Advertisement
Published: July 31st 2023
We left Kalamata Marina after an enjoyable few days and now will be heading through a few of the Greek islands on our way toward Italy and beyond. Our normal early morning departure allowed us to enjoy another wonderful sunrise from the water which always seems to add to the beauty for us.
We were enjoying the sail when all of a sudden, we heard calls on the VHF calling for boats to divert to a ship with numerous people onboard that needed rescuing. This is something that you never want to hear, but you also appreciate the maritime rules that say that if a boat is in distress, you must divert to help. Unfortunately, today it was not just one ship being diverted to the scene, but many during the whole day. We lost count of the number of boats that were being diverted to the boat in need. It was stressed on the radio that there were many people needing rescue. It seemed that they were diverting as many boats as possible (and some from a distance away) but still they kept getting diverted. At the time we did not of course know what the situation
was, but we had a gut feeling that it would involve a boat carrying migrants. Unfortunately, later on we did find out in the news that this was the case and it was one that the Greek government has been taking quite a bit of “heat” for how they handled the situation. All we can say was that we did hear throughout the whole day, boats were continuing to be diverted to the scene and it was stressed that there were numerous people involved. Definitely a very sad situation with so many deaths.
Between Kalamata and our stop for the day at Kypasissia we passed a very interesting area. It is the location of the castle of Methoni, built by the Venetians in the early 13
th C. We had for quite some time planned on stopping here as we knew we could travel to Olympia from this anchorage. We really were torn about stopping, but with the weather predictions and having had to stop a few times already due to the weather, we decided to skip it and take advantage of the weather today to move a little further. What we saw from the water looked very interesting and
in hindsight maybe we should have tried to stop, but as we keep saying, we can’t take it all in and have to pick and choose.
The place we did stop for the day was quite unusual in that it was a harbor that appeared to be quite deserted. There were no services provided, just a quay with an area to tie up. We had been reading about the place and had gotten mixed messages. One stated that you could do a side tie which we like and someone else said that there was a sign that you couldn’t do that anymore and you had to Med moor. For those of you not familiar with this, it means putting down your anchor and then backing up toward the quay and tie to the quay from the stern. Definitely not something that we like to do so were hoping that the side tie information was still accurate. We were also warned that the pilings that you have to tie to are quite high, large and spread quite far apart – not something that is inviting but doable (we hoped). Thankfully when we arrived, we saw boats were both Med moored
Always Trying to Show Our "Tilt"
the one on right was view from the galley looking outas well as side-tied. Luckily for us another cruiser came over and helped with our mooring lines for a side-tie. An extra bonus while coming into the harbor and moving around to get to a point of where we could tie up, we saw numerous turtles (and I mean very large loggerhead turtles) swimming around. It was a little concerning however, as definitely didn’t want to injury any with our boat. They seem to be quite at home in this harbor and kept their distance thankfully.
We found that there is no one here to charge you for the night so that helps the budget! We did talk to a couple from another boat that have been in this harbor numerous times and they recommended a restaurant on the hill overlooking the harbor for dinner. We took their suggestion and had a nice view of the harbor over dinner. Overall, a good day.
Even though this was free, we knew we needed to keep moving. The next day we were to get some north wind (which of course is the direction we are going) but not til late in the afternoon. With that in mind, we knew we’d
Unfortunately We Only Saw Methoni Castle From the Water
there was an anchorage here but didn't work out to stop have to have an early start again. We started off well, but the north wind came in earlier than expected so by noon we had wind on the nose (and a stronger wind than predicted). We also have a few spits of rain, but fortunately that didn’t last long, just the wind against us. Thankfully by 3:40PM we arrived in the harbor of Zakynthos. There is a quay where you can Med moor (which we really would rather not do) and saw a boat that was side-tied with space behind it. We thought we could try there but people were shouting at us that it was not allowed. Oh well, we went back toward the entrance to the harbor where there was another quay that had room for us to tie up to. The couple that was in the side-tied boat that we had hoped to go behind very kindly walked over and helped us with our lines. We always appreciate it when people go out of their way to help. In this case, it was especially nice as we got to visit with them more during the time we were in town and made new friends. We found out
that the reason that they were a side-tie was they had problems with their boat and were waiting for parts to be shipped in from the UK. They were still waiting by the time we left the harbor, but stayed in touch and found that fortunately the parts came in and they were out sailing again.
After getting settled here we found that there was a minimal charge, but there was no water or electricity hook-ups. Thankfully, since getting the 2 new solar panels in Turkey this year we have never needed to plug in when we come into a marina. We would have liked water to wash down the boat, but it was not to be. We did have a truck with water stop by later in the day asking if we wanted to buy some drinking water for our onboard tanks, but didn’t need that either. We are glad that we got to Zakynthos early in the afternoon as quite a few boats came in after us and the quay filled up. With the quay nearer the entrance to the harbor we did get some movement from boats coming and going, but it wasn’t too bad. It
An Empty Kyparissia Harbor - A Free Night!
lots of turtles swimming in the harbor, no photos though was more the noise from the larger ferries that came in (and left) very regularly. It was somewhat odd to look out your port window and see either the bow or stern of a large ferry quite close by as it made its turn into the area where the ferries docked. We did have as a “neighbor” on the quay a mega-yacht by the name of Magna Grecia. We looked it up and found that you can rent it by the week for only 329,000 euros. Every day we saw crew very busy cleaning every inch of her and near the end of our stay we did see people arrived and were having a lovely dinner party onboard before they departed the next day. It still amazes us to think of people that rich to be able to rent a yacht for a week for these prices.
Friday was our first full day in the town of Zakynthos on the island of the same name. As this has a coast guard office, we need to go to their office to have our documents stamped (our cruising permit for Greece). We got there in plenty of time before they closed
for mid-day, but when we got there, we were told they were busy and to come back after 5:30 PM. Easy for them to say as was a 25-minute walk to their office in hot weather. Fortunately, it wasn’t a wasted trip as we also needed to pay the fee for tying up in the harbor. It definitely is not expensive as it was a total of 8.27 euro (just shy of $9) for a 4-night stay!
Bob enjoyed the treatment he got from a Turkish barber in Marmaris, so thought he’d try a Greek barber so made that our next mission to find. Using Google Map, we found there was one a 11-minute walk away. It was not in the tourist area so also gave us a chance to see a different part of town. We got to the barber to find that they do not allow walk-ins, only by appointment and that they were busy. Definitely the first thing that was different from Turkey. On to the next one we found on Google map, again taking us to streets farther back from the waterfront which we typically like. Got to that barber and they said “no problem”.
Bob did get his hair cut, but a much different service as this did not include back of the neck, nose, ears, or the lovely lemon scented after shave. Even the haircut itself wasn’t that great. In Turkey it took at least 45 minutes and costs $5, while this one in Greece was about 10 minutes if that for $15. Bob said afterwards he guesses he’ll go back to doing it himself again. Oh well, he enjoyed the few haircuts he had in Turkey!
Next on our list of places to find was the post office and were pleasantly surprised that it only costs a little over $1 to send a post card to the US. When I sent them from Turkey, they were costing between $3-$4. Always interesting finding out the differences between countries.
The one that we really are noticing is the condition of the cats that wander the streets. In Turkey you always saw dishes of food and water left everywhere for the cats as well as business owners being sure to take care of them. Here in Greece the cats wander around, but definitely do not look like they are in the best of
Bob Found a Greek Barber but...
nothing compares to "his Turkish barber" condition. Not ones that we go over to pet as they are quite rough and skittish and we have only seen one or two individual places where we saw any food left out at all. With Turkey being a Muslim country, even with it being not strict in many areas with its adherence to the traditional ways, they are definitely a caring people and feel that has a definite impact on their obvious care of all, including the cats that roam the streets.
With our goal of getting to the coast guard, port authority, barber and post office our destination walking was taken care of so we spent the rest of the time wandering the various areas. There are some lovely pockets of pedestrian ways and areas that are being renovated. They did have a terrible earthquake here in 1953 as well as a few smaller ones since then so they have many areas that have been renovated over the years. We also are finding that it is a popular place with tourists as they have ferries regularly throughout the day between here and the mainland of Greece.
The island is known for its conservation work on the
endangered Mediterranean loggerhead turtles as 80% of them nest on this island. Unfortunately, there are also many tour packages that take visitors to the turtle cove, but from what we hear they are working with the conservationist to not take the boats to an area that would be as disruptive – they also limit the access to the beach areas near the nesting sites. With the tourist $$ being important to the economy here, we are sure it is quite the balancing act and hopefully the non-profit that helps educate people here are able to curtail the worse impacts.
The formality of checking into a port seems somewhat laid back. We used to make sure we checked in the day we arrived, but many of the offices close early in the day so doing the formal paperwork the next day (or two) seems to be OK. We have found that some offices will check you out if you are going to leave the next day when they check you in. If you don’t leave on that day there isn’t a problem. At least we go through the process of being as legal as we can anywhere, we are, but
even more so, if possible, when in a foreign country. As the coast guard asked us to come back later when we went to the office yesterday, we decided that it probably would be safe to wait until the next morning, Saturday. In this way, we could combine going to their office which is on the far side of the harbor with other things we wanted to do. It worked out fine as no one even batted an eye about us arriving on Thursday, but they did mention that we would have to come back to check out as the weather is telling us it may be a few days before we leave.
When we entered the harbor there appeared to be a Viking ship on land so wandered over to get a closer look. We assumed it was a replica and when we got over to it, we saw that in fact it was set up as a tour boat, but didn’t look like it has been used for some time. It definitely is something that catches your eye!
We found there was a local market on today so wandered over to it. Definitely a smaller market
than other locations we have been but fortunately we didn’t need much. Bob wanted to get some Kalamata olives so that was accomplished as well as a few other vegetables we needed. We did ask about one fruit that we have seen in many places but had no idea what it was. The vendor had very good English so asked him and he had his daughter use her phone to translate – found out they are cherry plums. We didn’t plan on buying any but as we were leaving the stall his wife gave us each a handful of them for free – this reminds us of some of the other markets we have been when dealing with family businesses.
Today the town is much busier as we saw that people were being ferried to shore from a large cruise ship that was anchored outside the port. Didn’t realize that cruise ships came here, but obviously they do. It puts a different complexion on a town, but from our morning walk around town, it didn’t seem overpowering and thankfully many of the restaurants were busy with people having drinks and lunch so it appeared that the local economy was
being helped.
Later in the day we had stopped for coffee and we noticed that the demographics of the tourists seemed to be made up of younger 25–35-year-olds and most were from Britain. As this is a small island, we sort of wondered what the draw was. I got talking to one woman and when I asked, she mentioned that she was surprised we didn’t know that Zakynthos is known for what is called shipwreck beach as well as many other beautiful beaches, but the main draw is that it is known as a party island! She said we just needed to get out of town some and there are numerous other places with lots of places for dancing, music, bars and restaurants. Also, it is easy to get to by ferry due to the number that come from the mainland of Greece. We definitely never would have guessed from our couple of days of wandering around the town.
The weather was keeping us here another day so we decided to walk up the streets to an interesting looking bell tower and church that we have seen from the village. The operative word is UP and as Bob
says it seems that no matter what we seem to be doing these kinds of activities in the middle of the day when it is the hottest. As the Noel Coward song goes, “mad dogs and Englishman out in the noon day soon”, we seem to do that all the time. It definitely got us to a new area and we were rewarded with wonderful views of the harbor. The church was not open and we did not find out any history about it as we were quite curious about the unusual shape of the top of the tower. Oh well, still worth the climb even though it was definitely a hot one.
When we first arrived, we didn’t realize it would turn in to a stay of 3 full days, but it turned out to be a pleasant stop and meeting new friends while there was a nice plus!
It appears that the weather looks promising for leaving on June 19
th, so the evening before we took another walk over to the Coast Guard and got stamped out of the port so will be ready to leave early the next morning. We do have to sort of
Interesting Detail on this Tower
located near the Coast Guard office we checked in at laugh as many times the staff at the Coast Guard will tell us we can check out the morning we are going to leave, but when we mention that it will be 6AM, they look surprised and tell us to come the evening before as they aren’t open that early. We have only come across one or two Coast Guard offices that are manned 24/7, others seem to have unusually short opening hours, especially when it is expected that all foreign yachts have to check in and out of a port that has a Coast Guard office. Oh well, it is a pretty painless task and it keeps us legal!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.098s; Tpl: 0.019s; cc: 12; qc: 31; dbt: 0.0449s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
