Mike and Kathy's Cruising Adventure

Yes! Happy windlass! New carbons in the DC motor, some new gear oil to replace the stuff that dropped out when the pinion gear almost fell into the chain locker (yikes!), new longer bolts to hold that motor snug, and finally lots of finangling with the rather stripped terminal posts that started this whole process. Pantelis, the mechanic that replaced the carbons and judged the motor to otherwise be in fine health, claimed to have thrown out his back and left it to me to hang upside down for 3 hours to reassemble things. Let’s hope I’m done in the anchor locker for a while.

Right, so we really enjoyed Aegina, but after all that,  motoring over to Epidauros felt like an escape of sorts. A 2 hour jaunt via a quiet little anchorage on the SW corner of Agkistri, where we tried to set the anchor while backing in to the shoreline (Euro-style), but the bottom was very steep, and after the anchor dragged a bit, we decided just to continue on to the easy anchorage at Palaia Epi. Great workout for the windlass, no hiccups, and a very calm flat anchorage overnight.

Yesterday was a glorious day at anchor,  messing with the mainsail furling system, polishing some stainless steel (somewhat endless), Kathy cleaning the cabin sole (floor), had a little swim (cool but not cold).

A serene morning now, enjoying coffee and listening to the small fishing boats putt-putting out of the bay, fishermen’s voices drifting over the glassy water.

Sweet.

Hoping to leave in the morning, so I’ll update while I have the chance.

We got the windless motor back today and Mike has spent all afternoon trying to install it–witness his contortions.  I guess I’ll see how he did when I get back to the boat.   I hung out most of the afternoon for moral support, but then I cracked, grabbed the laptop, and hit the road.

We’re planning to skip Perdika now and head straight over to Epidavros to check out the amphitheater before settling in Poros for a few days.  CM told me there is an episode of Joanna Lumley’s travel show where she visited the amphitheater with Nana Mouskouri.  If there is no one around, maybe I’ll sing a few bars.  Requests?  Sorry, not Ave Maria, Corinna, I’m not ready!

Here is a bonus dog pic.

After a couple of visits from Lucas, the Planaco mechanic, we had all of our issues resolved–Lucas got the alternator fixed, also got the generator working again, and Mike fixed his solenoid.  Check, check and check!

As a bonus, some guys running a big charter boat docked next to us offered to sell us a consultation on the rigging.  Mike spent a couple hours with them and was very pleased with the result.  Euros well spent!

Mike got a Greek SIM card for his cell phone, and Canadians, let me tell you, our telecom industry is screwing us!!!!!  For 15 Euros/month he gets a phone plan with 5G of data.  Yes, you read that right, and for the first month we get a bonus of an extra 5G.  I was paying $90/month to Bell for a plan with 1G of data.  Criminal. I’m sure they have some song and dance about population density, but save it for the judge, phone companies.  You are horrible. My phone has been paid off for two years and there is no break for that?

One thing I wanted to mention about Aegina Town (so I don’t forget and can reminisce rereading this blog when I’m old), is that there are lots of horse-drawn carriages ferrying tourists around.  My favourite is one where the owner has a dog that runs alongside the carriage when he has a fare.   I assume this has been going on for awhile and the dog is traffic-savvy, though I did see him off-duty lying half in the road the other day.  I’ll try and get a photo, but so far no luck.

So yesterday, with batteries charged and water tanks topped up, we were all set to head down to the bay north of Perdika and wait out some storm showers forecast for this afternoon.  We removed and stowed the passerelle, hauled in our dock lines, and I went to the bow to start raising the anchor. (Hmmm, that Oxford comma is growing on me.) It came up about a foot and then just stopped.  I thought it had jammed, but no, it would go down but not up at all.  I bellowed for Mike and he was as confused as I was.   So, in total we made it about ten feet away from the dock before we had to retreat back to our starting position.  Talk about anticlimactic.  Not complaining, though, if things have to go wrong, Aegina Town is the place for it to happen as we have support here.

Mike started digging around and found a loose connection, but still wasn’t convinced we were good to go.  He called Lucas but got no answer.  As luck would have it, there was a pro helping a fellow a couple boats down, so Mike nabbed him for a look-see.  They discovered that the windless motor was corroded enough to cause concern, so buddy took it away for repair.  The guy was nabbed by at least two other boat owners while he was in the neighbourhood, so not sure how promptly we’ll get our motor back, but again, not complaining!  Mike tried to raise the anchor by hand the other day and it was damn near impossible, so this is another issue we are more than happy to deal with properly.

Mike was exhausted again after a long day of troubleshooting, so we headed back to Avli for dinner.  This time the cat deigned to grace us with her presence.  She kept reaching her kitty paw up to my plate.  Not sure why, do cats like falafel?

Today we are cleaning and polishing.  The fridge and cupboards are full of food, so we’re ready to head out, hope it happens tomorrow.  My Med diet is not supposed to include all the amazing pizza and gyros I’m eating here in Aegina.   Seriously, if you are in this town you must go to Tenekedakia for a pita pork gyro.  Best. Gyro. Ever.

I dumped some of Mike’s photos onto the laptop, so here are a couple of belated pics from our trip up to see the Temple of Aphaia in Agia Marina.  You won’t be seeing many photos of me in this blog (let’s face it, Mike is the pretty one), but here is a rare photo of the two of us.  We are indeed in Greece together.

I leave you with our new mascot, the thirsty pigeon.

Monday just before lunch Mike headed to land to grab a cab and get a fuse in Aegina Town.  I stayed with the boat, expecting him to be gone for most of the afternoon.  He returned two short hours later bearing gyros from Pita Tom.  Yay!

I was soon extra happy about his prompt return when the wind, rain, and lightning started.  The anchor alarm started beeping and Mike realized we were dragging, so here was my first trial by fire–moving the boat during a squall.  It was very wet and windy, but not cold, and I was too busy to be scared.  Of course I tried to do everything too quickly and made some errors…  Took the snub off the anchor and tossed it on the deck only to have it get caught up with the chain and wrapped around the windless.  Argh!  Mike battled the wind to head forward and unjam the works.  Consider that lesson learned.  Lots of screaming at each other (not in anger, bien sur) and we got the anchor up and moved north of the dock hoping the cliff would shelter us a bit, but the swell was bigger than by the beach so we headed back to where we had been and dropped the anchor again.  I must say I surprised myself–if you’d asked me in advance how I would react in a situation like that, tears would have immediately come to mind.  Famous last words.

By the time we were re-situated things were starting to let up, though we saw lightning  for a while after as the squall moved south.  Once the sun set we saw a ship on the horizon that was completely covered in red lights, like hundreds of them.  Does anyone know what this means?  I can find lots of info about one or two red lights (dangerous cargo?) but nothing about an entire ship.

We have a few issues to resolve, like the aforementioned alternator problem, so after a call to Lucas, the mechanic at Planaco, we decided to head back to Aegina Town to get things shipshape.  A quick visit from the fuel truck in Agia Marina and we headed back to the west side of the island

Here was the next test, our first anchoring in the harbour.  We did a quick anchor south of the port to get the dinghy moved from the back of the boat onto the deck, and then on into the harbour.  Parking (parking? doesn’t sound very nautical) wasn’t seamless, but also wasn’t embarrassing (witness accounts may vary).  More lessons learned, don’t be skimpy with letting out the anchor, and take care of any windless jams asap because if the boat loses momentum, we lose our line on the spot we’re trying to back into.  Got it!   We’re not perfectly straight, but the harbour isn’t super busy, and frankly we saw bigger boats that look more crooked than ours.

It kind of feels like we’re back home!  We hooked up to shore power, filled the water tanks, and then treated ourselves to dinner at Panta Rei, officially my favourite restaurant here.  Couldn’t get the WiFi there to work on my phone, maybe I’ve been flagged for downloading all the episodes of the podcast S-Town on my last visit.  No worries, I forced Mike to get a gelato next door at Gelato Follia so I could get their WiFi password.  It’s directly across from the boat, so I thank them for this signal I am now, uh, borrowing.

This morning I went to pick up our clean laundry that I dropped off last night (luxury!), while Mike worked on the solenoid.  Things are coming together!  This afternoon I will visit the grocery store and also try and find a pair of sunglasses with built in readers.  I currently have to wear my regular glasses and sunglasses together to do any close work on deck, and that is bound to end badly.  If I drop these new glasses in the water I am going to be very cranky.  It is quite a look, though.   Also must get a floating tether for glasses.  Add it to the list.

Here is a bonus shot from when we were working on the mainsail on Sunday. Kurt E. and/or Mark G., where are you when we need you?

We’ve had two meals at a lovely little restaurant called Paradise in Agia Marina, partly because the food is good, but mostly so we don’t feel guilty about using their WiFi–we can get a spotty connection from where we are anchored in the harbour.  Internet is now a luxury item.  This constitutes roughing it in my book, and this is what we look like when we dine in restaurants now:

Rewind a couple of days to Thursday at the Planaco boatyard. Very exciting to finally get all our crap on the boat and prepare to set off.  We were given a 2pm departure time (which became 3pm, but who’s counting).  It was easy enough to keep busy unpacking and cleaning and whatnot.  When the time came, buddy backed up to the boat, they removed the supports, painted a couple spots on the bottom that the supports had been blocking, and headed for the water.  I guess the paint dries fast?

And as my Dad would say, we were off like a terd of hurtles!  No sails available, so we kept it simple and motored.  No sooner were we out of Planaco than Mike gave me the wheel with a warning to watch for ferries and disappeared below.  Two minutes later I saw a ferry at least a km away and had a mini panic attack!   I’ll get more comfortable, I swear.  I screamed until he popped his head out and calmly throttled down.  Right.  We continued around the northwest point of Aegina with a slim hope of getting a berth at the dock in Aegina Town.  Hopes were soon dashed, the Easter weekend crowd had descended, but I confess I wasn’t too distressed that there wouldn’t be a hundred witnesses to my first attempt to help Mike lay anchor.  We anchored just south of the marina and had a rocking and rolling first night.

Since we didn’t do much exploring while staying at the hotel in Aegina Town, we decided to head for the east side of the island to check out their #1 attraction, the Temple of Aphaia.  Thankfully it was an uneventful motor (no ferries in sight, still no sails installed).

Upon our arrival in Agia Marina we were greeted by lots of jellyfish in the water.  Pretty, but creepy.  I was mildly concerned, but we’ve been here two days now and I haven’t seen one since.   We anchored for our second night and had an even rockier and rollier night.  A cruise ship must have gone by in the wee hours because there was one point where we were knocked about enough that I tried to get up and quiet a rolling bottle in a cupboard only to give my head a good crack on the next roll.  Yes, hilarious.   Mike was unimpressed enough with our anchorage to roust me out of bed at 7am to move the boat closer to the beach.  You can imagine my mood for the next few hours, but it did give me more anchoring practice, I guess.

Our task for the day was to install the mainsail, but that turned into installing the jib when we realized we had the wrong sail unfolded.  We headed into town for a late lunch and were surprised to see that what we assumed was a little town with not much on the go was actually a tourist mecca coming out of hibernation.

The aforementioned Paradise restaurant had just open for the season that day, but they had it all under control as the WiFi was operational and I had a damn tasty spaghetti carbonara.  Mmmm, cream sauce and pig.   Bellies full, we started our trek up to the temple.  No joke, I walked up this freaking hill!  Of course we got there at 3:05pm and the site had just closed at 3pm because it was Easter Saturday, but we got the picture.

A quick visit to the grocery store and back to Coral for dinner and backgammon.

We spent all day today fighting to get the mainsail installed and furling straight and then rewarded ourselves with another visit to Paradise so that we could have a well-deserved drink (or two, in my case–Mike wants to keep his wits about him while we’re at anchor) and dinner.  When we got there we asked the waitress if there was an outlet I could use to charge my laptop (alternator issues, I’ll leave that to Mike to discuss or not).  She thought for a second and then unplugged the outside cooler.  God love her, an Easter miracle for Kathy.

No Mass for these heathens, but we did hear lots of church floating over the water, along with lots of little explosions–the Greeks sure seem to enjoy their firecrackers or guns or whatever the hell they’re blowing up.  I hope that’s just a holiday weekend thing–there are so many dogs here it seems cruel!  Daisy always hated loud noises…

 

 

Yup, got in the water on Thursday just as hoped. That’s Coral parked on the right, just off the beach of Agia Marina, a little summer beach town on the east side of Aegina Island.

Still working on getting settled,  putting sails on, sussing out whats working, or rather,  how it all works. Got the generator started after considerable reading, priming, and cranking, and I didn’t flood the exhaust manifold (what’s that now?), so when it finally started it felt like an accomplishment. Of course the generator is a critical component of making a fine afternoon cocktail (it helps power the freezer), so it’s a big relief to see it humming along.

Cheers!

Mike

 

While Mike was on his gas errand to Athens yesterday, I took the opportunity to swipe his bike and go for a spin along the coast.  I took the GoPro, but it is an insanely bumpy video.  I need a mount with shock absorbers or something.  I’ll add it to the list.

I was looking for a turnoff that seemed to be a pretty major road on the map, but I missed it and accidentally biked all the way to the boatyard.  When I backtracked I realized that my road was little more than an alleyway.  Very steep and narrow, but again, drivers were fast but careful (I assume, as I did not get hit, knock on wood).

I was very smart and wore my bathing suit under my clothes on the bike ride.  I had a grand plan to jump in the glorious, empty pool as soon as I returned to the hotel.  The pool was indeed empty, but it was surrounded by about thirty kids on a group home vacation who’ve been staying at the hotel the past couple days.  Moment of truth–screw it, I hopped in.

Today I walked to town in search of a WiFi antenna extender.  Timed it just wrong as all the electronics stores were closed for siesta, but I did manage to get a couple of nice, new pillows for 6€ each and in the process got rid of my torn 50€ bill that no one seemed to want to take.  Faced with a torn bill or no sale, the lady chose torn bill.  Whew, I was starting to think that money wasn’t going to work anywhere.

Today is the last day of boat prep, planning to put her in the water tomorrow.  We are about to begin life in seriously close quarters.  I’m sure it will be fine…

An hour’s ferry ride to Athens with propane tanks in tow, and 4 hours later I’m back with the goods thanks to “The Fixer”, aka Mr. Elias, who was kind enough to pick me up and drive me to a gaz filling station. Thank-you Elias! And yes, I sat outside on the ferry with the, uh, you know, subtly camouflaged.

Also in there is red curry paste,  basmati rice, and a bottle of siracha. Some habits die hard.

Can’t wait to get the stove fired up!

So no sooner did I say I was done with fried cheese than we went to the amazing Panta Rei for dinner.  In my defense, the menu item was not “fried cheese”, they were “cheese croquettes”.  Surely it behooved me to see what the difference was between those two dishes?  Same cheese in smaller pieces, breaded and deep fried.  Heavenly.  NOW I’m done with fried cheese! Octopus salad for Mike and another margherita pizza for me (I really like pizza).  Both were excellent.

Mike continues to toil at the boatyard.  I made a pilgrimage to the big grocery store.  It feels treacherous walking down these narrow roads with no sidewalk, but everyone seems to have it figured out.

I wandered to town for lunch today and hung out by the public wharf to watch a couple boats park.  I still can’t believe the setup:  all the boats drop their anchor and back into a spot.  It is not uncommon to try and pick up your anchor and find you have caught someone else’s.  We actually watched a guy deal with that situation last night and he handled it pretty well.  Personally, I’m nervous, but I guess we’ll figure it out.  CM says there are a bunch of youTube videos on the topic, so I better get studying.

Last night Mike had just fallen asleep when I checked in with the Masters.  I woke him up at 1:30am when Sergio tied it up again toward the end.  Couldn’t get video but managed to find an audio feed–so happy for that guy!  I always feel bad for great athletes who get stuck with that “best blah blah to never win a blah blah” (poor Dan Marino…).

And now, some animals.  Check out these doggies on patrol, they were so funny waaaay up on their perches barking.

Day 5 at Planaco Yachtworks, and thankfully a few things got ticked off the list yesterday! A Thursday launch is, I’d say, 60/40 at this stage.

Coral sits patiently on the hard waiting for her alternator to return from the garage and for her engine’s water pump to be serviced (if you know what I mean). Meanwhile I’ve been trying to get the fuel tanks as clean as I can, as a little water in the diesel fuel can be a happy breeding ground for filter-clogging bacterial goo. Let’s hope you never read about that again!

I’ve rented a crappy bicycle for 5€ a day, so the 20 minute commute to&from the yard has been pretty nice.

What’s that? You want to know all about water pump impellers? Maybe next time….