Today is a celebration of life for my friend Rich Darling. I wish I could be there to honor him. With out his belief in me I would not be where I am today. I have learned a lot from him and will always cherish the memories. I know he will rest in peace as he has touched the world in so many positive ways.
May 20, 2025 – Adamantas, Milos, Greece
A very calm night and a sunny calm morning. We were up and
underway early only to discover that we had a “Check Engine” light on. We
checked the Yanmar book, finding no serious issues listed for the Check Engine
light. The vitals all looked good and there were no lose ground wires or
connections. The decision was made to proceed.
We motor sailed in favorable but light breezes and sunshine.
The sea was calm with a tiny swell on our nose. The passage from Milos to Monemvasia
was about 70 miles and the channel was full of ships, tugs with barges, fishing
boats towing what looked like a section of fish farm and pleasure boats. We had
to stay vigilant with all this traffic.
Navily indicated that there was free docking in Monemvasia at the public quay and recommended calling George or Mateo. We called George and he said there was room come on in. We picked a spot on the quay and side tied. Mateo arrived to assist and give us information about the town, even a map. It turned out that Mateo owned a taverna on the waterfront and was marketing his taverna.
With the boat secure I decided to go over the engine again.
When we restarted the engine there was no “Check Engine” light! I think it
occurred due to a low battery but we will monitor and see if it recurs.
We walked through the tiny town looking for a Pharmacy and a
Bakery. The pharmacy was closed and would reopen in the morning. Suzette was
low on her eye drops and needed her prescription refilled. There was an open
bakery with beautiful bread for us to enjoy.
Returning to the boat we found Deb and Tom quietly
celebrating buying a new boat. They had made and offer on a boat prior to
leaving home and they have been analyzing surveys and negotiating as we
traveled in Greece.
May 21, 2025 – Monemvasia, Peloponnese, Greece
Sunshine and warm as we headed back to the pharmacy. They
did not have what Suzette needed but thought they might be able to get it by
the end of the day. Looks like we might be staying an extra day.
Monemvasia has an old city and and an even older city that were built on an island that is accessed by a single narrow road from the end of the modern town. We hiked to the old town which was well preserved and dated back to the 6th century for some of the buildings. There were shops, restaurants and apartments, but no cars were allowed. There were porters with wheelbarrows that would handle your luggage for you. Above the old town, high above, on a cliff, were the Old Old Town ruins. We made the trek to the top and checked out what remained of a vast Byzantine age city. The most significant building was a church that had been originally a church then a mosque and back to a church.
On the way back into town we checked in at the pharmacy but no availability. We decided to move on and leave Monemvasia. We stopped at Mateos Taverna to through some business his way but we did not find it to our liking. We had a light snack at another restaurant and headed back to the boat.
We were underway by 1400. The wind was shifty and light so
it was a motorboat ride to Vatika Bay on the Isand of Elafonisos. There were 8
boats at anchor, the season is underway. It took us 3 attempts to get the
anchor set in the hard sand. It was a pretty bay with an expanse of beach. It
was a quiet night, calm and cool.
May 22, 2025 – Vatika Bay, Elafonisos, Greece
In the morning we were up and out heading to the next
peninsula west, and anchorage called Porto Kagio. We ran into dense fog for the
first time on this trip, on with the radar and fog horn. Once past the fog we
unfurled the main and jib for a perfect reach into the anchorage. Moondancer
was already anchored, we had seen him in the last two places that we stopped. The
anchor set easily and held well.
It was the hottest part of the day, so we did an exploration
of the bay by dinghy. There was a small hamlet on the south beach, some ancient,
abandoned buildings along the west shore, another small beach and lots of rocks
with nooks and crannies for the sea creatures.
We tied the dinghy up on the east end of town and hiked out to the point where there was a tiny chapel and a beautiful view of the sea. Back in town we stopped in the beach side Taverna for a beer, grilled octopus and fried cheese. When we returned to the boat it started to rain so we battened down the hatches, but it did not last long. We watched as a couple more boats arrived. The one boat, a 60’ Beneteau was having a hard time anchoring but finally got an anchor in after 4 tries.
Overnight we did get some high winds that had us on alert from about 0300 to 0400 but we were well anchored.
May 23, 2025 – Porto Kagio, Peloponnese, Greece
We slept late since we were up in the middle of the night on
anchor watch. We anticipated fair winds for sailing, but the wind was not as predicted,
it was always on our nose as we rounded the peninsula and headed up the bay to
Kalamata.
With high winds predicted for the next few days we decided to find a safe marina and do some land tours. The marina was very shallow, so we needed to carefully enter and moor. The Marinaros waved us into a great mooring. With 4 people on the boat, it was very easy to tie up and settle in.
The ladies made a beeline to the pharmacy and a grocery
store. Suzette was successful in getting her eye drops. The boys did a little
boat cleaning. With everyone back on board we got an unexpected rain, just
enough to make a mess but we were in for the night.
May 24, 2025 - Kalamata Marina, Peloponnese, Greece
It’s a sunny and warm day for doing some overdue chores.
Suzette, Tom and Deb headed into town with a wagon load of laundry. I checked
in with the marina office, it was a very busy place with lots of boats arriving
to avoid the high winds. They had a great library; I would have to return and
swap some books. Next stop was the chandlery, not particularly well stocked,
but he was willing to order anything you needed. The last stop was the dreaded
Port Authority, but it was not a problem. Three officers were all over my
papers and I was out in no time with my stamps.
Back on the boat I put on a bathing suit and set about giving Raffaellesco a good scrubbing, she was overdue. The crew returned with clean laundry and proceeded to decorate the boat with wet laundry. In the warm, dry and breezy weather it dries in no time. Despite the high wind a fleet of racers went out for their Saturday afternoon race.
Tom and I walked into town to check out the outdoor Train Museum.
They had a collection of engines and cars from the late 1800s and one from 1914.
The original platforms were in tact and the station building was a café. A rare
exhibit is a Baume Marpent wooden ISAP locomotive dating to 1914. There were no
story boards, so I am only guessing as to why they are here. At one time this
was a significant port, and I imagine the train was the best way to distribute
the ship’s cargo. As a kid I had a very elaborate train set and loved riding
the old trains on the east coast.
The crew walked out to the jetty to check out the seas that were rolling in with the high winds. We checked out the traditional fishing boats in various states of repair in the boat yard. The wind settled in the evening making for a quiet night.
May 25, 2025 – Kalamata Marina, Peloponnese, Greece
It was an overcast morning, as predicted. It was Sunday and
we quickly realized that we should have secured a rental car yesterday as we
walked from one closed rental car place to another. Finally, we found one open
and they had a car! The rate was not great and neither was the car, but it was
all we could find.
With our picnic lunch we headed west to Polylimnio Waterfall
for a hike. After missing our turns a few times we found a place to park. We
hiked down a steep but well maintained path to the river where we found a small
waterfall and a rocky path. We headed up stream and found more small falls with
people swimming at the pool below the falls. A young woman in a bikini was
doing a photo shoot posing in the pool, perhaps only for her Instagram. Further
along, the hiking was more difficult as we had to climb some rocks and take
some leaps of faith but we were rewarded with a great waterfall about 60’ high
with lots of swimmers around the pool. We heard some thunder and felt the wind
change, time to trak out of here before the rain starts. We made it back to the
car just as the rain began.
We drove to a small town Kato Ampelokipi and a trail called Minagiotiko Natura 2000. We found signs and made our way down some pretty dicey roads and parked. We found the trail head with a scroll-like sign telling the story of the Watermill, part of the Natura 2000 trail. After the Watermill we drove deeper in trying to find the head of the Natura 2000 trail but when we high centered the car on a rock we decided not to go any further, emptied the car and backed out. We were heading back to the boat looking for a picnic spot as we passed through some beautiful hills and valleys. Miraculously there was a covered bench and table set up on the side of the road, we pulled in and parked. It was a beautiful view complete with a resident cat, there are cats everywhere in Greece.
When we returned to the boat, we found that it had rained and deposited that relentless Sahara Red Dust on our clean boat. Tom cleaned the cockpit so we could at least sit and enjoy the afternoon. We all walked to the town square, it was Sunday, so all the locals were out for a stroll. The square was grand with fountains and statues in a vast expanse of open space. A huge poster commemorating Maria Calas’ life was hung on one of the high-rise buildings. She was the famous opera singer portrayed by Angelina Jolet in the movie Maria. She was the child of Greek parents, but I am not sure if they were from this town.
Back on the boat it was grilled vegi fajita for Tom and Debs last meal on the boat
May 26, 2025 – Kalamata Marina, Peloponnese, Greece
The sun was shining as Tom and Deb packed and Suzette
prepared a picnic lunch. We drove north to the Kapsia Caves. With a bit of time
to kill before the next tour we enjoyed lunch on the grounds of this very
interesting church. It looked Gaudi-ish from the outside and very beautiful and
traditional inside.
The Kapsia Caves were interesting with a history dating back to before Christ as confirmed by bones found in the cave. The Dosen was funny as she kept asking us to say what we saw in the various stalactites and stalagmites, Santa Clause, bacon and so on. Unlike other caves we have toured, where they use colored lights to enhance the presentation, this one was lit with more natural and warm lighting.
After several stops at several closed wineries, we stumbled on Troupi Winery. The young man was happy to give us a tour and curate a tasting. It turned out he was the son of the current owner and wine make as well as the grandson of the founder. This was a very modern and well run facility. The unique grape here is a Moscofilero used in white and rose wines. We enjoyed our tasting, particularly the white Moscofilero and, ironically, a Nemea wine using the Agiorgitiko grapes. Between the 4 of us we bought a case of various wines. They served a Retsina which is flavored with pine sap, I liked it, but I was the only one. The origin of using the pine sap came from when wine amphoras were sealed using the pine sap and it flavored the wine. I know my friend Jim will enjoy a bottle of Retsina. As we were leaving our grateful host came out to the car and gave us a bottle of his Gris to enjoy.
Our next stop was the town of Nafpoli where Tom and Deb had reserved an apartment for a couple days. Ironically, they seem to have a perchance for renting a place in a construction zone; first Athens now Nafpoli. We enjoyed the Gris wine and baklava before saying our goodbyes. We really loved having Tom and Deb on the boat and hope that they enjoyed it as well.
For the ride home I decided to take the mountainous side
road rather than the toll way. This turned out to be a crazy mountainous drive.
In some places the road narrowed to a single lane to avoid blasting out a big
rock, in other places the rocks overhung the road and in one place they hogged
out a short tunnel in the rock. We did survive and made it home safely.
Comments
Post a Comment