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More old friends....
Vic and Christine arrive in Tranquil Bay whilst we're there. Its great to meet Vic at last.. he's stayed on my boat when I've not been there and I've heard so much about him from Susie, John and Lynda. And here he is in the flesh, with Christine.
We have a great evening with them on Saturday, and they return the compliment last night. Its a shame they are off to Zakinthos today, but no doubt we will catch up in a few weeks, and maybe even play "Vic's game"....
As the season goes on and more and more boats arrive here, its fun to catch up with people.. and this week has been a particularly good one. There are friends we've made here,who we often meet (usually in Porto bar, Vliho yacht club, or for an arranged beach barbie), old friends who are just arriving, not to mention friends of friends and people who know us through the internet.
Earlier this week we meet Stuart Carter - a Lancastrian, who, drawn by my Lancashire flag, comes over to say hello. It turns out he's a lifelong friend of my brothers (plural). He's closely followed by Curly Sue, "met" through ybw: "you must be Carolwildbird!". We catch up via email with someone we first met in Brittany who is now in Preveza, and later in the week with Neil and Cathy, who we last saw at a ybw get together in Plymouth, and who are now in Paxos en route to Lefkas..
We're sitting in Vathi when we get a text from Bill and Lynn, first met in Almerimar, and last seen in Paxos en route to Crete, who want to know where we are. We're in Vathi, I text back. It turns out they are in Astokos.. a mere 90 minutes away.. so they sail over and come and spend the night with us in Vathi. Its good to catch up and gossip about life the universe and everything, and what's been happening in our respective worlds.
Bill and Lynn decide to come up to Nidri with us, as I offer a mercy mission up to Lefkas in the car to get them a new sail batten.
A shopping trip or three later... not to mention lots of booze (well for Bill at least).. quite a good reunion.
A quick early morning walk out to the church on the headland.. about 5 miles, I guess. Its getting to that time of year here in Greece where its only feasible to walk at 7am.. and even then you come back drenched. It will soon be only swimming.
Up to Vathi.. "Big Vathi", as its known, to distinguish it from the Vathi on Meganissy ("Little Vathi"). Its getting hotter and stiller, so inevitably we motor.
The pilot book is not hugely encouraging about mooring at Vathi, mentioning it as a very windy spot with one quay usually occupied by flotillas and another with very deep approaches. What it fails to mention is the large and shallow anchorage just off the quays in the southern half of the harbour in which we, and many other yachts, manage easily to free anchor. I have to admit to avoiding coming here last year because of the pilot book.. and actually there's loads of space and its very easy. Perhaps we also get a good day with the wind, because that's fairly benign too.
A wander round the town reveals some interesting shops, including,at last, some selling original art work rather than the inevitable tourist tat.
One of the things I like to do is to buy some art work from each country I visit so that when i finish this journey, I will have a little something to remember when <<I'm sitting in my rocking chair reminiscing. In France it was some glorious blue pottery from Roche Bernard. Portugal.. some painted egg cups. Morocco.. the inevitable rug. Spain came up with a lovely original ceramic/watercolour by a Barcelona artist, dating from the turn of the century (bought in a car boot sale for 3 Eu!). Italy.. well Sicily.. a book on Byzantine Mosaics. So far, nothing from Greece, though I do have plans for a terracotta pot.
Walking down the back streets, we come across an artist selling hand crafted metal work sculptures of olive tress, birds and other things. He turns out to be an ex member of the Greek sailing team. His family ran olive farms on Ithaca, but that no longer pays.. so he has become an artist.
One particular piece captures my imagination. Its an olive wreath with leaves made from beaten silver and copper, with two copper and brass doves. He tells me it is inspired by his family.. the long history of olive farming, sadly no longer economic, and symbols of peace. He calls it "Freedom".
I did not encounter Athena at the spring, but I encounter her here. Athena is the greek Goddess of wisdom, civilization, warfare, strength, strategy, female arts, crafts, justice and skill., and according to one myth,competed with Poseidon to be the patron deity of Athens, which was yet unnamed. They agreed that each would give the Athenians one gift and that the Athenians would choose the gift they preferred. Poseidon struck the ground with his trident and a spring sprang up; this gave them a means of trade and water. But the water was salty and not very good for drinking. Athena, however, offered them the first domesticated olive tree. The Athenians accepted the olive tree and with it the patronage of Athena, for the olive tree brought wood, oil, and food.
I look at the wreath, and I'm filled with indescribable sense of beauty mingled with sadness. Athena has brought this to me as my symbol of Greece. The "Wild Birds" of the wreath echoing my Wild Bird, my boat. The olive branches..symbols of peace and freedom. The sense of things coming to an end, and new things beginning to replace what has been. A very apt metaphor for my soon to be ended time in Greece.
... or more specifically to Peripighadi Bay on the south east coast of Ithaca. A lovely spot, with clear blue waters running up to white rocks and fragrant shrub-covered hillsides. Ferry wash (you can see the waves in the picture) does tend to make the anchorage at times a little rolly, but its still a peaceful and pleasant spot. Good for a little swimming and snorkeling.. as good as the area can be, because most of the underwater life around here is somewhat sparse, other than a few fish.
And good for walking, as there is a path up to Raven's rocks and, en route, the spring of Arethousa. Whether the present day Ithaca is actually the Ithaki of Odysseus is a subject of debate by archaelogists and historians (see article hereand ), but as I walk up the path I like to imagine that it was. Odysseus said, "My home is under the clear skies of Ithaca. Our landmark is Mount Neriton with its quivering leaves".
Was Odysseus, after his long and tortuous adventures, returned here from Troy by the Phaeacians? Was it here that he was disguised as a beggar by Athena? The Odyssey describes how Athena tells the disguised Odysseus, to find the swineherd Eumayeus "watching over his swine… at their pastures by the Raven's Crag and at the Spring of Arethusa". To cut along story short, here, he invents a story to explain who he is, and is met by his son Telemachus. Odysseus, Telemachus, Eumayeus and Philotus the cowherd return to court to try to liberate Odysseus' loyal wife Penelope who has been besieged by 108 suitors for her hand, all of whom have taken up permanent residence in his palace. All is eventually resolved, but only after much inevitable bloodshed.
Well, I don't find Athena, or Eumayeus at the spring of Arethousa, but I do find some guardians of the spring.. aptly, some goats. After all, Telemachus says... ""In Ithaca there is no room for horses to run, nor any meadows at all. It is a pasture land for goats."
These goats are fairly splendid beasts with huge spreading horns.Startled by my arrival at the spring, they leave the cool shade of the damp overhang and bound up what looks like sheer rock cliffs. "Big daddy" snorts and stamps, and peers back over the edge at me, looking like some god -like reincarnation of some mythical beast. Others peer from behind bushes.Its quite a splendid sight.
Susie is a tortoise fan. She had several back in Cornwall gracing her garden and is sad to have left them.
Whilst we had a tortoise fix up in Zagoria, Susie still wanted to see the wild ones on Petalas Isalnd in their natural habitat, not about to be run over by a car. So off we go to Petalas.
Its as wild and remote as I remember it.. that is barring several yachts which are there. We settle down for an afternoon of peace.. me hull polishing, Susie sunbathing - before an early evening trip around the bay to look at the cave and then ashore to look for tortoises.
Susie is less than impressed, I have to say. The scratchy plants, steep slopes, and, above all, a huge variety of creepy crawlies are rather too near to wild nature for her comfort. Whizzing grasshoppers and crickets fly about, spiders weave webs all over the place (and if there is one thing Susie hates, its spiders), and unknown insects land on exposed bits of flesh. Here's one of them.. a glorious green grasshopper.
Needless to say, we do not find any tortoises. Perhaps it goes without saying that Susie declines another trip ashore in the morning..
Here's one I saw last year on Petalas...
A trip south this week. First of all to Kastos... not only because it is sheltered from the forecast NW F5-6, but also to show Susie the views from Captain John's taverna.
A blowy trip down in 25 knots of wind (thats after no wind, wind from the SW, the Nw, the Ne, the W, passing east of meganissy) and a good sail for the second part of the trip.
The anchorage at Kastos is still attractive, and pretty deserted... that is until a bloody great motor boat arrives and anchors all the way across the bay. I'm just hoping the wind doesn't switch too much as he'll take us all out in one fell swoop. But its still peaceful and Susie decides on a spot of all-over tanning, lying in the cockpit. I'm quietly contemplating... something... ...when I look up to see over 20 yachts arriving.: the end of some race. Hmmmm. One of them is hell bent on dropping his anchor right up our stern. What a glorious view of our stern and ...."Errrrr Susie......" I throw a towel hurriedly over the parts which should not be looked into. Even the larger pair of Susie's cheeks are blushing.
A trip ashore. Its often a tad disappointing to go back to somewhere you really liked, and this is no exception. The village is still attractively unspoiled, and my expectations are high as we walk up the hill on a hot a dusty day.
The first disappointment: the normal rather pretty path up has been part turned into a building site and we have to scramble over rocks and stones to get there. When we reach the taverna, there is no-one else there, and we wonder if the taverna is deserted. But no, its open.. and the person serving remembers me, and asks me where my big black dog is. A moment of sadness, as I have to tell her that he died.
They have cut down all the bougainvillea which framed the view. I guess it will grow back, but the place looks bare. Admittedly the view is clearer, but the impact of the bougainvillea-framed view of the Echinides islands is completely lost (picture from last year, above).
Ah well.
Susie has decided that my epitaph should read "It wasn't supposed to be this windy". From our first major trip - across to Ireland in a F8/9 (forecast F6/7) - our trip around cape st Vincent (30 knts plus), recent trip up to Corfu (25 knots instead af the 10 forecast).. my oft cried lament as I'm reefing yet again is just that.. "it wasn't supposed to be this windy"
More wind than forecast, or its opposite.... less wind than forecast - seems typical of Mediterranean weather, though round here, in the afternoons, especially north of Lefkas and south of Meganissy, its often much windier than Wind Guru predicts.
Yesterday was a case in point. We planned a quick trip to Sivota to spend a couple of days chilling before coming back to Nidri. The forecast indicated we'd be motoring, and indeed we were, down most of the Meganissy channel - no wind at all... But at the south end, as often happens, the wind quickly builds to a F5-6.:25-30 knots on the nose as we head round the corner to Sivota.
And of course, in the anchorage - although not blowing so hard, its very gusty. I am realizing that Sivota has this peculiar geography which, if there's an easterly or westerly, or indeed southerly (maybe its from any direction!) the wind switches direction through 180 degrees in the space of a minute, blowing first from the north and then from the south. And then changing back again. In 24 hrs we covered virtually all points of the compass at least twice. Quite a challenge to keep track of where your anchor is, and slightly on the worrying side when other people anchor close to you without realizing your chain is like a heap of spaghetti on the bottom.
So trips ashore are taken with a weather eye on the boat and the state of the wind. Sivota is a pretty as ever, with flowers now in full bloom in front of the tavernas, and the glorious display of potted basil in front of one taverna now at its full glory.
I do manage a walk, though not a great distance round the headland, as the path starting round the headland to the east of the bay has now got a fence across it about half a mile down the headland. I assume someone's bought the plot to build on.. When will the Greeks learn that people like walking?
The fun bit about this walk is the spiders... lots of them with webs like banners high across the path. Its brings to mind The Hobbit.. I feel like I am going up a path towards Shelob's cave, with her little spider attendees watching me as I duck under their glittering webs.
