readings. Our charts indicated that we were in between 7 and 13 m...when in fact our depth sounder suddenly skyrocketed (really!) to roughly 1 m! (as measured from the bottom of the keel). Of note....there are no thermoclines or algae blooms here to disrupt the accuracy of ones depth sounder. In fact, one can quite easily see the bottom if one actually looks! Oh look....fish! Kirk was at the wheel and had faith that luckily saw him through without incident.
Shortly thereafter (1736 hrs), we noted a large fender floating apparently freely in the water. Being typical West Coast scavengers...we were tempted to go get it. However, our engine suddenly started vibrating radically and both of us shot our gazes at said fender to see if it was rapidly approaching us (sound familiar Rob?). No, said fender was quite stationary and not approaching us....leaving us slightly perplexed as to the source of our engine difficulty. When at low RPM, the vibration was minimal...but above 1000 RPM, there was a considerable shimmy. So...what to do, what to do...... thankfully, our good friends Rob and Deb have instilled in us a shallow confidence that we possibly know what we are doing on a sailboat.
We had not actually planned to sail today...however, the Greek gods decided we that we were committing some form of sacrilege and that should we truly wish to experience the Greek ways...we must now hoist our sails since our engine had forsaken us!
Now we are racing along at 1.5-2.0 knots ..... and we have 6 nautical miles to go...and the sun is on its way down...... Actually, we have more than 10 miles to where we planned on being...but a convenient little cove that was aside as a plan B.....was closer!
Now to the joys of tacking! Our two choices of direction were directly toward a large rocky island.,....or out to sea.......... so we alternated between the two....while still running our motor at 1000 RPM....because at this point we are afraid to shut it off.
So, the plan is to head in between the mainland and the large rocky island while power sailing. Paige is now at the helm and confidently keeping her distance from the charted shallows. Suddenly the depth rockets up to 1.8.m! Abrupt about face! New plan! Circumnavigate the small rocky island and approach plan B harbour from the opposite side!
Finally, at 2006 hrs (a total of 3 nautical miles) later.....we limp into Chapel cove where we pray that we will have enough engine thrust to actually set the anchor! Luckily we have all chain....60 m in total (and as an aside here...we have yet to be in waters greater than 70m).....and a WINDLASS! What fun! We can dump it all...and retrieve it with minimal effort! Gotta get us one of these!
After a little bit of futzing we agree that we are in fact anchored.
Oh Kirk....time for a swim! Here's the mask and snorkel...go see if we caught something or if we in fact have a real engine problem that will end our trip here and now. At least it's warmer than Howe Sound. And we have lots of hot water.
As luck would have it, we indeed hooked a large chunk of plastic and are not facing any repairs. And didn't Kirk look so cute with a blue head and blue arms from the fresh bottom paint. I offered him a pot scrubber to wash his head, but he only seemed mildly amused.
Many dives later, the plastic was removed from our prop and shaft and Kirk was once more welcomed aboard as I cheered from the deck.
And now, several hours later, and several drinks later.....we write this and say "And so ends day one". And what will tomorrow hold in store........we think with trepidation...... You may note that photos are limited for today....you may also note that really, our hands were quite full...I am certain we will do better......
May 3rd rolls into May 4th 2005
While technically this is day two on the water, it is in fact, an extension of day one. We crawled into our bunk at roughly 0045 hrs and began to drift off to the various clunks, creaks and thumps that the Pink Elephant makes. Chapel cove was 100% populated by local boats on mooring buoys when we arrived and one lone sailboat came in and took up residence at a buoy after dark. Otherwise, we were the only boat at anchor.
Just as we were falling into a deep slumber, I noted the sound of a very strong engine that seemed to be getting closer and popped the hatch for a look. A very large boat was heading directly for us and suddenly switched two very strong floodlights on us and night turned into day! The vessel veered off slightly and we could see that it was a Hellenic Coast Guard vessel. An authoritative figure came on deck and began to yell in Greek at the two gopher like heads peering out of the front hatch cover. Paige bleated out "English?". We seem to have heard two different responses....Kirk heard "how many people on board" "I heard how long are you here?" Kirk yelled back "two!" We were then forcefully instructed to turn on the cabin lights and come on deck.
Okee dokee!
Luckily we both had PJ's on. Kirk opened up the back hatch and we both stepped out onto the aft deck. I was thinking at this point that they must really want their 3 Euro port charge! But really, at 0130 hrs? There were now two authorities staring us down and they turned the brightest floodlight known to mankind directly into our faces. I guess we didn't appear too threatening in our disheveled sleepy state, because the first authority gave us a backhanded wave and said something like "OK". It became night again and they turned their attention to the other sailboat that had taken up residence at the mooring buoy.
Then the real fun began!
They sounded the horn at the other boat (they were flying a German flag) and began to yell at them. They too were told to turn on lights and come on deck. Then they said that they were coming aboard and began to maneuver closer and hold out fenders. Suddenly there was a siren on board the Coast Guard vessel and people started running around the boat. Then one of the engines died on them. They had hooked a mooring buoy that didn't have a boat on it. Although the picture is blurry, see below for proof that this actually occurred!
We would like to officially nominate the Hellenic Coast Guard for the HA (Horse's Ass) award this year!
Much yelling (and probably swearing) in Greek followed. Eventually someone went in the water and for the for the next hour or so, they were trying to get unhooked. Eventually they did, and it appeared that the sail boaters that they were trying to board had gone back to bed. We of course, were enjoying the show to the fullest (while keeping a low profile...didn't think they'd be in a good mood after all this). Finally they began to back out of the area at full throttle AND STRAIGHT TOWARDS THE SIDE OF OUR BOAT! No joke, the words "brace for impact" were just about to come shrieking out of my mouth (this incredibly large steel boat was probably less than ten feet from us and doing roughly ten knots in reverse), the adrenaline in both Kirk and I peaked, and we heard the fellow on the back deck yell something (must have seen the two terrified white gophers looking out of the hatch), and the vessel was clicked into forward and gunned at full throttle. Without a doubt, that was the most frightening moment we have EVER had on the water. We are quite confident that if we had connected, our boat would have been sunk.
The prop wash pushed our boat quite some distance. They circled us one more time and slunk off into the night with no lights on. And so we tried to go to sleep and prayed that day one was finally over. Perhaps we will take a nap tomorrow....methinks we will need it, sleep was not quickly forthcoming with so much adrenaline coursing through our veins.
May 4th 2005...for real - Photo album
A little groggy this morning. Flat calm out there and a lovely little cove complete with an old chapel on the side of the hill, hence the name of the cove.
Today was really rather uneventful...thankfully. We headed out of Chapel cove at around noon and pulled up the sails. We had a beautiful tack taking us straight on our intended course. The winds finally died on us and we motored for awhile. The wind came back, and we sailed, the winds dies and we motored, the wind came back and we sailed, the winds died, and we motored. That's kinda how the day went. We spotted a pod of dolphins about a mile off of the anchorage (Ormos Kavia on the Island of Kea) that seemed to be far too well hidden. We thought we had the anchorage all to ourselves, alas, several other boats showed up a few hours later. Unhappy with our original anchoring job we pulled out a second anchor and dropped a stern anchor via dinghy.... pretty much the end of the day. Had a great meal, a glass of wine, watched the sun set.....MUCH more relaxing than yesterday!
Today we woke up relatively early, had a late breakfast, went for a hike and came back for a swim. We hung about for a little bit and then headed off to Kythnos as a stopover on our way to Seriphos. We headed out, got some good wind and had a good sail. Kirk saw a freighter headed our way and we tacked to keep clear. We saw another boat coming around the tip of Kea and realized it was a fast ferry. We altered our course to avoid it...and it altered its course to head us off! When we thought we were well out of harms way, he altered towards us again. We didn't have anything out there to compare relative sizes to, but we figure the fast ferries here are bigger than the fast cats that we had (briefly). The major difference is that they clock in at easily twice the speed and push a phenomenal wall of water. We did an emergency tack when we saw the 8-10 foot wash behind the thing to take it at a better angle, unfortunately we lost our wind and had about 10 seconds to get the engine started and the boat turned around to meet the wall of water coming at us! She took it like a trooper though. The adrenaline certainly was elevated for a bit after that episode! The going got a little rough crossing the Stenon Kythnou and we dropped the sails in favour of the motor as the winds picked up beyond our comfort level.
We are forever doing math because our anemometer reads in m/sec rather than knots. We also had another example of why you should only trust your GPS so much. Take a look at our intended course based on the charts (in red) vs our actual track (in blue) as we came into the bay we were headed for....... Makes you wonder. Also makes you realize that this is NOT somewhere to boat at night....the nav lights are few to none. We realized fairly early when we were headed in that the GPS wasn't giving us a true reading and navigated by depth and paper chart.
We had to head past our intended turning point due to the seas but eventually made the corner and surfed into the bay. We dropped anchor at Ormos Apokreiosi where we became the local spectator sport for the evening. Two fishermen in a small boat circled us a few times and waved. We put out a stern anchor because the wind seemed to be picking up a bit. Once we had the anchor down the fishermen must have realized we were spending the night because two other fellows rowed a boat across the bay and dropped a gill net that they have left in place overnight. Wonder how long they plan on having us trapped?
Now the wind is gusting at up to about 7 m/s and we are bouncing somewhat. We shall see if I sleep..... assuming good weather we are heading for Seriphos tomorrow where we will spend a couple of days. Looking forward to being somewhere and getting off the boat for a bit.
Well, after a lousy nights sleep bouncing around in the bay, we woke up to a weather system sitting overtop of us and decided to stay put. We took the dinghy out to the mouth of the bay to see what the seas were like and when we rounded the corner and found the waters to be quite large, we chose the cowardly route and decided to spend another night. Since our anchor held last night we know it's OK. We watched the fishermen bring in their net and tried to see what they caught. Mostly small stuff but a couple of octopus too.
So since we chose to hang out on Kythnos today we went ashore around noon and walked about 4 or 5 km up into the hills and into Chora (Hora, Kithnos, Kythnos, take your pick, everything here seems to have at least three spellings or names) where we discovered the real Greece...and a complete lack of English. On our hike we passed through farmland and farmers riding donkeys to take goats milk into town. We met goats, sheep, donkeys, the odd cow and a flock of chickens with two turkeys for companions. The place is completely charming and we feel like we've stepped back in time to a day when life was just simpler. We took a detour down a donkey trail and stopped to look around when there was a kafuffle sort of below our feet and a herd of goats shot out of a low rock building that we were almost standing on. When we turned around, some cows emerged from one that was behind us. It explained the odd ruin-like buildings dotting the hillsides...they are all animal shelters. They, and the livestock, blend into the hillsides in the most amazing manner.
In Chora we managed to identify and buy a few provisions (a can of tomatoes, a can of corn, some bread, a chicken breast, a few potatoes, chamomile tea (that was a score for me!) and some tzatziki....all easily identified...could not for the life of me figure out how to get across that I was looking for oregano though, I knew the Italian word for it...but that didn't get me far....the woman tried to give me spearmint tea, really ) and stopped at a little taverna for a beer and some calamari. It was the meatiest calamari we've ever had! Makes the stuff back home look like cheerios. While at the taverna the winds picked up even more and we hoped the boat was OK. We hiked back down into Apokreiosi happy to see the Pink Elephant still safely at anchor and our dinghy still tucked under the branches of a tree at the edge of the water. We made a quick trip to a taverna here in the bay that is run by the fishermen who had run the net the previous day, only to discover that they are not yet open for the season so no beer to be had. Back to the boat we go for a snack.
The winds are currently gusting to about 12 m/s and changing direction by the minute. There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to it and Olympic radio does in fact NOT broadcast weather every 6 hours as both the books say and our charter company informed us. So we are left to try and interpret as we go....cautiously. We have noticed that the weather systems seem to come from one direction, but that the winds and seas come from a completely different one.
We took the dinghy ashore and went for another hike having realized that we were not even able to get out of the bay to make the 2 mile ride around the corner to the main port. We hiked up the other way out of our bay along a dirt track and into a small valley on the other side of the ridge. Along the way we encountered a traffic jam.....a flock of sheep blocking the way...they didn't much like us though and headed down the slope and out of our way. We came down into a little bay called Ormos Fikiadha that is separated from Ormos Kolona by a narrow sandbar. The wind was positively howling through the narrow. Two boats were tied up, we decided that we had the better spot....but headed back to check on our stern anchor because the winds had done a complete 180 and were coming down from the top of the ridge instead of from sea. We decided to tie a few long lines together and created ourselves a 300' stern line that we ran to a tree on shore. We figure a three point tie ought to let us have a good nights sleep. So tonight we go to bed with a bow anchor, a stern anchor, and a stern line, the latter two off at 30 degrees to each other. This process of course provided further entertainment to our friends on shore, all of who had stopped what they were doing to watch us. We almost gave them more than we bargained for when I almost liberated the dinghy. It was blowing too hard to pull the dinghy onto the front deck so we pulled it up and tied it against the aft of the boat.
Just in the nick of time, the winds started gusting over 15 m/s.....our best estimation is that it is about 30 knots (34 mph/54 kph). A pretty good wind regardless of how you want to interpret it. We spent a bit of time tightening a LOT of lines...amazing how everything buzzes on a sailboat. So now we are well fed and tucked in for the night. Hopefully things will have calmed down tomorrow and we can move on.
May 7th 2005 - 12:30 am - Photo Album
The night from hell....the abridged version
Sleep has eluded us and Mother nature has thrown a fastball at us, or a curve ball, or probably it would be more appropriate to say she flung a fast curve ball. The winds have picked up and the weather has worsened. We are beginning to give up on sleep. Kirk had far more faith in the anchor that I did. We had been on the anchor for 24 hours...but it just didn't feel right to me. Unfortunately, at least in this case, I was right. The next 12 hours became the "proving ground".
We had crawled into our bunk and were just beginning to doze off when the winds picked up. The gusts pushed the boat in some cases at a 25 to 30 degree angle. A touch un-nerving. The dinghy tried to blow away and we lashed it down further. Anchor watch began in earnest. The winds gusted from all directions but the majority, at least at first, came from the E we saw it go up to about 20 m/s on the meter, we both think it was up to higher than that. All fine and dandy because we had run a stern line and had two anchors out, one forward and one aft. We sat and watched the winds speed and the depth. Unfortunately, my greatest fear was realized when the wind direction changed to S-SW at high velocity. The boat began to swing from side to side and we feared for our main anchor. It held....for awhile...then it broke. At about 4:00 am we found ourselves broadside to the shore and being pushed by a roughly 40 knot wind onto land. We were still firmly attached to our stern line and stern anchor which were now causing us more difficulties than assistance but they were both strung so tight that we couldn't do anything. Kirk was at the helm attempting to maintain control of the vessel while I was climbing in and out of the front hatch to try to deal with the anchor. When I would try to pull the anchor in, the force of the wind and boat combined would pull the anchor chain off the bow roller and jam the windlass and I was left to try to haul it back on. I truly thought I was going to lose a couple of fingers in the process. I tried the windlass handle as a pry bar but couldn't budge it....we had to play a waiting game for a wave that was big enough and strong enough to knock it back onto the bow roller.
During all of this I could se a light in the distance. A sailboat had been anchored and stern tied in the small bay on the outside of the sandbar behind the island. I had seen its anchor light on and could now see that it too was struggling. They disappeared after awhile and we have no idea what happened to them, they had to leave the bay and head out to sea in the dark. We had wind, but they must have had it so much worse where they were because they had high seas coming in at them as well. See the red X on the chart below for where they were. The next day the waves were crashing up both sides of the sandbar, no boat could have survived in there...we pray that they are safe.....
Once I got the anchor loose, we were left to fight the wind but we were still attached via a line to a tree on shore and a stern anchor. Kirk tried to release the stern anchor, but we it was too tight and the wind was pushing us ashore. We had been watching our depth gauge closely all night, but the thing suddenly began to jerk towards 0.0 m too often but there was no sound or feeling of things going bump in the night. Kirk got a break when the boat lurched back a bit and there was some slack on the stern anchor, we dumped it. Now we just had to deal with the stern line. We were both still in pajamas so Kirk didn't have his Leather man handy, I bolted below and grabbed mine, the stern line was under so much pressure that I just touched it with the knife and it snapped loose...we were free, but grounded momentarily. Luckily it was sand and nothing hard or damaging, and a wave picked us up just enough that with the engine wide open, she pulled free. We were NOT going to lose this boat if we cold help it!
We fought the wind and called depth numbers out until we were (we hoped) in the middle of the bay and at about 7m where we dropped the main anchor again. Thankfully it grabbed well and we dumped about 40 m of chain down behind it. It was now about 5 am. Kirk held the boat in reverse at idle for the next 10 hours to keep it from swinging and bouncing too badly as we feared the anchor being pulled out again. We bundled up in as much clothing as we could find, thankful that we had thought to bring fleece, full rain gear and wool gloves along, we needed all of it, and waited for dawn. Things just seem better in the light of day. When the sun rose we could see that one of the fishermen's boats had been blown off of its mooring and flung ashore.
We watched the mouth of the bay through binoculars to see what was going on out in the open water, all we could see was that the water seemed to rise up like a wall and the breaking waves hitting the point were easily smashing 50 feet high. Best guess is that the seas were probably about 20 feet out there. As the day wore on we saw a freighter go out, then two ferries. To see two ferries meant that even they had been holed up.
Through all of this, the VHF radio was eerily quiet, not even a weather forecast. We finally decided to call Olympia Radio and find out what the prediction was for the rest of the day, neither one of us could stomach the thought of the dark in this bay again. I called several times and finally got a response, comfort at last I thought, someone is out there! I was asked to change to channel 26 and when I got through the Greek male voice at the other end demanded "What do you want!" I said I wanted a weather forecast, he gave me tomorrows, I said no, I want to know what these winds are going to do, how long would they last. The reply was a very crabby" No one can know the weather, no one can know what the winds will do". Great, fat lot of good that did. I wanted to find out if there was room at the quay two bays over in case we ever did get out of here but I never again received a response. We have pretty much determined that the VHF radio in Greek waters is purely for decoration on a boat.
So we waited, and waited, and waited. We counted out the wind speed to each other, watched the mouth of the bay for signs of change, and waited. We could see our stern line had washed ashore so we knew we could come back for it if we could ever get out of here. The winds dropped a bit, enough for us to untie the dinghy and haul it up onto the front deck, one paddle came apart and went in the water. Now it became a mental hurdle. The winds had dropped considerably and were holding relatively consistently between 9 and 10 m/s with just getting the odd gust to 12 or 13 m/s. We could see that things had calmed a bit out in the open, the waves crashing against the rocks were slightly smaller and the cresting waves were fewer. Then we saw a sailboat bounce by, then two others. They were floundering, but making way and going down sea. We just needed to go 2 miles around the corner to get to safe harbour....Merikhas was so close, just straight out about a mile, then a 90 degree turn, and straight in.
We finally worked up the courage when the winds seemed to be fairly steady at 8-9 m/s. The thought of another night in the dark and unknown winds here was worse than the thought of going out in the rough sea. The anchor was firmly in and took some work to retrieve but when we got it we headed out. The corner was the worst because the waves were meeting the narrowing but once through there the waves, although huge (best guesstimate about 15 foot...when in them we couldn't see out and the tops were way above us) were relatively predictable and weren't cresting. We wove our way out at a 45 degree angle without too much difficulty, then did a 90 degree turn and semi-surfed back. It would have been an easy 20 minute trip in normal circumstances, but it took closer to an hour in these waters.
We finally made it and were grateful to see a space at the quay. It was full with race boats, but there was a bit of room. We fought a bit to dock it, this was our first experience at Mediterranean style docking, rare to go alongside here. We dropped the anchor, put out every fender we had, and began to back towards the concrete quay. The majority of the other boats were bow to, but that wasn't an option for us as we had left our stern anchor back on the bottom of the bay. We got her in safely and now out of the wind, realized we were cooking in our multiple layers. We sat down and gave thanx that we were OK, and that the boat was OK.
One thing to note, it is odd to come here from North America where we are all so used to people helping you dock. Absolutely no one lends a hand here. You are either ignored, or yelled at if they think you are doing something wrong.
We changed into fresh clothes and went ashore to see if we could find a car rental company, we did. We rented a little car and headed back to the bay to see if we could retrieve the things we had lost. The stern line (three 100 foot lines tied together) was still on shore but a pile of knots, it took me about 30 minutes to untangle it and turn it back into three coiled lines. Kirk put on a mask and snorkel and started to look for the anchor, he found it fairly quickly, we'd had the forethought to take note of both where we originally placed it and where we cut it loose. But it was too deep. The line went shoreward and he was able to get hold of it and pull it almost in. We tied it off to a tree and I went to see if the fishermen might help us. The younger one spoke some English but did not want to put a boat in the water at that time, too late and still choppy. He said he would help tomorrow and we should come back at nine o'clock.
Back to Merikhas for some much needed food and sleep. We didn't sleep so much as we went unconscious. We learned a lot about ourselves and each other and what we are capable of dealing with in the past 40 hours.
May 8th 2005 - Happy Birthday to me! - Photo Album
We got up, counted our collective bruises, and there are many (Kirk says my arms look like I've been beaten...my knees are worse), and headed back over to Apokreiosi to hopefully retrieve the anchor. We got out of the car and started to head up to the taverna to find our fisherman when the two older fishermen on the beach began calling to us and gesturing. Neither spoke a stitch of English but they were sure trying to talk to us. Then we noticed our anchor and the line we tied it off with leaning up against the side of an overturned boat. They had gone out and pulled it out before we arrived. We were so grateful and thanked them so profusely. We offered to pay them for their time and effort but they wouldn't hear of it. Through quasi-sign language and a whole lot of Greek that we didn't understand they told us that they understood we must have had quite a ride. We went and found the younger fisherman and thanked him profusely, he was so unbelievably gracious and wished us good luck in the rest of our trip.
We came back to Merikhas in time to see all the sail boats that had been at the quay pull out and begin their race and we were now the only boat at the quay. Peace.
We did some provisioning, and walked out to the point. The quay was a zoo of activity when we returned, the ferry must be coming. It's just like home when on Sunday everyone is trying to leave the Island and get back to the mainland. We didn't think there could be that many cars on this island! There are two taxis on the entire Island and they announce their presence with a distinctive horn. Back at the boat we realized how filthy everything was and cleaned the boat stem to stern, and hand washed some clothes.
We stopped into one of the dockside markets and bought a bottle of Bacardi rum....now you'd think that we could figure out how to open it wouldn't you? I've never been buffaloed by a bottle of alcohol before! Kirk thought he could get into it...and ended up taking it over to some fishermen on the dock...they even had trouble. They do things differently here. We also found wine in plastic water bottles...you just know we had to try it...we've dubbed it Two-Twenty because that's what it cost. Nothing but the best for us! Actually, it was surprisingly drinkable so we went back and stocked up.
Another sailboat docked in the early evening, two couples from Holland at the end of their trip and heading back to Athens. They have been up in the Saronic and said it was calm compared to here.....come on, where wouldn't be in comparison to the past two days!
Had a few drinks, read a bit, made dinner, and went to the restaurant for a piece of cake and some wine which they wouldn't let us pay for because it was my birthday. If you ever come here, visit the Ostria restaurant. To bed. End of day 5 on the boat.
We are hoping to head for Seriphos today. But first we are going to walk up and visit the port police and see what they have for a weather forecast. We have decided against Santorini, we may head for Paros in a couple of days after visiting Siphnos and may take the ferry down to Santorini and rent a room for a night there. Otherwise, it will be a reason to return in the future. From there we will probably come back and head for Mykonos before turning back northwards.
The Port Police said it would be a Beaufort force 5 today, perhaps picking up to 6 in the late afternoon. Beaufort 6 is the cutoff for sailing under the contract...not that we'd want to at that point. It is so strange to use the Beaufort scale here, it seems so less precise than what we are used to. But we are discovering that the weather is so variable, even from minute to minute, that it is probably the best all around manner of describing the potential conditions.
We've decided that we can handle it and so we are off to Seriphos as of 1100 this morning. The seas are a bit rough, but after the other day, it seems pleasant. We now know what we, and the boat, can handle. She may be called the Pink Elephant, but she is a lady, she is no floundering pachyderm.
Again, we note that the GPS bears little resemblance to our actual location so we use it as a rough guideline, the positioning appears to be somewhat consistently off track and so we adjust and use our given senses to help interpret everything.
Just out of the harbour we note that our electronics have gone dead, perfect timing of course. Kirk tears the boat apart following wires and we eventually follows the problem to the helm electronics. Kirk opens it all up, and wonder of wonders, a little duct tape comes to the rescue (we brought it along of course...never leave home without the stuff). Fixed and good as new again. We round the corner of Kythnos and hit some heavy seas. Finally we come to our senses and realize that we are so busy thinking like power boaters that if we would just raise the sails and cut the motor, it would actually be a smoother ride. It works like a charm. We get a good sail in for awhile until we round the corner of Seriphos when the wind dies on us. We are now in the company of a 51 foot Ocean Star who has also lost wind. We both lower the sails and begin to motor. The wind picks up in a new direction and we are motoring into a 12 m/s headwind that whipped the seas up quite nicely. We are both coming close to burying the bows and we beat our way around the coast for the next hour or two. Finally we see the turn into Ormos Livadhi and take the seas on the beam until we enter the harbour.
It's a large harbour and the quay is quite full. It is now just after 1600 hrs and we are concerned about finding space. The Ocean Star is circling and seemingly undecided about where to dock so we hang back until they make up their mind. We decide on the outermost stern tie between a Bavaria 44 and a heritage British trawler. The owners of the trawler point at the spot and untie a line to make it easier for us. At last, friendly people, helpful people! They are flying a Norwegian flag and once we dock, we discover that they are retired and on a two and a half year voyage. Their vessel is the Laelia and it was built in 1958, with Canadian wood, they pointed this out to us because they saw our Canadian flag. An absolutely lovely couple.
We thought the place was full, but at least a half a dozen more boats showed up and managed to squeeze in. We would love to know how many nationalities are represented here. Canadian (us, the token Canadians in the Islands), Norwegian, British, Israeli, Dutch, American, German, Greek, French, Hungarian...and a whole host of other flags that we can't identify.
Seriphos is gorgeous, thanx for the suggestion Glenn, you were right!. The Hora (Main town) of Seriphos sits high on the hill above us and the hills are in and out of the clouds. This island apparently sports a greater amount of water than many of the others, despite seeming dry and barren. The humidity is much higher than we have felt in days and as we look at the deck on the boat, it appears as if we have just been through a rain shower because so much water has settled out of the air onto the boat.
We found a single internet computer in town and are hoping that this link will work. Internet is scarce in the islands, the updates are much more infrequent than even we thought they would be, such is the life in the Islands!
Well that failed utterly. The young woman was positively panic stricken that I wanted to unplug her internet. We reassured her that it wouldn't destroy anything and gave it a shot. Didn't work, not sure why. So far we have only managed to get one out of three internet connections to function. This is not as simple as I thought it would be....but is anything ever really? We will see what tomorrow brings.
We spent the day on Seriphos and did a walking tour. We hiked up to the chora of Seriphos and explored the town a bit. We went to chapel at the very tip top, the view is breathtaking. There are cats and donkeys everywhere. A little black dog led us through the maze of narrow streets for awhile and then left us. We then hiked out of town across the countryside with lizards scurrying out of our way at every step, and over to a beach called Psili Ammos where we sat at the seaside and had a packed lunch. It was virtually deserted except for us. We were going to have a swim....Kirk did, I wimped...too cold!
We then hiked back to Livadhi where we spent the next few hours lounging, sipping drinks, and being helpful Canadians for all the boats that came in. It's much busier here today, many more boats at the dock. We've discovered that "there s always room for one more".
It is still so surprising to us how little help is generally offered. An Israeli crew came in and were having a great deal of difficulty so we helped them out, they were extremely grateful and we sort of hoped we put some of the others to shame. It must have worked a bit because by the end, there were other people coming out to grab lines. It wasn't all good though, I just about sent a captain into the drink on purpose. A group of Germans came in on a big catamaran and the captain jumped ashore and ended up hanging half on the pier and half in the water. Kirk and I ran forward and each grabbed an arm to help him out, he could have been crushed by the boat as it came in! His response was to look up at me and yell in my face "Let go of me!" I threw my arms in the air and said fine and walked away from him and let him claw his own way onto the dock. Miserable old cuss! We then moved next door an helped some British fellows get tied up. They were gracious and we ended up spending a few hours on their boat later. A woman from crabby's boat came over a bit later and apologized to me for her captains behaviour. Pathetic that he couldn't do it himself.
Several others came down a bit later and also commented on the fellow's idiotic behaviour towards us. I was told I should have pushed him in. We are starting to understand why help is often not forthcoming if that is the thanx you receive. One guy said that we should be on payroll...we just replied,..."helping out is just what you should do". I think it was after that, that some others actually started to get off their boats when people were coming in.
Every boat that arrives brings more testosterone! Where are the women! One boat came in with a woman at the helm and a chauvinistic German guy was coaxing her in with, come on baby, and looking at me at the same time!! When she delicately backed it in, the men on the dock clapped! Male chauvinist pigs!
Women are not given any credit here, everywhere we go, they look to Kirk. As a computer question, they talk to Kirk, anything I do on the boat seems to be amazing! I think everyone was astonished that I was helping pull lines. One fellow almost made the mistake of trying to take a line from me........seemed to have read my body language and thought better of it.
We went ashore for a slice of baklava to finish off the day.
The waterman is on the dock. He is so cute, he walks down the dock with a hose and calls to each boat "Hello Captain!" "Waterman!" 5 Euros for water. A better deal than ice.
We were about to leave when we saw our British friends leave the dock, minus a crewmember. When the missing crew came down the dock he said he had been to the Port Police to deal with the paperwork before leaving......ummm, what paperwork we asked. We haven't visited the Port Police or paid any fees since arriving in Greece. He said "Oh you must or they will come looking for you, you wouldn't want to send your last few night in jail!" Good enough for us, Kirk took our papers up, they took a couple of Euros from us, stamped some papers and sent us on our way. Since then, we haven't seen any Port Police and when we have tried to go to the office, it's closed...like everything else in Greece. They seem to open and close at bizarre times, completely arbitrary.
Off to Siphnos today .....maybe an internet connection?
We made it to Siphnos ...tried to sail but the winds didn't cooperate ....today not enough. BUT, while we were under sail, we had a visitor. A lone dolphin played around us for 15 minutes. It was amazing!
We made it into Ormos Kamares and found some friends from yesterday. Pauline and Luke from Holland. They helped us get settled and then we all took a bus to Apollonia where we waited for a taxi to Kastro. While waiting a young woman walked up to wait for a ride back down to the port. I looked at her bag and it looked suspiciously like MEC ....I asked her where she was from ...Vancouver! Finally, a Canadian!
The taxi to Kastro arrived and we headed off in that direction. Kastro, an amazing place...and hot as an oven! The city was all but deserted and perched high on the cliffs The taxi never came back so we all hiked back to Apollonia.....here we FINALLY found and Internet Cafe! (That was open and compatible with my laptop!). So this island has TWO computers on it!
We should be able to find an internet cafe in Paros, larger island, bigger population....so hopefully we can get the photos from today (dolphin and all) up tomorrow.
May 11th 2005 continued.......
The computer upload appears to have been successful. We did a little bit food of shopping in Apollonia and then caught one of the three island taxis back down to the port of Kamares. When we arrived we thought our boat had been moved but we realized another boat had come in and docked sideways. Rather obnoxious we thought initially. We saw that the Cosmos, a huge boat owned by some people from Amsterdam and captained by a Greek fellow who looks like a pirate...complete with missing hand, had berthed in between us and our friends from Holland. Luke said that the sailboat that was docked sideways was in the charge of six Italians who had a dickens of a time getting in and fouled their prop on a mooring line. It apparently took them 1 hour and 20 minutes to get where they currently are and that they used our boat and its anchor in the process. We don't seem to be any worse for wear though. We chatted on the quay with the captain of the Cosmos and Luke and Pauline for a bit and then we wandered off with Luke and Pauline to explore Kamares. We found a lovely pottery shop and bought a couple of bowls before we parted company, they to seek a restaurant, us to cook on the boat.
There are cats everywhere here but most of them are very timid if not downright feral. We found a couple of friendly ones here and shared our leftover dinner with one.
Luke and Pauline joined us for a nightcap and now the day is close to over. What a wonderful day ....a short sail in the morning, a dolphin playing around us, a lovely hike around an ancient city, a good dinner and some good conversation.
Up early today, another gorgeous day in the works. We heard our first weather forecast today, and only because the captain of the Cosmos told us what channel to turn to. It was difficult to follow but we are pretty certain it said Beaufort 3-4 today and tomorrow and possibly getting a bit worse on the weekend. We confirmed this with our friendly neighbour and feel confident about our next couple of days. We have some long hauls ahead of us to get back. Paros is about 35 miles or more depending which way we go. Mykonos is a fairly short hop from there, and then Tinos is only 10 miles after that, but then we have two slogs of over 40 miles to get back home.
We have decided against the ferry to Santorini, we will save that for next time. We are already planning our return trip. We have to do this again! If anyone wants to join a flotilla, start saving now! It would be a gas to charter several boats and do this as a group at this time of year. It is still very quiet everywhere we have been.
Breakfast and a quick trip to the market and we will be on our way.
Nothing is ever easy!
We got off the dock a little later than planned. We bade Luke and Pauline farewell, but not for long. Pauline had just finished wishing us a safe journey with no more incidents when Luke called out to us that our anchor looked as if it was caught in a chain. They came back and Kirk jumped aboard their boat for a look, sure enough, our anchor was firmly attached to a dead mooring block and chain at the bottom of the bay. Luckily, only about 12 feet down. We fought with it unsuccessfully for a bit before we gave up. Time for another swim Kirk! Donning mask, snorkel and fins, down Kirk went. It took about three or four dives to free the anchor and we were officially on our way again. It was nice to have the moral support of our friends, good to know if we needed some assistance, someone helpful was close by. We exchanged email addresses and I passed on the web site address so they can see if we encountered any more adventures on our trip (Thank you again guys if you do visit here).
We were perplexed at how we could have fouled our anchor, I dropped it in clear water and saw exactly where it had landed, I had also not snugged it up enough to catch that chain ....I never even saw it when we backed in and I watched the bottom the whole time. Then it occurred to us. The Italians that had come in that afternoon and had had so much difficulty, had apparently used our boat, and thus our anchor, to drag themselves in. It follows then that they dragged our anchor over. So, be warned your anchor doesn't always stay where you put it when at a quay. And if it does hook, it might not be on what you hope it is. It truly is amazing that the harbour authorities do not clean up the sea bottom. They want to cater to the boaters, but they do nothing to make life easier or safer.
The good news was that Kirk finally got a chance to really look over the bottom of the boat while he was unhooking the anchor. We were still very concerned that there might have been some damage to the keel from our nightmare night. Nothing, there was no damage whatsoever which confirmed that if we did ground momentarily as we thought, it was in soft sand.
We parted company with Luke and Pauline and went different directions. If we had more time we would have loved to stay together for a bit longer.
We began the long trek to Paros, about 35 miles, with one straight long stretch of about 24 miles with no turning....and no wind to even play with and have fun. Just one long, straight, boring, motor.
Off in the distance we saw an armada of military boats and at one point we thought one had turned towards us .....wouldn't that have been fun. But they turned back and continued on their way.
We arrived in Paros around 1530 and the quay was quiet. One yacht on the inside, one on the outside. We tucked into the inner harbour next to a British fellow. We shut things down and then restarted the computer to check the distances only to discover that the darned machine had wiped out all of our saved tracks and routes...not to mention all of our charts were gone. Have I ever mentioned that I hate this computer? It needs to be lobotomized again. Luckily I had backed the charts up in another location on the hard drive so I could reinstall them, but our tracks are gone. I have had to redraw them as best I can. That was a disappointment.
Heading into Paros we were initially disappointed in the town. It seemed to be a little ticky tacky and rather run down. We wandered off the waterfront into the back a bit and into Mavroyenous Square where we discovered an old church called the Ekatondapyliani church (or the "One Hundred Gated Church").
We continued on and found Market Street in the Old Town and wound our way through some wonderful little shops and did a little bit of shopping, only the second time we have made a purchase that didn't involve provisions since we got here.
We wandered our way back, found an internet cafe that promised wireless and went in to see how far it would reach. The owner seemed confident that it would reach to the boats but it didn't so we purchased some time and even though he is closed, we will go sit outside to upload this. He did try his darndest to get it working for us, he was walking around the square with the laptop trying to get it to connect to his 8db Gain antenna outside. Seems like an incompatibility with this laptop, small wonder, never buy a SONY! Piece of junk ...wondering when it is going to explode ...hopefully it will hold off for another week. Anyway, this fellow was likely the most technologically advanced person we have met. We went back to the boat and a while later heard a voice on the dock. Our internet cafe owner was looking down into our cockpit, he and his girlfriend had come down to the dock to see if it was working or not. He brought his hotspot finder and it showed 4 out of 5 bars...but we couldn't make it connect. He was so nice, offered us our money back. We said no big deal, we'll just sit outside his cafe when we are ready and do our upload late tonight.
He was funny on the boat though, we invited he and his girlfriend on board while we were trying to make it work, she said no thanx, seemed terrified to walk along the gangplank. He came on and said "how do you move around on here?" We said "you get used to it".
Tomorrow we are planning to head to Delos and then Mykonos, all weather dependant of course. It is getting a bit windier and that's good...to a point. The forecast is calling for Beaufort 6 for Saturday returning to calm for Sunday. No worries, we will be safely tucked in at a dock somewhere......
Until then....
The winds are picking up in the harbour at least. It is sitting at around 6-8 m/s and gusting up to around 10 which means that it will be more out on the water. Or maybe not, it actually tends to be worse close to land, particularly on the lee side of the islands...but that's one of the few things that seems to follow normal weather patterns here!. We have another long haul today and we cannot stay at anchor at Delos because it is an archaeological site. We are going to check with the port authorities before we even drop anchor because although the captain of the Cosmos said we could (and should) stop there for a couple of hours in the afternoon before heading to Mykonos, other things seem to indicate that it's not exactly kosher...and we don't really feel like spending a night in jail. Delos is the centre of the ancient world and where the Delos Oracle was consulted before major decisions were made.
So, we shall listen to the weather forecast...if we can understand it, they speak quickly and not all that clearly. Then we will pop up to the internet cafe and check the National Observatory of Athens website which is said to be quite good and detailed with respect to what is going on out on the waters. If it is too rough, we will stay here and maybe rent some scooters and check out Naousis, see what the rest of the island has to offer, and have a nice dinner. Then perhaps on to Delos the next day. We shall see what the weather brings for us!
Well there you go, we turned to channel 16 to hear the 9 am weather broadcast, which was of course at 9:10, to be told to go to channel 23 to hear the forecast for the SW Aegean. They give you a list of channels to go to dependant on your area...then don't say anything on them! Doesn't make any sense....yes it does, it's Greece!
We waited and waited and waited ...nothing, we turned to channel 04 where we heard yesterdays forecast...and lo, there is a forecast in progress. I think I heard that the forecast for our area is Beaufort 4 to 5 with 6 locally. So, our interpretation is that the winds will be moderate, winds of between 10 and 20 knots, moderate to rough seas with waves of between 1.5 to 4 metres.
The boat next to us is a British boat, the owner keeps it here and flies in to use it in good weather. This seems to be a very normal thing, many boats here are owned by people from away.
We fueled up today. A whole 55 litres is what we have used in 13 days. Fueling is one of the few simple tasks here in Greece. You don't have to find the fuel docks....they come to you. They arrive every morning like vultures. Same thing for water in many places.
1130 - we've just checked the weather and it looks like a Beaufort 4-5 calming in the evening. We think we are OK so we are going to head for Mykonos after all. Talk to you then!
1230 - Hmm, the winds are picking up and the Port Police say 5 turning very quickly to 6. 6 = not so much fun. It's gotten considerably windier in the harbour and getting out could be the real trick...if we feel so inclined. The winds are N-NW so we'd be heading straight into it. We may rent scooters and explore Paros after all.
Back at the boat, we find that several boats have come in, all charters. Seems like we are docked right smack into the middle of a charter company's area. Whatever, we aren't moving. Competition is good. We are flying our competitors flag with pride! We saw another sailboat come in and went to ask them where they had come from. They had come down from Naoussa, (would be on our route) and said the seas were rough and uncomfortable.
1300 - We are the proud new, temporary, custodians of two sewing machines with wheels! AWESOME goofy looking helmets! Are we cool, or what. Don't answer. Kondolis Rent a Bike. We managed to barter the price down a Euro, not much, but I love to haggle.
We are off to explore the Island of Paros. First stop Naoussa. This would have been our escape had we attempted to round the island, and are we glad we made the decision we did. At the top of the island we can see that it's one chunky sea out there. The wind is howling up here. Probably well into 30 knots with seas between 3 and 5 metres. We made a good choice and are happy with it ...albeit frustrated at losing another day in a harbour we hadn't intended on staying in.
Naoussa was a cool place, little harbours with teeny boats. Tavernas RIGHT on the water...the waves washing almost into the tables.
From Naoussa we went to Lageri, a cool little beach on beautiful aquamarine waters. The winds precluded any swimming because any warmth was stolen away quickly, but lovely all the same. Santa Maria was our next stop where we found the most amazing potential summer properties if anyone is interested. No idea on price, but they are almost finished.
We headed South to Ampelas, then back on the main road and straight down to Pisso Livadi where we found a great little fishing village on the sea. We could see the most amazing church (Ayios Andonios) up on the hill and wound our way up to it.
We got to the quay and I noted that my gas was dropping faster than I anticipated. I asked Kirk how much he had left and he said he was full. I said I was at half. We stopped and opened the tanks to discover they were both at half. Note to self, Kirk's gas gauge doesn't work ...neither of us have functional speedometers and Kirk's lights are intermittent. It's Greece, par for the course.
It turned out to be the most amazing ride up, and up, and up, and waaaaaay up! So far up I to the church actually had to run while riding my scooter just to get it up the last leg. Poor things, the scooters not my legs. When we got to the top we could see for miles and miles (isn't that a song?). Paros is amazing, it is so fertile and covered with agriculture. We could see Naxos across the channel.
When we hurtled down the hill back to the main road, we stopped for fuel. The elderly fellow asked us where in Canada we were from. First person who hasn't assumed that we are from Toronto! Arrrrgh! We constantly need to correct people that the centre of Canada is actually Vancouver, sorry Denis ;)
Anyway, we said Vancouver...he asked where. Odd question coming from a fellow in the absolute middle of nowhere in the Greek Islands. We said North Vancouver and he nodded knowingly and said he was from Vancouver. We were sure he was pulling our leg at this point. We asked where and he said Kitsilano. OK, we believe him, you don't pull that out of the air. He lived there for 15 years but left 22 years ago. He offered us a drink and wanted us to sit awhile and talk to him about Vancouver but then someone came and needed some work done and he said he was disappointed, but had to work.
Amazing who you meet and where!
When we went to get going again, Kirk's scooter wouldn't start using the electric start, good thing there is a kick start too.
Off we went again, bzzzzy little sewing machines.
Next stop, Lefkes. A gorgeous hillside community tucked into the top edge of a valley that is so lush. There are geraniums the size of trees! I've never seen anything like it! The town does not allow scooters down the main streets (if you want to call them that...for reference, by streets we mean what would constitute a quarter of an alley at home) so we left our sewing machines in the square and went on by foot. And got completely lost of course ...there is no other way to navigate the streets of these villages because you really and truly are in a maze. The "streets" are stones and there is a marble water drain running down the middle. MARBLE! It is everywhere and used like we would use brick.
We headed out of Lefkes intending to head for Kostos......and here we hit our daily snag. We figured that we dealt with so many obstacles on the water that it would be a pleasure to stay on land and be comfortable in the knowledge that nothing would go wrong today. Yeah....riiiiight. This is us! If you haven't caught on by now, everything that can go wrong, really and truly will go wrong. It's not Murphy's Law, It's Kirk and Paige's Law of Relativity. All things being equal, we will encounter the problem that is least likely to occur!
So we are screaming down the highway, Me with a big smile on my face, leading the way. I can see Kirk following me in my rear view mirror. He has started to follow directly behind me so he is more difficult to see without leaning a bit. A ways on I look back, can't see him, assume he is right on my behind, lean out, check the other mirror ....I am very much alone on an empty highway. It was like aliens had sucked him up off the road behind me without my ever knowing. Okay, perhaps my years of training as an observationalist have not stood me in good stead. I stopped. He was just not there ....anywhere. Where did he go?
A quick about face and I hurtled (Okay, as much as you can do so on a scooter) back down the road. A few turns back and I found Kirk at the side of the road, he says he could hear me laughing and calling, "sorry, sorry, sorry" all the way down the hill. What was the problem? Apparently I was zooming along at such a velocity that I was leaving Kirk in the dust. Typical male ego, he couldn't deal with the fact that a woman was beating him at a race so he had a tantrum and broke his scooter.
Okay, Kirk's version now.
I was getting away from him and he cranked the throttle wide open and the throttle cable snapped.
I like my version better.
Kirk dismantled the scooter with his Leather man to see if he could fix it. No such luck. We both jumped on my scooter (it's red, it's better) and zipped back up to Lefkes where we bought a phone card and called the rental agency. We gave them an idea of where the scooter was, he said it would be about a half hour. We popped into the mini market and grabbed a bag of mini bake chips (like bagel chips, really yummy) and a couple of road pops and headed back to the dead scooter. We had taken no more than two sips when a van pulled up at high speed and a smiling fellow jumped out. He hauled a spiffy turbo yellow scooter out of the van, hauled Kirk's dead blue one in and vanished as fast as he had arrived. And we had just finished commenting on how much longer than a half hour it would be...this is Greece, EVERYTHING is late!
We zoomed back into town, Kirk in the lead (Heaven knows I didn't want him to get lost again) and went back down to the boat to dump our packs. We headed into the restaurant district and did a circuit first. We found a heritage sight with some ruins just on the outskirts of town. The ruins were recently uncovered, 1995. Astonishing to think that there have been people living around here for over 4000 years and we are still finding out where.
We found a place to eat on the beach and had a great dinner (until the waiter tried to poison us with some vile shooter..."on the house") before retiring to the boat for the night. We rode the scooters right down to the dock and they are on the quay at the back of our boat. This is a cool place after all.
The winds have died off almost completely which we are hoping bodes well for tomorrow. Today was supposed to be the start of a system and it was supposed to be crappy tomorrow. But we are hoping that it has blown over early and that a night without winds will calm the seas so we can head to Mykonos tomorrow. If we can't make it out on our boat we will be on the 1100 ferry and will spend the night in a hotel there.
0800 - Currently talking to a couple of other boaters on the dock, discussing, what else ...weather and what it may or may not do. We thought we as Canadians talked about weather a lot.....it affects life here much more. Winds are variable from the North. Regardless of what they are, we will be going into it. Sucks because for the past two weeks we have had South winds which have played in our favour. Not so anymore. Decision time is in two hours. We either take a ferry to Mykonos, and leave the boat here or beat our way there and then haul back. In some ways the ferry might be simpler because the trip back would be easier. We will have to choose soon....
0850 - After discussions with our friends on the dock (one from South Hampton UK, the other from California but living in Sweden) we are leaning towards the ferry and a night away from the boat. We are told that the marina in Mykonos is horrible and far from the town. Also, we are told that Mykonos is the most expensive Island and busy. We think perhaps that a regular ferry over today at 1100, find a place to stay, see the city, then take a boat to Delos tomorrow to see the ruins, then back to Mykonos, and then we will retrace our steps back to Seriphos, Kythnos, then back to Athens. Besides, how can one come to Greece and not experience the ferry culture?! So we will be foot tourists for a couple of days. Better to have the boat in a safe harbour rather than be afraid to leave it.
If we have learned one thing here, it is be flexible in your plans and allow lots of leeway in your timing. We would have liked to make it to Tinos as well, it is supposed to be something to see the faithful crawling on their hands and knees to the church on the hill. and the dove cotes are supposed to be something special. Next year! I think you could come here for 20 years and not see it all.
0915 - Are listening to the weather report...for our area the forecast is N-NW winds, Beaufort 6 - 7.....our decision stands, the current winds don't seem like they agree, it's currently blowing at about 6-7 m/s, but why tempt fate, and we are in a harbour too so that makes a big difference.
0930 - Have decided...fery to Mykonos. Our neighbour from South Hampton who keeps his boat here in Greece came to tell us what the NAVTEX said, it agreed with the radio forecast, still bad. We said we'd decided on a ferry, he said wise decision, made us feel better when a seasoned veteran said that and said that he was hoping to get out in a day or two.
1000 - Quick packing job, make sure all the lines are secure, close all the through hulls and turn off the electronics. Return the scooters, zip by the internet cafe to upload, grab a croissant, buy two ferry tickets, head for the dock. Wait for the ferry.
1100 - We are on a Sea Jet 2. Fast little (relatively speaking) thing. Pretty much like the Harbour Lynx. We sat upstairs. Out around the corner we saw Captain California leaving the harbour (didn't get his name ...dubbed him Captain California because he is originally from there...he asked for the web address.... so if you read this, let us know how your trip went, we saw you rounding the corner and saw what you were in for, didn't look like a fun ride).
Didn't look bad as we rounded the corner towards Naoussa. We thought to ourselves, gee, we're wimps, it was do-able ....relatively big and lumpy, but do-able. As we neared Mykonos we changed our tune. Wild is the only word to describe it. Swells coming from two directions, wind whipping off the tops of the white caps between the swells. Water shooting two decks up on the ferry. It was definitely NOT do-able! We certainly made the right decision.
When we docked, we almost got blown off of our feet as we got off the ferry, the wind was that strong! We walked off the ferry and were immediately accosted by the throngs of hotel owners looking to hook us for a room. We've not seen anything like it in our travels so far, and it apparently only gets worse. A woman was jogging alongside us as we were trying to get away. We finally cleared them and were almost around the corner when I could see another person running after us out of the corner of my eye. A gentleman called out to us, always a sucker for an English/Irish/Scottish/Aussie (take your pick, I love them all) accent we stopped as he was calling "Hang on, hang on". He handed us a small brochure and said his establishment was in the Lonely Planet Guidebook and there was "no bullshit like some of the others". We decided to hear him out. When we asked the prices, they were higher than some of the others we had heard, but still relatively reasonable. We thanked him and went for a drink.
Sitting down, having a beer, listening to accents around us. Definitely Canadians next to us....yup, an older couple from Toronto, just arrived Thursday. Chatted for awhile, they are heading for Manaus next year, cruising all the way up the Amazon.
Decided we should go find a room, especially after watching several more big ferries deposit weekenders. Hunted down Zorzis Hotel, liked what we found, the price was OK, we have a room for the night. Not just a room, but a real bed and a real toilet...and best of all, a real shower! What a treat!
We scoped out the tickets to Delos for tomorrow, relatively reasonable, and went for a walk....or should we say we went for a sandblast. The wind is absolutely screaming through here! We were wiping sand out of our eyes, noses, teeth and ears. Grit was literally between our teeth.
We descended into the maze of streets and alleyways, did some shopping and found a little hole in t he wall gyros shop with a million people crawling in and out ...always a good sign..
Note: If you find something you like in Mykonos, just buy it. Don't say to yourself, I'll come back for it ....because you will wander in circles for three hours trying to figure out not only where it was....but where you are. We have decided that loosely translated, the word Mykonos actually means "to wander in confusion for hours on end".
We finally got fed up trying to find a short that Kirk had seen and went for a hike up to higher ground. We could see some old walls and windmills up on the hill and we spent quite some time trying to get to them before we finally came to the conclusion that they were on private property and therefore not accessible. We hiked back up around the top, picking sand out of our eyes as we went. And did I mention the temperature? Very chilly to boot. Got some great photos from up high before heading back down a footpath we came across. We stopped back at Zorzis to wash the sand out of our pores as best we could.
Back in town we looked for a place to eat ...stumbling onto the shirt store that we had looked for over an hour earlier in the process. We decided on a seafood restaurant in an area they call Little Venice. Overpriced, like absolutely everything here, but good just the same. We watched the sun set and avoided the splash from he waves. The waiter called us brave because we chose to sit on the edge.
After dinner we stopped at a little bar on the waterfront, Katerinas. The list of drinks outside had caipirhinias on the list, hadn't had one for some time, figured they probably wouldn't make them right, thought what the heck. Ordered two and were surprised to get something that appeared more like a margarita...and with lemon. Kirk went back to the bar and asked what they had made us.....they said what we asked for. Took a sip, definitely made with cachaca...but lemon not lime ....asked why no limes and the fellow didn't know what a lime was ...guess that answered that question. Oh well, it was drinkable so we sipped them and enjoyed the view.
Note: When in Mykonos, ask prices before you order.
Kirk went to pay, 22 Euros! 11 Euros a drink! Insane! We stopped at a store on the way back to the hotel and bought a bottle of wine. Got back to the hotel and the owner told us that the average price for any cocktail in Mykonos in the evening is 10 Euros. Crazy!
Tomorrow we will do Delos and then head back to Paros and the boat. Then we will begin our journey back to Athens.
Up at 0700 and a REAL shower! What a luxury. I think we both took 30 minute showers. Scrubbed until we were raw....such a good feeling. Down to the terrace and a light breakfast of coffee (lukewarm like everything in Greece) and mini croissants with apricot jam. Yummy. If you ever go to Mykonos, you MUST stay there. Zorzis. Excellent little place. Not cheap, but not really overpriced either. As Jonathan said, really, no bullshit. Period.
Then down to the waterfront where we bought tickets for the first boat to Delos, 0900. Still windy and chunky on the water, glad we are on someone else's boat.
On Delos ...amazing! 3000 years of history at our feet. It's overwhelming to think about it. To think about the ghosts in their dress, walking these same roads so very long ago. How one wishes they could really see into the past. As we walk along the paths through the grasses and thistles we see shards of pottery lining our way. We are walking on bits and pieces of dishes and jars that people used in their homes two to three millennia ago. It is incomprehensible!
When we docked, there were signs saying what was forbidden, yet everywhere we see people flicking cigarette butts and stepping over rope barriers. The lack of respect for the past and what little has survived is almost unbearable. We see people walking on mosaic floors that should be under glass, they laugh and have their photos taken. It makes us so angry. On the other hand, the lack of interpretational information is also frustrating.
We hiked up to the top of Mount Kynthos (112 m, felt like the top of the world....if you went back in time, it would have been the top of the centre of the world!) where we looked in all directions. We could see Delos laid out below us...over 2000 years ago there were 30,000 people living here. Today there are twenty residents. Personally, we feel there should be none.
There are so may ruins and artifacts, that it is awful to say so, but after three hours, you are sort of immune to it, which is even worse.
If you come to Delos, plan on at LEAST three hours! And do go first thing in the morning. The site opens at 0830, the first boats arrive shortly thereafter. You are allowed to come in by boat but you must not anchor closer than 500 metres and you must be gone by 1500. The water line has come up considerably so you could potentially anchor in an ancient urn, so do be careful.
Delos is a must, in one word, overwhelming.
Of note, diving is strictly regulated in Greece and if you are considering it, be aware that if you go down, you may just come up to guns pointed at you. You must have a guide and even then, there are specific places to go.
Back on the boat to Mykonos at 1220. Back to Zorzis to pick up our bags and change because it was so darned cold! A lovely South African woman (didn't get her name) who works at Zorzis convinced us that we must make a trip to her country soon. We promised to email her for information if we do decide to go.
We bought our tickets back to Paros (1430) and then hunted down a shop, "the White Shop" to find a top I fell in love with ...overpriced like everything else in Mykonos, but lovely.
We are glad to have come here, but we are equally happy to never come back. We heard more loud English than anywhere else and in all honesty, it was mostly annoying. This is tourist central in the Cyclades and we are glad that we couldn't beat the weather and manage to bring the boat up here. After giving up on Santorini, we had planned to spend three days here, one night was enough.
Stopped at Jimmy's for another gyro, dripped oil all over ourselves, then a waterfront cafe for a chocolate and banana crepe and cappuccino. Stuffed, we roll to the ferry terminal to wait for our Flying Cat 4.
Lots of people, we act like Europeans for a change and wander blithely to the front via an alternative path. We are tired of being polite Canadians and ending up pushed out of the way. Time to take a stance ...Mykonos has not done nice things to us.
The catamaran flies in and we (rudely at the front of the line) find our seats and watch the show. One word, mayhem! People were still wandering around with luggage and trying to figure out where to sit when the boat left. Signs everywhere say "all passengers must be seated with seatbelts buckled when the ferry is underway"?. Yeah....riiiiight..... Like everything else in Greece, signs are irrelevant.
Again, what would have been a five to six hour sail for us, was completed in 40 minutes....with Jurassic Park, sort of playing, on plasma TV's. Our best estimate on the speed of the ferry is 40 - 45 knots. And smooth in spite of chop. Truly amazing, and efficient ....unlike everything else here.
Back on Paros at 1550, hotel owners attempted to accost us at the port, but then we were recognized as boaters from the dock. We've been here too long.
Heading for the boat, stopped by an elderly couple that we have seen and spoken to repeatedly over the past few days. They are Scandinavian and have been waiting for their kids to arrive from Kythnos. While we were stranded in Paros, their kids couldn't make it off Kythnos. We found ourselves at the Port Police at the same time a few days ago asking about weather. Lovely couple. They were driving by and saw us walking with our packs. Stopped to ask us why we were still in town, we said we just got back from Mykonos on the ferry...they asked how we liked it, we said one day was enough...too many people and too expensive, they laughed and gave us the thumbs up...they had only lasted a day also! Their kids had finally arrived in he Triple Dutch, a "small" 30 foot sailboat. It's all relative.
Back to the Pink Elephant, we missed her. Felt good to be back. An American flag across the dock, one fellow from Edmonton, the rest from Washington.
Went for a walk, realized I should have used the head before leaving so looking for a washroom. Find the public WC. Oh, this is novel. Open he door to the toilet to find a porcelain hole in the floor.....Ok, I'm game, except there is no toilet paper on top of it ....I lose confidence and back out. I can pee in a bush in the woods, but I'm not so sure about this. Decided on a better plan and went to Christo's (if you come here, you must go, good food, cheap wine...but the shooter (if he offers you one) is jet fuel) for some tzatziki and wine before an attempt (failed) to find a shop where we fell in love with a blanket. Much better WC!
We see a fellow going down the street with a cart full of fresh garlic strings for sale. A Kodak moment...and of course, where is the camera? On the boat.
Back to the boat for dinner, then another (failed) attempt to find our blanket and a pendant I really fell in love with.
Note: As in Mykonos, if you find something, and you like it, and the price is reasonable...just buy it!
We walk by the internet cafe and the owner waves to us....have I mentioned that we've been here too long.
It is Sunday evening and so calm and peaceful in Paroikia....I can't believe I didn't like it here at first, I love this place now. We tried to find a market open were we could buy ice...no such luck. We stopped at a tavern and asked if we could buy some, they asked if we needed lots, we said just to mix some drinks this evening...they gave us a bag and asked us to have a drink for them too. We're almost locals.
So we will make one more attempt to find our blanket tomorrow and then we will leave and head for Seriphos....or Siphnos......wind dependant.....calm now, we may just be motoring again ....sigh.
Morning and it's gorgeous. There is a bit of wind, but the predictions for the next 48 hours are between 1 and 4. Perfect. N-NW winds will make it a little slower than the SW winds we started out with, but such is life.
Boats that have been stuck here for days, like us, are finally leaving the dock. There has been a boat called the Arianna docked across from us. www.arianna.gr. Expensive charter boat!
People here are still talking about that storm that we went through two weeks ago. We have finally come to the conclusion that it was a Beaufort 8.
We had cloud for the first time yesterday but it blew itself away in the evening and we are cloudless again today. Approaching 30 degrees at 0900.
Heading back towards Seriphos today, a long haul but good weather finally. Then we will probably head for Kythnos, a different port probably, then Sounion on the mainland before finally ending up back in our home port. Our route means that we will be without internet for a few days so in all likelihood we probably won't update again until Athens.
Bye for now!
We headed for Seriphos, we rounded the corner out of Paroikia and into some great wind!.
We fight with the mainsail for a few minutes, me cursing it with a vengeance. If we do decide to sell and go sail, we will NOT have a mast furling main. A pain in the patootie is what they are. You can only tighten them up so much, and man, do they jam up on you. We hate the thing.
Sails up, off we go! Winds died, seas flattened, we cursed. Motor on, sails down, straight to Seriphos. 32 nautical miles, straight. Very uneventful. Our sole emergency on this crossing was that my birthday card flipped out of my book and into the sea. We did an emergency card overboard drill and rescued it. Then back on our way.
The lack of other boats out on the water is still surprising to us. We counted a grand total of 6 boats today. One of which was a 60 foot power boat, one of the first we have seen out. The Mediterranean is dominated by sailboats and we can see why. With the way the seas can come alive here, a sailboat is much more steady in the water.
It was so calm out that we ended up on opposite ends of the boat, reading, making the occasional course correction. Autopilot would be nice at this point, but not necessary.
Because we were on a straight line to Seriphos, there wasn't really anything to take pictures of, so we resorted to photos of each other..... When we left Vancouver, Kirk's co-workers presented him with a holiday gift of a Speedo, some lime green flip flops, and some circa 1970's Foster Grant sunglasses. Got an email from Les the other day, said no Speedo, no payo..... Well, we figured we were in the middle of the channel so there wasn't anyone to scare, except maybe the dolphins. We laughed so hard we cried. What Kirk will do for money!
Finally into Seriphos, quieter here than last week. Had dinner, lounged a bit, went for a walk, visited the woman at the jewelry store again, back to the boat for a nightcap. All in all, probably the most relaxing day we have had.
The sky is again clear and blue, and the wind gauge reads 0.0 m/s. Sailing is not looking good today. We can hear the mourning doves in the trees, it is our daily symphony. Often we awake to a concert of doves, swallows, sparrows, chickens and roosters, and occasionally the odd donkey braying in the distance. Beats the sound of sirens.
There are two sounds that have driven us nuts since we arrived. The first is an occasional generator like sound. We finally traced that one to the groove in the boom. When the wind is at just the right angle, it makes the boom vibrate in the weirdest way. Yet another reason we have decided that we prefer a traditional sail configuration.
The other one has eluded us. It only happens in certain ports and it sounds like a fire crackling all night long through the hull. We figure it has to be free electricity. Must be murderous electrolysis here..
We head for Kythnos today. Not completely decided on if we will go back to Merikas or to Loutra on this side. Rounding the corner of Seriphos we see six boats in eh distance, all heading around the south end of Kythnos. That's it, we go north to Loutra. The travel books don't speak highly of it, mention it as a 19th century hydrotherapy spa that is in disrepair and devoid of tourists. It is referred to in Greek Island Hopping as a "mildly depressing place". If that's the case, our theory is that few people will be there ...perfect!
Watch out for ferries, we have decided that Greek ferry captains actually like to torment charter boats. They sneak up on you from behind and give you absolutely no warning that they are there. If you are lucky (or observant) enough to be watching all around you all the time, you won't be caught off guard and left trying to wildly get out of their way.
We came out of Seriphos into 7 m/s winds ...enough to get a sail in! Of course as soon as we pulled, they died. So we motored in a straight line for Kythnos. We made another attempt and found that although we had enough wind to move us slightly, when we came about, we were on exactly the same line. Not going to make any headway that way. Down the sails came and the winds dropped to zero.
We were visited by another dolphin just out of Loutra. A big one, jumped high around us a couple of times, circled once or twice and moved back to its companion who did not come visit. We circled back and it came close but then veered back to its friend. It was no longer interested in us and we felt that we were now bothering it.
We turned into Loutra and discovered that it is a wonderful place. An Aussie pair were docked in a catamaran, the woman came over to catch our lines. They are at the end of one leg (3 weeks) of a nine week holiday. Wow, now that's a vacation. It's ironic. This is the first port that we have come into that doesn't see any ferries, they dock on the other side of the island at Merikas, yet this is the nicest and most modern dock we have seen yet. Water and power are free, not that we need either. The only trick is that there is only one outlet for each, so unless you are right in front of it, you will need one very long hose/power connector. The basin is well protected and although you can hear waves rushing up onto the rocks ten feet away, it is absolutely calm in here.
The temperature is over 30 degrees though and there is no wind to cool you off. We g for a walk to find the hot springs that are said to be down at the south end of the beach. We find a small channel leading into the sea with a small pool, just big enough for two ....unfortunately it is occupied. Maybe in the morning we will go have a dip. It looks iron rich.
Looking back into the basin we can see a flurry of boats arriving, we got here at the right time. One is a boat containing four guys from Sweden who were across from us yesterday. They left hours before we did, yet arrive much later. Apparently like us, they were trying to sail without success.
We went for a walk around the community and found two stores for provisions, we just wanted some vegetables for dinner. The higher of the two shops was in he care of the sweetest elderly Greek woman we have met yet, She tried to wave us in but we indicated we would come back. She blew me a kiss. We wandered in later and she greeted us each with a kiss on the cheek. Now if that isn't a slick sales tactic we don't know what is. Of course we are going to buy something now! I went to get some feta from the cooler and she seemed offended at my choice. Said "Feta?", I said "neh" she shook her head at me, took it away and said "Kythnos feta!" Apparently she had something better. She hauled out a big bucket from the back of the cooler, took off the lid and pulled out a hunk of feta. She broke off a small chunk and gave it to me, definitely more flavourful. She broke off another small piece and Kirk tried to take it, she pulled back and made him let her feed it to him. Ah that Kirk, he's a magnet for the chicks. So, we now have more feta than we need, but such is life.
Back to the boat for dinner and some reading, hauled out a blanket and napped. Went for an ice cream but the tavernas didn't have any, The woman we asked went back in and a moment later the owner of the second market came out and unlocked her shop so we could buy one. Now that's service! Where else is someone going to open their store hours after they close, while they are in a restaurant, so you can buy an ice cream.
In bed, Kirk and a mosquito are at war. I rarely get bug bites, my theory is that for 18 years I've had Kirk around as bug bait. For the next hour Kirk is flicking the light on and off trying to find the creature. They grow them smart here, it hides every time he turns the light on. For hours the mosquito is taking stabs at Kirk. From my perspective, it's kind of funny, but he is not amused by my amusement so I try to keep it to myself. I've rarely seen him so furious. Doesn't help that he is getting eaten alive while tucked securely under a sheet and I have arms and legs hanging out and am untouched. Guess he's just sweeter than I am.
It sounds like a million swallows/sparrows are in the trees around us, doves in the background. This place is likely the most peaceful place we have been. Hazy today, lots of high cloud.
Again, the winds are barely in existence, but we are hopeful. We now know that at some time shortly after 9 am the weather will be broadcast on channel 4 so we no longer bother with channel 16 beforehand. However, we discovered something new and sort of disconcerting. Kirk turned the radio onto channel 4 early and we heard the woman listing off coordinates. We listen closely and realize that for ten minutes she is providing latitude-longitude coordinates for locations that the navy is doing practices! We take a stab and guess that this is what we saw a week or so ago when we saw the fleet of vessels and one that looked like it was threatening to come visit us. However, she goes so fast that you couldn't get them all written down if you tried. Note to self: stay away from military vessels...one might get a shot across the bow.
We actually got a good wind once we passed the South tip of Kea. We got a great sail, heeled just nicely, almost all the way to the mainland when I tried to dump some wind and turned the wrong way. That was a shock! Then we got behind the bottom of Macronisos and the wind died down to 2 m/s from behind. We went wing on wing for a little bit but even that became tough to keep wind in the sails consistently so we motored into Sounion.
We
anchored below the ruins. It seems like a somewhat fitting place to
have our last night at sea. Below the Temple of Poseidon, built sometime
around 450BC. It is a beautiful set of columns up on the hill and we
plan to zip up there fairly early before it becomes populated with the
tourists we saw being bused in.
We double anchored and noted that a sailboat that was in a bit farther was flying a Swiss flag at the stern. Then we realized that it was Captain California. They were just pulling out and didn't see us so we missed our chance to say hello and ask him how his trip was out of Paros that day that we took the catamaran to Mykonos. It was pretty wild.
A gorgeous double master pulled in and anchored a bit later.
We see lots of freighters and ferries in the distance and the planes are more constant and lower overhead. We know we are close to Athens. A booze cruise pulls in, does a stupid job of anchoring right off us, they start to swing towards us. We stand and stare angrily at the crew and do our best to indicate our displeasure while the boatload of Japanese tourists wave and take photos. It doesn't take long for the crew to pull up and move around the corner.
Peace. As the sun sets, the light is fantastic and the clouds break up letting the stars shine through. The moon is brilliant and the lights come on at the temple. We zip ashore to get a couple of night shots and then back to bed.
A bit of bioluminescence in the water, but you really only see it when you flush the head. No, I do not sit in the dark and pump the head for my evening jollies, just mentioning something that I noticed ....while pumping the head, in the dark.
Morning is grey and it is actually raining a bit. Might wash away some of the grime on the boat. This is our first rain since we've been here. Well, not totally true, I think it rained a little bit one night early on, but not during the waking hours.
Our plan today is simple, Walk up to the temple, take a few photos, back to the boat for breakfast, maybe a swim if it warms up, then head for home base. We have about 28 miles to go and there isn't much to look at on the way. We already know where NOT to go based on our trip out and our scare with the reef that isn't where it is charted.
OK, we had about 30 raindrops, that was our downpour. Took the dinghy ashore and went up to the temple nice and early, before the buses start .....perhaps too early...not open yet. Doesn't open until 1000. Have a lukewarm cappuccino at the cafe, pay too much for it, can tell we're back on the mainland. See the gate open and dart over. Woman at the booth is irritated with us, we think it's just because we tried to use a 50 Euro note and she didn't want to make change. We have the place to ourselves. Ah, now we know why she's irritated, they weren't really open yet, it's still well before 1000. Oh well, they sold us tickets and let us in. We have the place to ourselves for 15 minutes and then the hordes of Guerilla Tourists arrive in their tour buses.
Warming up, fleece and rain jackets no longer needed ....shorts and sunglasses are ...those are at the boat...of course! Clouds are dissolving, don't know if it will totally clear, maybe just thin high clouds today, but this is more dangerous. Lulls you into a false sense of security where sun block is concerned. Temperature now approaching 30 degrees C.
We can hear an odd bird call in the rocks, one we haven't heard before, surprised when we see the source. They are very pretty birds that look like a cross between a grouse and a quail. Big, dinner sized in fact.
We took the dinghy out around the point to see if we could see where the old boat ramp was. As we cross the bay we look into the water and can see columns and blocks below us, shocking that we are allowed to anchor here.. Around the corner are the remnants of what used to be a boat ramp for the temple, we can see pieces of marble and columns in the rubble. Amazing.
A twin mast pulls in flying a huge American flag...but they are all speaking French? Curious. They appear to be right over our anchor......of course. This could be entertaining if we decide to leave first.
We have decided the word most often spoken from our lips on this trip is ouch. We have bruises and scars to show for it.
1300 - After Kirk takes his final voluntary swim, we are off.
We are on close plastic watch the whole trip, and there is lots. Halfway back the wind picks up behind us and we sail for a bit......then as usual, it dies on us and we are back to motoring. The sky behind us is grey and threatening, back at home it would signal a squall, here it generally amounts to nothing.