Sail Crete

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Wednesday, October 20, 2010
We discovered that today is NOT Thursday, as we had thought yesterday. Slow morning. Really calm when we woke up but within minutes it was pouring rain for about a half hour. This was our hint about what day it was. Battery will NOT charge past 11.2 V, just enough to drag the anchor up three links. It was so clear after two hours that we decided to sail but we were stalled by the battery’s inability to haul up the anchor. Kar and I abandoned the guys to figure that one out and headed over to the shore in the refueled dinghy. We officially have the “first in the Med” prize on the crew. I swam out to the crane that’s left out off the shore but the water around it is really murky, so I chose to avoid snagging on rusty metal and steered clear. The shore is littered with stuff washed up by the storms. We motored around point to check out abandoned village under the castle. It has definitely been inhabited more recently than the ruin at the top of the hill, but it sure is empty now. We broke into the bitty little church one the point. The paintings in there are remarkably well preserved still. All the buildings smell strongly of billygoat. There are olive orchards all over this little cove. The boat joined us, we climbed aboard, and headed off to hit up the wind. I must have spent about an hour at the bow, flying over the waves, before picked up my books and settled down on the deck to study. I am reading an interesting collection of essays about Native America, called “The State of Native America.” One of the authors argues that the only difference between the American government and the Nazi government, in terms of the political attitudes/behavior towards the Indians and the Polish respectively, is that the American Government won. I thought that a little extreme at first, but on reflection it isn’t that far out. The books I have along are sort of a collection of AIM texts, and while some of the rhetoric is really on the edge of too far, most of the points, and a lot of the basic premises, are really solid. We sailed for about fourish hours. Tilos, home of the ancient pygmy elephants, is a really cute little town, the harbour guarded by a German dragon lady. Parking in these harbours is pretty interesting, as you have to do it stern first, backing into the quay and either picking up a “dead man” (a rope anchored to a chunk of concrete on the sea floor) or dropping your own anchor. These boats are really hard to maneuver slowly and accurately when going backwards. I appear to be the only one on the boat who enjoys food prep, and I get so busy doing other things that I forget about eating, so by the time we got here the crew was running on low blood sugar and a bit crabby. We hunted down an open restaurant, swarming with cats again, and the mood visibly improved with food. I tried a bit of Greek coffee, which is super good, a bit milder than Turkish coffee, a treat I keep hoping for but I doubt I’ll get it. Greece and Turkey are mortal enemies and I’m sure that extends to their coffee types… The birds are out! I’ve seen a bunch today, and some fish. I think that they were all just smarter than us silly humans and holed up for the erratic winds and schtuff. My day is now officially over, having eaten, replenished our stores, journaled, and bathed. It is bedtime.

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