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Published: July 15th 2009
DAY 89
SAILING DAY 17
Dave has checked the weather report and there should be some wind today. We have a quick breakfast and head out of port and north asap. Fantastic, up go the sails. Loretta takes the helm. Francine, Angie and Yvonne head up to the bow to relax in the shade of the sails (tough isn't it). We tack and now the sun is shining on us so we head to the stern (back). Eventually it is too hot and we head below decks to read. Well that is what Francine said. She is never going to finish her book whilst on this yacht. Zzzzzzzzz
We arrive in Kythnos at about 2pm. This is a small quite island, more of a weekend destination for mainlanders. The island doesn't attract too many foreign visitors. We think this is great. We want to experience more “local” living. So what do we do? We head to the beach. Then buy a bag of ice and have a few cool drinks back on deck. A girly afternoon at the stern using the outdoor shower. We all shave our legs and wash our hair and talk. Then a huge cruiser
LAZY DAYS OF SUMMER
Yvonne and Angie on deck sunningpulled into port, it was magnificent. We all decided we much prefer our little sailing yacht.
We went for a drink prior to dinner and then went to a taverna on the beach for dinner. The sunset was beautiful and the food was good. A young boy was fishing from the beach and was catching fish about 8 inches long using large chunks of bread. Francine and I after dinner went for ice cream. The end to a perfect day.
DAY 90
SAILING DAY 18
We set sail today for Kea and we leave before the shops open and Francine and Angie are not able to buy the bracelets they had their eyes on. Too bad, next time we won't hesitate that long to buy. Just weren't meant to have them.
We only sail for a few hours to arrive in Kea. We are in the small marina about a 10 min taxi ride into town. We decide to find an internet cafe to get the blog up to date. We find a cafe and the owner attempts to hook us up as they don't have wifi. No luck. So what do we do.
We say thank you to the cafe owner by ordering a large waffle with three scoops of ice cream. The owner tells us that there is one wifi spot in town. It is outside the local supermarket, a 100m up the road. We perch ourselves on the rock fence across the road. Yes we have wifi. We spend some quality time catching up on photo upload and then head back to the marina to meet the group for dinner.
We are not too hungry this evening. Mmm, how could this been. We only had waffles and ice cream a few hours before. A salad is in order.
Back to the boat. This evening we decided to play cards. A game called Spoons which Angie explained and it was easy with quick rounds. We made it a drinking game. Francine had bought some Absinth (80% proof) in Turkey so we got the half shots ready. Yvonne was the first to lose. She drank the lot. He nearly blew her head off. We then decided that we would only take a sip. Fran was next, she had of a half and it was strong. Angie never lost a game. Darn
LOOK AT ME
voted the new maiden head, they're usually mermaids. it. Anyway, eventually there were three of us who lost. We were threatened with streaking down the street. We ended up having an egg and spoon race along the pavement. Francine, Leah and Loretta lined up. Leah took the lead and then towards the end dropped her egg. Francine was only a step behind and yeah she continued over the line and won the race. Another victory for the blondes
Fran tipped the rest of it down the drain. It could do with a clean. She decided not to leave it on the boat for the next group, in case someone drank too much of it.
DAY 91
SAILING DAY 19
We're off to the mainland of Greece. We get a short sail without the motors and then the wind died again. We arrive at Sounion, south of Athens. On this point is the Temple of Poseidon.
Ancient Greek religion was essentially propitiatory in nature: i.e., based on the notion that to avoid misfortune, one must constantly seek the favour of the relevant gods by prayers, gifts and sacrifices. To the ancient Greek, every natural feature, e.g. hill, lake, stream or wood, was controlled by
COCKTAIL ANYONE?
Looks empty when we get there at 8:00 but things don't get hopping till 12 ish. a god. Thus a person about to swim in a river, for example, would say a prayer to the river-god, or make an offering to that god's shrine, to avoid the chance of drowning. The gods were considered immortal, could change shape, become invisible and travel anywhere instantaneously. But in many other respects they were considered similar to humans. They shared the whole range of human emotions, both positive and negative. Thus, in their attitudes towards humans, they could be both benevolent and malicious. As humans also, they had family and clan hierarchies. They could even mate with humans, and produce demi gods.
In a maritime country like Greece, the god of the sea was bound to occupy a high position in the divine hierarchy. In power, Poseidon. was considered second only to Zeus (Jupiter), the supreme god himself. His implacable wrath, manifested in the form of storms, was greatly feared by all mariners. In an age without mechanical power, storms very frequently resulted in shipwrecks and drownings.
The temple at Sounion, therefore, was a venue where mariners, and also entire cities or states, could propitiate Poseidon., by making animal sacrifice or leaving gifts.
The temple of
Poseidon. was constructed in approx. 440 B.C., over the ruins of a temple dating from the Archaic Period. It is perched above the sea at a height of almost 60 m.
We set anchor and a man on another yacht, only about 30m away finishes his swim and is climbing out of the water onto the back of his yacht. He is completely naked. All the girls are very taken, by surprise that is. He has his own group of friends, men and women on his yacht. He then proceeds to put on a pair of shorts. Later in the day some of the women were also swimming nude and was very relaxed getting out of the water and drying off. The Europeans are very much more relaxed with the own bodies and nudity. Whoa.
Today is our last day to swim before arriving in Athens we dive into the clear blue waters, swimmers and all. Frangie decides to take a dip with Angie. Backstroke and noodle floating.
As the afternoon cool and we approach sunset, it is all in the rubber duckie to be shuttled to the shore to climb to the Temple of Poseidon to
view the sunset over the ruins.
We wander around and notice engraved graffiti from the 1800's and a love heart from 1902. Dinner is at a seafood restaurant on the beach and then it is back to the boat. Damn, the motor on the rubber duckie won't start and there is petrol in the bottom of the boat. Time to paddle back to the boat. Been there done that in the first week. Bryan picks up the paddle and it is obvious to Skipper Dave that he has never done this before. Francine and Skipper Dave do the paddling back to the boat. All Francine could worry about was not getting her camcorder wet. And back on the boat, dry. Then Dave has to paddle back to shore and collect the other three girls. We could hear them giggle all the way back to the boat.
Angie did not feel like going in for dinner tonight so she stayed on board and got out the fishing line. Knowing that her luck was slim to none to catch a fish, she wanted to try. Snorkeling earlier proved that only little fish were around the area. But a fisherman always
SECRET WI-FI HOTSPOT
After a restaurant manager tried to unsuccessfully hook us into his system--told us of this hot spot that only locals know about. Located in a residential area in front of the little market, we sat across the street on the wall. See what a friendly smile can get you!! hopes for the "big one". The bread bait only disolved and the dried appricot got some nibbles but no real bites and the fish just didn't like the salami! So no fish stories to tell.
Tonight we have anchor watch duty as we are only moored with an anchor in the bay. It is a two hour watch for each pair. Dave writes numbers on pieces of paper and we each pick a piece. We are lucky, we have the last watch 6am to 8am. So we head off to bed. A restless night as we can hear the others changing shift. Then it happens. The wind finally picks up. Not when we are sailing but at 3.30am. We hear Skipper Dave say to the guys on watch: “How do you feel about a bit of night sailing?” Then the motor starts up, the anchor is hoisted and we are on our bumpy way to Athens. It is not really a storm with rain but the winds have made big swells in the sea and it is much safer to be moving than to fight for stability being moored. The water sprays over all of us sitting on board
KYTHNOS CASTLE
A newer building along the waterfront during the night and the constant hits into the waves makes the boat creak and groan. The same as it's passengers on this difficult night.
Francine stays in bed and hears the boat slamming against the close set waves. She decides not to go on deck to investigate as the waves may be too big for her to handle and scare her more. So she decides to stay oblivious and stay below deck. Angie is fine and up she goes to spend a bit of time and see a sunrise. Not many of those to be seen by us on this trip.
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