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Leaving Sitia and Heading to Agios Nikolaos
where we will meet up with friends, Carole & PaulOur next destination on the island of Crete was Agios Nikolaos Marina where with the help of our friend, Carole from SV Swallow we had reservations. When we left Sitia we expected no wind from the forecast, but we rounded a point and were pleasantly greeted with some nice winds for sailing – a wonderful surprise! We arrived at the marina and fortunately our friends, Carole and Paul as well as the marina staff and people on the neighboring boat were there to help as Bob overshot the place they wanted us so with their assistance and Bob’s correction maneuver (thankfully there was an empty berth across from us) we got in with no damage to Tsamaya or to anyone else. That doesn’t happen often when coming into a marina, but occasionally these things happen unfortunately. We were so happy to see Carole and Paul from SV Swallow again, we met them in 2017 in Gaeta, Italy and have stayed in touch through FB, but always great to connect again in person.
As always when coming into a port in Greece that has a Coast Guard, we needed to check in with the port police (Coast Guard) to get our
paperwork stamped. Two of the other boats that were with us both in Fry and Sitia came to this marina the same day so ran in to the people we met on them as well – felt welcoming in a way to have people there that we already knew, even if for only a short time. Just as we were looking up how to get to the Coast Guard, Riet and Rob from SV Bold Black Bear who we met in the previous ports recommended a walk that goes along the coastline and still gets you over to the Coast Guard. They even suggested a restaurant along that route in case we needed a place to eat dinner. We took them up on both recommendations and they worked out great. It was the first time we have come across a restaurant that gave you a menu that was actually a checklist where you marked off what you wished to order yourself – smart on their part as there is no confusion with any language barriers that might cause confusion. After our enjoyable meal we were presented with a free dessert – very generous of them! The Coast Guard were very
pleasant to deal with, but they did remind us that we would need to return before we leave the harbor. Fortunately, you can come back within 24 hours before leaving so that isn’t a hardship with us leaving early in the morning as we can go the day before. Having to walk over to do our official paperwork it gave us our first glimpse of Agios Nikolaos and we can see why it works out well for many cruisers to make as their base as it has everything you need here. We understand the price at the marina is quite reasonable for over the winter which is definitely an attraction as more and more marinas are going through the roof with their prices. As a result, they do have quite a liveaboard community which is obvious as it seems everyone knows each other on the dock and are more than helpful.
We made arrangements with Carole and Paul to go out to dinner together one of the nights we were here. Always great to have people that know the area as they took us to a wonderful place for dinner. We thoroughly enjoyed the meal, but even better was
getting a chance to catch up with Carole and Paul again. We definitely enjoyed our time with them when we were together in Gaeta back in 2017, and as Paul said once people “click” it seems to continue no matter how much time there is between meeting again. They introduced us to a new dish to us that we hadn’t seen on the menu in other places – it is very lightly fried thin strips of zucchini that had shredded cheese on it – they were delicious and not greasy at all – will have to try them myself. Paul told us how easy it is to fix which we always like to hear. This restaurant started us off with free appetizers of a few dips/spreads and then ended the meal with free dessert. We can definitely get used to this!
With watching the weather for our next move, we decided not to rent a car to tour more of Sicily but we would act on a recommendation Carole had given us of a bus trip up to a neighboring mountain village, Kritsa. The next day we took a hike up to the bus station in town and got
the bus – only 1.60 euro each way. It was a full-size bus that was comfortable and gave us great views of the landscape we were passing. We enjoyed the day wandering around the streets and alleyways of this lovely place and tried to check out a couple of the numerous churches we saw, but only one was open. We found out some people come up here to hike a gorge here, but we were not prepared to do that so just took the time to relax away from the boat. We stopped for lunch before catching the afternoon bus back to the marina. Here we were introduced to another new dish, stuffed pumpkin blossoms. They were delicious! We enjoy stuffed grape leaves, but liked the stuffed pumpkin blossoms even more. A local cheese dish was suggested as well so tried that too. We definitely are enjoying the Sicilian menu offerings!
There was a night time thunderstorm with some rain the next day as well. We saw an advertisement for a food festival that was to run for a few days so walked around to the location as a time for it was not listed on the posters. Found
Bold Black Bear We Met in Sitia and Fry
nice to know so can take photos of each other! out due to weather it was cancelled that day and that it will start at 5pm the next day. We just did some window shopping through different areas of the city that we hadn’t seen and got back to the boat just before it rained again. Back on the boat we did some reading, worked on the blog (a never-ending job it seems) and enjoyed a cup of hot tea. We have really gotten into the habit of a nightly walk around whatever town we are in so this was no different. After enjoying our walk, we thought we’d try a new place for dinner, but then decided as we really enjoyed the place we went to with Carole & Paul - why not return for another fabulous meal and it didn’t fail us. It also gave us a chance to try a couple of new dishes (but we did order the zucchini again as we really loved it)
On Saturday we worked on a few smaller projects that we wanted to get done. Started early in the morning with getting laundry done – definitely great to do here as it is only 3 euro for the washer and
3 euro for the drier – this was the least expensive laundry we have seen in a long time. I know many only use the washer and dry the clothes on the boat, but with a full load, it is easier to get it all done quickly. The stitching of the leather cover on our steering wheel has been coming apart in places and it needed to be sewn up again. Really don’t like to take the steering wheel off to work on it when at anchor “just in case” something happened and needed the wheel in a hurry. As we are in a marina, a good time to do this so got the needle and thread out and with some help from the pliers I was able to sew up the areas that needed some attention. Another project out of the way. We also have 2 large round fenders that need covers. The price for the covers is outrageous (especially these type) so the last time we were at the bazaar in Rhodes we picked up 2 very inexpensive solid color men’s shirts to put over the fenders. We had done this before to one of them but it
Scenes on Our Walk to the Commercial Harbor
to get to the Coast Guard for official paperwork was in sad shape so replaced it as well as covered another one that needed it. Definitely not much of a fashion statement, but it got the job done. Bob also took the time to wash the boat more thoroughly – everything here gets so dirty and it is a reddish color sand (everyone says it is Sahara sand) – it sure makes a mess of everything. Bob typically makes sure he has enough motor oil onboard for his next oil change, but he realized that when he did the last one in Turkey, he didn’t get to the shops to buy replacement. Fortunately, the neighbor on the boat next to ours is a fountain of information as they have been here for quite a few years. He mentioned that we might get it at the chandlery nearby, but if not, he told us of a gas station we could check out. That meant a destination for a walk! We went to the close by chandlery and they had the oil – went to buy it and then found out it was 75 euro for 4 liters of oil!! We turned that down and walked up to the gas station
and were able to get 4 liters of a well-known brand name oil for 45 euro – definitely worth the walk even though it was in the hottest part of the day.
As mentioned earlier, we were going to head over to check out the Food Festival but with the work and walking (in the heat) we did today, we decided to skip it that night. We also got thinking that tomorrow we need to go to the Coast Guard office again as we have to officially check out of this location before we leave and the festival is near the commercial port so can check it out then if we decide to.
Sunday being our last day in Agios Nikolaos we stayed on the boat most of the day getting things put away that seem to come out when in a marina and get Tsamaya ready to move again. Later in the afternoon we went over and had a nice visit with our friends, Paul and Carole on SV Swallow. We are always amazed how even after all the time since we last saw them back in 2017, we didn’t miss a beat having a great conversation
again. It was wonderful to connect with them again and a special thanks to Carole for talking to the marina for us about getting a space. I had tried online to make a reservation and was having problems with the site, so she kindly offered to talk to them for us. It was great to have friends here to also give us information about the area, loan us a fob for the toilets and showers until we could one from the office and we couldn’t say enough about the restaurant that they recommended to us. We liked it so much we decided after going to the Coast Guard to officially check out we would have one last meal at that same restaurant. This is definitely unusual for us to go back to the same place so many times, but when you find a winner, why not. We really are enjoying having a dinner of mezes instead of ordering a main course. It also has given us a chance to try a wide variety of foods that we haven’t had before. There are definitely ones that we have tried here in Greece that I will try at home. Dinners typically start
later in the evening here so eating lighter is better for us as well.
We heard that Paul and Carole went to the Food Festival the day before but it wasn’t what any of us thought it would be – it wasn’t local foods, but instead some music and eating of non-Greek foods such as burgers, hot dogs and Chinese food (among other offerings). You had to pay an entrance for which you got a “free” beer and then pay for the food. With the crowds and non-Greek music playing it wasn’t the type of festival we were hoping for so decided to just walk past and enjoy our last evening wandering around Agios Nikolaos.
This has really turned out to be a wonderful stop for a few days, but the weather is telling us we can easily move on so with helpful tips from Carole and Paul about a few of the places to anchor along the coast of Sicily, we headed to our next spot to visit Spinolonga which I’ll cover in the next blog entry.
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