37 42.6N 24 03.5E Lavrion Greece
Dear friends,
6 and a half weeks ago Janet flew to England from Dalaman in SW Turkey. Jan split her time between England & Canada, but it is past time for an update on Harmonica's travels. Other cruisers offered help with the boat, which I appreciated, but Harmonica is easy to sail & I enjoyed my solitude while exploring some more of the Lycian & Carian Turkish Coasts.
One telling contrast between cruising live-aboard-characters and transient boaters: Docks here are designed for med-mooring (an anchor is dropped well off the dock, or a bow line is retrieved from under the water, then the stern is tied to the dock). In undeveloped bays, you sometimes need an anchor and tie a stern line to prevent swinging into rocks or other boats. 3 days out, my chosen anchorage of Gerbekse was already occupied by 1 charter boat and one mega-sloop with professional crew. With half the bay full I needed an anchor & stern tie. Both the other crews reclined in sun watching as I spent about an hour lowering the dinghy, flaking 250ft of line into it, anchoring, rowing ashore, and setting up the stern line. The Turkish restaurateur from the shack on the beach offered a hand which was friendly of him.
I spent an extra day to exploring the little town of Bozburun west of Marmaris. I enjoyed morning tea there visiting the Ontario boat "Silk Purse". Then "home" to Orhanye, where Harmonica spent last winter. Zaphyr Demiray had made a rigid boom vang for me and I wanted to rendezvous & collect it. I wish now that I had bought more hardware in Turkey. While I waited for Zaphyr, I anchored behind the island opposite Marti Marina, & spent the mornings working with glass fibre & epoxy, reinforcing the front bulkhead by the chain locker in preparation for an inner forestay. The afternoons were too hot as the epoxy resin kicked before I could use it. One mix started smoking in thermal runaway and had to be thrown out of the hatch. I spent the afternoons socializing & catching up on news.
I needed to let Zaphyr on board, so when he arrived from his home in Kusadasi, I moved to one of the wooden restaurant docks at the head of the bay. Whereas daily moorage at the marina costs $22, the restaurants only ask that you eat with them. The restaurateur, Sule, was a delightful gentleman and my cost to use his dock was about $2 for a leisurely breakfast looking across the bay of Keci Buku (goat bay) with eggs, bread, yoghurt & fruit (fresh nectarines picked from the tree shading the table). The crews of the Dutch & Canadian boats Tradewind & Delphis visited here too. Marti Marina had lost the battle for a place to lay up Harmonica for the month, and as first light was showing, I cast off and sailed for Kos in Greece.
Kos Marina is exactly 1 year old and out to please their customers. It is a friendly clean, place and, all important, the showers are wonderful. However, it is orientated so that the entrance faces NW into the Meltemi winds which blow throughout the summer. I got the boat moved to a berth away from the entrance and found a flight to London Gatwick the second day after I arrived. Check into Greece was more money & paper, but simple & friendly. After leaving Turkey, everything in Greece seems expensive. Harmonica now has a cruising permit which shows a crew list of 1, and I may have to hide Jan when she comes back, but authorities in Europe seldom ask to see such documentation.
I spent 3 weeks in England. After Jan's Mum's funeral, I was mostly with my mother which was nice for both of us as she is now in her 80's & lives on her own. She rented a car and we used it for walks & for 2 days of shopping in the boat chandelers of Burseldon & Lymington.
On returning to Greece, I had no deadlines, and had the luxury of staying with friends Brian & Ethna who have a flat just off Baker St in London W1. I tried flying standby from Gatwick to Kos, & I got onto my first choice of flight without trouble.
The Greek island of Kos having airport & lots of tourists is almost an English holiday resort. Known as the birth place of Hipocrates, an attractive ancient harbour with walled castle, and a friendly feeling throughout the town. Harmonica still had 6 days of her month left in the marina, which served well as a place to install the inner-forestay chain plate on the foredeck. Each morning I would spend a while lying in my stern berth reviewing the day's projects, which generally meant deciding to add further fibreglass reinforcement before drilling holes in the deck. I also needed some stainless steel to make a bracket to the bulkhead, and the search for this took me and my bicycle to a workshop near the "Turkish Village" on the edge of Kos town which had just the piece of metal that I wanted. They drilled and bent it for me, but refused to take any money.
I decided that the first stop should be the little island Levitha, 45 miles WNW and probably either a beat into the wind or a close fetch. Accordingly, I had all the lines ready the night before, rose at dawn and saw, as I expected, that nobody else was around to help me cast off. I eyed the boats on either side and decided that any scratches could cost a lot of money! As I released the 2nd bow line, I swung the bow into wind, then dropped the stern lines and had the motor in forward gear before the bow had swung back. (There are times when a maneuverable boat with short fin keel & spade rudder would be nice to have). The conditions were perfect and Harmonica close fetched at 6 knots for most of the day, although the N wind died when I was in sight of Levitha & I had to motor in the last few miles. Just a couple of families including a light-house keeper live here and the island probably deserved a longer visit.
Next morning, I listened to the 8.30 radio net before starting and heard that some New Zealand friends were off the coast of Italy. The weather forecast had not changed & I set off to another delightful day's sail which took me to Dehnoussa just east of Naxos. Anchored in a bay with about a dozen perfectly white-washed houses behind a concrete hard. I now knew that I would meet Janet in Lavrion in 4 days so I rested for an extra day here - morning of boat jobs, and an afternoon of walking across the island.
Next stop was Finikas on the Island of Siros, which the guide describes "nearly everyone who visits likes this place and it is well worth stopping". I was greeted by disco music and jet skis and my supper in a taverna was less good than the spiced sausage and aubergine which I cooked the night before. I decided that I like Greek islands for their tranquility & sparse, friendly population.
Left the next morning for the bay of Polais on Kea which is accessible only by water or donkey track. Jan & I had been here 24 years ago so it was a nostalgic stop. I walked up to the ruined temple and thought how little the bay had changed. I took another lay-day here and walked, swam, and tried out the Turkish spear gun which had been sitting unused for 2 months. I caught nothing but the Greek single-hander moored across the bay caught an octopus with his bare hands, which he then offered to me!
Now in Lavrion. I failed to stern tie to the quay since the cross wind had me sideways before I could get the anchor down and run back to the wheel. I'll just have to bring Jan out to Harmonica by dinghy tomorrow!
Dave