Ed & Marion Herndon
We went to Greece and Norway in the summer of 1998. We sailed with
Sam and Charlotte Packenham Walsh for a week in the Greek Islands. Then
we went
to Norway to christen Maia DiValerio our latest Granddaughter. Greece
was
hot... Norway was cold. This is our Greek Island report
On Wed 15 July we flew from Houston to Amsterdam. We arrived in the morning of the 16th and spent the better part of the day waiting for a mid afternoon flight to Athens. Blew $30 on the Slot machines at the Airport Casino.
We got into Athens around 7 PM, went to the Hotel Herodian, and met
Sam
and Charlotte. They had found a lovely rooftop restaurant with a view
of
the Acropolis and the Parthenon. Dinner was very good and not
expensive. We
could see the sound and light show above us. It depicts the burning of
the
Acropolis. It's impressive even at a distance.
| Friday the 17th we found Byron Street and had breakfast in
the Palaka area of town. A large Greek flag flew from a parapet on the
Acropolis above. After omelets we began a long slow climb to the
Acropolis, winding completely around the Acropolis to the opposite
western end.
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The weather was hot and dry during the whole week we were in Greece. Along the way I bought a 1.5 liter bottle of water from a roadside vendor for 500 Drachma. It seemed like a good idea (later analysis revealed the price was equivalent to $5 per Gallon).
Along the way to the Acropolis there is a large rock about a quarter
of
a mile from the main entrance. There is a crude stairway partially cut
into
the rock and, in places, marble steps have been placed. Most of the way
you
climb on stones that have been polished to glasslike luster by the
millions
who have climbed before you. From the top of "Old Slippery Rock "you
get
a Panoramic view of the Acropolis. Wear sneakers not sandals.
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At the Odeion of Herodes Atticus (a Greek theater) I a took
picture for a couple who, it turned out, were from Houston. Doctor and
Betty Silva had just completed a two week chartered sail of the Greek
Islands. While I was doing that, Marion bought a clever book with pictures of the temples. It had transparent overlays of what Athens may have looked like in the past. It features the Acropolis and other Greek temples and archeological treasures. |
The climb was tiring so we sat in the shade of the Propylea (front
porch), and watched the thousands of tourists passing up and down the
stairs.
| The Parthenon is massive and beautiful at the same time. It
was built in 400 BC of marble from nearby quarries. How did they build these beautiful columns? Lifting these huge stones into place was done by some supreme
cleverness and much muscle power. |
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Its as awesome to me, as our Apollo missions to the moon. My favorite temple is the smaller and more delicate Erechteion
(temple to the goddess Viagra). She has lovely Ionic Columns and
a porch with
columns of six Maidens.
|
We went back to the hotel to clean up and dress for dinner. It was Sam and Charlotte's wedding anniversary, so we asked at the desk for a place with music. It was a few blocks away. Dinner was accompanied by two Guitar players.. wonderful entertainment all evening long..
Sam sang a little.. I did some Greek Dancing... First with a guy who showed me some basic steps.. Later with a Greek lady, who had lived a while in the USA...
She instructed me, "Just Dance... don't touch... you may get as close as you want." That performance got a round of applause. We drank too much and partied too long, but the memory will last forever.
Saturday we slept until 9 after a rough night.. Then we headed off to get the boat.
The Boat checked out OK. Her name was Kiriani and she was older than expected but there were no other surprises at that time.
The boat was a Gib Sea 402. The engine started like a charm. It had a new GPS with Waypoints for all of the local ports, a VHF and Charts. No Air Conditioning or fans. We knew that beforehand, and had brought a plugin fan from home.
There were items I had not seen or used before, like a gangway on the stern that was hoisted like a drawbridge. In the Mediterranean the boats dock stern to the wharf. You tie up on two stern cleats and the anchor, placed about 50 yards off shore, holds you off the wharf about 1 to 3 feet. The gangway spans the gap to the wharf and is used for boarding. You are cheek to jowl with your neighbor at the wharf, and big fenders are the style of the day. None of those rickety finger piers or floating docks.
There was also an electric anchor hoist, 200 feet of chain rode and a 33# CQR anchor. The hoist had a hand controller with buttons for Up and Down. Leonidas, the boat charter representative explained its operation and how to spray the controller connections with WD40. "It's sometimes balky and the connection needs spraying occasionally for good electrical contact", he said.
It didn't work right away, so he showed me the special breaker switches under the aft lavatory. We made sure they were not tripped, and then we sprayed the contacts. Then it worked with the chain off the capstan. I should have run the anchor up and down two or three times but didn't. From a viewpoint of safe operation, proper working ground tackle is second only to hull integrity in the Med. I learned this lesson the hard way on the trip.
We shopped for provisions and bought lots of drinking water, cokes, beer and a heap of ice. The plan was breakfast and dinner ashore... Snacks, Hors d'overs, and lunch underway... and lots of drinks to beat the heat. That part worked out very well.
By about 3:00 PM we were ready and pulled out of Alimos marina without incident. The port of Aegina, on the island of the same name, was our first night destination. Its about 18 nm from Alimos Marina. We sailed on a very light breeze. We were becalmed for a while and started up the engine. In idle the Perkins diesel made a quiet "Chuga Chuga" sound. We left it that way for a few minutes and the wind came back up.
Once again sailing, we cut the engine. "Don't you think its time for a gin and tonic?" said I.
Sam replied, "For we who sail the briny sea, a Schweppes and Bombay it shall be."
Marion said, "Take the helm, Ed. I'll make the drinks."
And so it was, that Charlotte first uttered a phrase she would
repeat several
times on the trip,
"Isn't this just great? I never believed we would be sailing in Greece.
I
mean this is really Great"
Over Gin and Tonics the breeze began to falter. "It's so peaceful,"
said
Marion, "just pretend to
put on the engine."
"Chuga Chuga" said Sam. Then in unison we all repeated "Chuga Chuga"
several
times.
The wind returned. We made Aegina an hour before sunset.
There was no room at the dockside, and most of the transient boats
had anchored in the
harbor. They tied long lines from the stern to the large stones that
made
up the breakwater.
We found an unused mooring float and attached our bow to it. A second
mooring
float was
convenient to the stern so we tied off to it as well.
We then pulled out the inflatable dinghy and unrolled it on the
foredeck. The bellows did not
have a proper adapter to fit the valves. I ended up borrowing a pump
from
a nearby boat and
got the dinghy partially inflated. Full of air, but flaccid. Once in
the
water the drain valve
exhibited a slow leak.
The next morning Sam and I paddled ashore to purchase Breakfast pastries. The dinghy had no seat and we could not find the oar locks. We stowed the dinghy on deck, and only used it one more time to set a spare anchor.
After Coffee and Pastries we decided to head on out. A check of the GPS said that a trip to Hydra was about 35 miles, a very easy sail. Averaging 5 would take 7 hours and get us in at mid-afternoon. At about 9:30 we released the fore and aft moorings and fended off from our starboard side neighbor. The wind was up a bit, so some power was needed. It a twinkling I ran over the mooring pendant, and the engine came abruptly to a halt.
So I say to myself, "No big deal, Ed, you have faced this before... just dive over and unwind the line... restart the engine and we are off."
On the first dive I was able to unwind the last two wraps that went on. The next dive revealed four more wraps that would have to be cut off. Fortunately I had my trusty Mariners knife, that Dan Wyatt had given me at my retirement. It has a serrated edge that is meant for cutting line.
The mooring pendant was 3/4 inch nylon... each dive I could cut a few strands.. each dive I had to find the cut I had started and cut a little more. It took lots of dives and 45 minutes to get it done.
Once free we set out again. And once more we managed to foul a mooring line. This time the engine was idling and the fouled line was smaller diameter and easily untangled.
The sail to Hydra was a thriller. The winds were 25 kts on the port
quarter.
The seas were 6 to 8 feet and seemed to come from two directions.
| It didn't seem to bother the others, but after a few hours of
the twisting bucking motion, I got feeling green. Probably too much sea
water in my system
from the diving.
I got relief when I took the helm. The GPS said we were doing 7 kts much of the way. |
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It was quite a thrill. The anchor rode became taught when the
stern was just about 5 yards from the quay and easing the rode out
brought us slowly
to about four feet from the dock.
People ashore looped our dock lines through the rings and passed them back to us. We were set to storm the shore. "Down Gangplank!" |
Arriving in Hydra you step back in time. The homes, shops,
churches and streets are all pretty much as they were about 200 years
ago. Automobiles, motorcycles and bicycles are banned.
| Donkeys and hand pushed carts carry supplies and materials.
Most of the
streets are too narrow for cars.
There is one modern garbage truck that operates along the main dock and takes refuse to the dump out of town, but it's the only motorized vehicle we saw. |
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The port is quite busy with ferry boats, excursion boats, a small fishing fleet, and pleasure boats coming and going all day long. We were tied up in front of a restaurant and had a great vantage point for watching the world pass by.
The Art Exhibit
On Monday I took photo walk. The objective was to climb up high enough to get a picture of the harbor. Along the quay there is an old municipal building which once was the city hall and is now used as a meeting hall. There was an Art Exhibit being presented and I was the only person there at the time. There were two people at the reception desk and I asked if the showing was free.
"Yes, and please come in. We have gathered the works of seven promising Greek artists for the showing." said the gentleman at the entry, "There is an additional artist's work on display in the gallery of the Miranda Hotel."
I looked around. All of the works were of professional quality. There was one watercolor I liked enough to ask the price. It was an abstract piece which seemed to capture the forms of buildings on a hillside... much like the Hydra landscape. He didn't know the price but immediately pulled out a cell phone and attempted to call his sister. He explained it was her show and she would know the price.
We visited for a while. Aris Sofianos is a retired lumber importer. He has a home in Athens. Several years ago he bought the Hotel Miranda and did the restoration work on it. His sister helps running the hotel and it is she who organized the Art exhibit. His passion is collecting art.
I promised to return and bring Marion with me.
The Climb
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There is an old Fort at the entry to the port. It comes
complete with a hero's statue and a phalanx of cannon.
It's an OK spot for a photo, but not high enough to get a real good harbor view. I needed to climb higher. In this part of town the streets/lanes are very narrow. They turn into stairways between the buildings and some lead to dead ends at peoples front doors. The walls of the buildings are whitewashed stucco. Even the edges of the cobblestone lanes and stairs are whitewashed. |
The roofs are red tile and there are semi-tropical plants
everywhere. I
later learned that the lanes served to capture the rain water and
direct it
into underground cisterns that in years past provided water for the
town.
Homes also had cisterns fed from the roof runoffs.
| As I made the top I was rewarded with a spectacular view down
a narrow lane coming up from the sea.
As I set up my camera Louise Clifton came into view making her way up the lane. How fortunate, a lovely lady comes along on a photo trek, just when I need someone to take a shot with me in it.
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Afterwards we climbed together looking for the perfect angle
to shoot
the harbor below. She is an Airline Stewardess for Gulf Air and had an
extended
stopover in Athens. She took the ferry from Athens to Hydra and would
be
returning the next day.
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The Harbor at Hydra
See how busy the harbor traffic is? |
| "Look, Marion", I said as we came aboard, "I caught a
keeper".
Louise explained, "He just picked me up." Louise is from Australia. She is stationed in Saudi Arabia, and misses home a bit. We exchanged Email Addresses and I told her to check out the TMCA web page in a month or so to read about our meeting. "Hi Louise, please write." |
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Almost all of the pleasure boats flew a Greek flag on the stern and the flag of some other country on the starboard flag halyard. I could see the US flag on three other boats so I decided to check them out.
Two were across the harbor in the three layers deep raftup of boats that was tied off to the outer harbor breakwater. One fellow was asleep on a rather derelict looking boat.. he had long scraggly gray hair and beard ... looked somewhat derelict to match the boat. I didn't disturb him. The other boat was vacant.
The third sailboat with a US flag was three boats down. "Hi, what's your home port?" asked I in my cheeriest voice.
"No Home Port... we are from Warsaw, Poland... The charter company
didn't have a Polish flag and
we picked this one... we have relatives in Chicago."
Our port side neighbor was a family from Germany, on our starboard a couple from Norway. Attempting to raft between us and Norway was a jolly foursome from the Netherlands. Down the quay a couple from Great Britain had managed to squeeze into a space between Italy and France. I approached them and said we were from the States.
"Glad to hear someone speaking in our native tongue," she said.
It was just the two of them on a 31 ft Beneteau. I invited them over to our boat for a beer. "When?" she asked.
"I'm thirsty right now.. is that too soon?" I answered.
They followed in a flash. "Sam, I found some Brits for you to talk to".
They had broken loose from an organized flotilla of charter boats, and were sailing solo. The charter supplied a domineering Cruise Captain, who insisted all of the boats stay within his sight at all times.
Our guest was an Airline pilot with British Airways and claimed he knew enough navigation not to get lost. She had lived in the States before they married. They each had three school age children and managed to farm them out, so they could take a belated Honeymoon to the Greek Islands.
The Merchants of Hydra
The shops and restaurants are all along the quay, or within a hundred yards or so, up the narrow lanes leading into the town. Jewelry stores out number all other types, followed by gift stores, ladies apparel, restaurants and bakeries in that order.
We met Peter at his shop, "Peter's Collection". He had an eclectic store on the quay featuring very nice jewelry, and designer accessories. We went to his store more than once doing comparison shopping. He is in the throws of getting his business onto a computer system. We chatted about what the internet might do for him. We saw him again that evening. We were taking a walk, and he was seated alone at the tavern next to his shop. He invited us to have a beer and recommended Mykonos as a preferred domestic. It's good.
Nicholas and Marilee Sardarakis each have their own jewelry stores. He is from Macedonia in Greece; she is Canadian from Ottawa. Marion found a pair of gold and silver earrings (Alexander the Great motif) that she liked at Nick's store. Then she visited Marilee's place and invited them both to come to the boat for drinks after closing time. They have stores within 40 yards of the wharf, check them both out. We partied until it was late.
Marilee has an Internet connection, so I asked her if I could use it in the morning to check the US market. The next morning we we were planning to leave early to sail to Poros. When I arrived at her store she was crestfallen... her computer would not boot. "keyboard not present". The nearest repairman was a day trip away in Athens. We fiddled with connections to no avail. As I left, I recommended that she exchange keyboards with one of her friends who had a computer. The next time I saw her she was very relieved, she had swapped keyboards and the system came up.
Struck by the Barbarian
On our third day we have settled into a morning routine. Breakfast at Takas, Sam buys a paper, Marion attacks the Crossword, Ed reads the markets, Charlotte alternately engages each of us in conversation. I returned to the boat to fetch a camera and was informed that the large excursion boat parked next to us had hit our boat, Kiriani, while docking. Our anchor holder had left a foot long scrape on the port side of the Barbayani.
Barbayani, a 100 foot excursion boat, had run over our chain rode; that pulled the bow of Kiriani into its side. The boat then drove our stern into the wharf, popping a fender I had placed for protection, and chipping the fiberglass slightly on the stern.
The damage seemed minimal so I attempted to settle the matter with the Captain of the Barbayani. I showed him the damage and presented him with a popped fender. I suggested that he replace our fender with one of his fenders. He answered in a tirade of Greek, complete with hand gestures, something I interpreted to mean, "Get Lost".
I repeated my request and he walked away. About that time my friend Peter came along. I asked him to serve as translator. He did so and soon I had a replacement fender.
Knowing I would have to explain the chipped fiberglass to the charter company I called the agent on the phone. He told me to obtain a police report, and get the identification information on the boat and captain so they could settle any claims. This time the Captain's boss, who was on a second boat nearby got involved.
"Give me back my fender", he demanded. "You are going to the police. Our settlement with you is over."
Clearly outnumbered, I returned his fender and went off to find the Port Police. The ship's captain was nervous and very angry. He didn't want a bad mark on his record. I explained that the boat was not mine and did not want to bring back a damaged boat without obtaining coverage.
Despite the fact that it was a confrontation, it was really kind of amusing. The people on the wharf who had seen the accident, watched closely as the negotiation unfolded. It was all High Drama. Several of the bystanders moved in close and got involved in the shouting and traditional hand waving. They were clearly on my side, although I could not understand a word anyone was saying. The young policeman had the respect of all. When he appeared everyone calmed down.
In the end the police officer got on a call to our broker, and assured him that the damage was minimal. They gave me back the fender, and I got a copy of the boats registration information from the Police.
Harbor collisions are a routine occurrence in Hydra. There was another two days later. Again a large excursion boat lost control and hit a small sailboat that was parked at the wharf.
Poles on the Port Side
The same afternoon of the Barbayani incident, a sailboat full of Polish students arrived. There is not much space between us and the German family on our Port. At first we try to discourage them.. the space is only a half a boat width. They plead, we shrug, then we relent, and adjust our stern lines to move our boat to starboard.
Their anchor rode clearly is laid down over ours. As they come charging back in reverse I shout for them to slow down. On they come, chain anchor rode paying out at full speed and making a terrible clatter. I rush to the bow to fend them off. "Marion, bring fenders.. quickly".
The captain of the boat speaks only Polish and the Students all seem to be inexperienced. "Oh damn," thought I, "I'm going to have to get the Port police again."
Finally in desperation I called out, "Does anyone speak English?"
Rafal German and Izabela Kruszelsska look at each other. They both understood me. Finally Izabela says, "I speak English, can I help?"
"Please, tell your driver to slow down. He is going to damage our boat."
She relays the message, but on they come.
"I told him but...", she shrugged as if to say, "He doesn't intend to do it."
This young driver is taking his orders from the Captain, who is on the bow tending the anchor rode. He know two speeds: Full ahead and Full reverse. Fortunately he went to full ahead just in time to prevent collision.
Once secured on the quay, we met Rafal and Izabela. There were about eight on the boat, all but the Captain were students who had recently graduated. Rafal and Izabela were both English Education majors. Izabela insisted on giving us a box of chocolate wafers for helping them dock. I insisted that they come over to our boat for a cold beer. We exchanged Email Addresses and I tried unsuccessfully to reach them that way.
Hi Izabela and Raffle. If you read this, please write.
Hello,
My name is Rafal German. I hope You remember me from Greece cruise ad.
1998. By a strange chance I came across your web page (professor google
knows everything) and found your report from that adventure and an
invitation for contact. It's a a bit like message in a bottle You left
there and it found its recipient. Wow its been 11 years from that
meeting. Now, that's a long time. Unfortunately for me it passed
somehow too quick.
During this time many things have changed. I'm not longer a teacher (I
never really was), I graduated from Pharmacy dep. on Warsaw Medical
University. And now I am a scientist (well, sort of) working in a lab
in National Medicines Institute. Nevertheless thanks to language
studies I have no problem with English which is now everywhere.
I completely lost track of people I was with on that cruise (excluding
one girl which is my wife now). We never met again. By the way, until
now this has been my only boat cruise (not counting small boats on
Polish lakes).
But best of all: on 08.08.08 our daughter was born ! She's name is
Kamila and she is really really cute. This of course changed our live
considerably but in a good way. And now I have absolutely 0 free time ;)
Your web page brought to me lots of nice recollections - Thank You for that.
I wish You and your family all the best !
Sincerely,
Rafal
They assured us they were planning to leave early the next morning.
We
were planning to do
the same.
Wednesday morning the Polish students were gone. We too headed out for Porous around mid-morning. The winds were still up at force 5. We secured our belongings and put a reef in the main.
At first it was just a thrilling sail... Beating with reefed main and a half furled jib. we took an occasional wave over the bow and a bit of spray. After about an hour the winds picked up and we changed tack to move from the open sound toward the windward shore. Maybe that would help. Clearly we needed to reduce sail.
With Marion on the helm, I ordered her to fall off and run down wind. The maneuver releases pressure on the jib and allows one to furl it easily. I brought it in to about 30% and was still holding the furling line in my hand when a sudden quartering wave set us onto a beam reach filling the jib. Unable to hold the line I had to release it and got a serious rope burn on my right hand in the process.
We went on for a while and I asked, "Are we having fun?"
Everyone hesitated answering.
"Let's just put this in the log as an exciting day sail and head back to Hydra?"
All agreed and we returned to Hydra. The harbor was half full and we were able to move right back into our old location on the quay. We were not the only ones to turn back. We were the last to leave, and the first to return. The Netherlands foursome returned and moored across the way. The Polish students also returned and took up station right where they were ... on our port side.
I passed by Marilee's place coming back from the laundry. "Oh, hi",
she
said, "Come in to my shop
for a minute.... I have something to show you."
"OK", I said. Always follow a lady with that kind of invitation.
"Want to surprise Marion with something?" she said.
"Why not?" I said, as she took me to a display case full of nice things.
"Here's a ring she seemed to like when she was by the other day."
"Wow that's neat.. Wrap it up."
Marion was very pleased and has worn it almost daily ever since.
Storm in Port
Back at the boat I took down the burgees. The wind was picking up in port and there was no sense tattering all my burgees. (We flew: Texas, Commodore, TMCA, Cruise Captain, Great Ketch, Greece and Hydra). With the stormy weather we are beginning to worry about how we will get the boat back to Athens.
The wind moved from NE to N and rose to gale force. Waves coming in the harbor entrance were moderated slightly but threatened to crash us into the wharf. I watched as the space between the stern and the stone wall shrank from 4 feet to about 1 foot with the incoming waves. I adjusted the anchor rode, bringing in about 3 feet of chain. Thirty minutes later the space was again shrinking... now I was seeing 6 inches to the wall on a big wave. The Polish boat hit the wall and bounced off.
"Oh, hell, I'm starting the engine," I called to the crew below.
That worked fine. It pulled the stern lines taut and kept us off the quay. The Polish boat had dragged anchor and now were relying totally on engine power to keep off the wharf.
By 1:00 AM the wind was down enough that I could cut the engine and trust the anchor. I slept in the cockpit. The Polish captain stood watch and ran his engine all night long. By morning the winds were down and we prepared to leave for Poros.
The sail to Poros held the most excitement of all. We need to get
the boat
back to Athens and the
forecast is for more of the same windy weather.
We motored out of the harbor and set the reefed main and gingerly
furled out about 30% of the jib.
Sam is at the helm and suggests we tack to the north west to get into
the
lee of the shore across the sound. We do that for a while but get
headed
off almost to the West. The point of land we need to round is North
East.
Our next tack sets us on a course for the point but will not get us
into
the lee shore very soon.
We consult the charts to check a sheltered cove about a mile before the point. It looks good so we head for it. By now the winds are rising from the 25 kts, we started with, to around 40 kts.
"I think it's time we became a motor boat," said I as the dinghy started to lift off the foredeck.
And so we dropped all sails and made our way in to the sheltered
cove. There were two power boats and two sail boats already there, and
we dropped anchor twice before getting a good set.
| I took a mask and dove to see the set of the
anchor. The bottom was a smooth rock shelf with occasional
cracks. The anchor tip was hung in a crack, and the anchor itself was
laying on its side on the rock.
I watched and studied the set for about five minutes. I was satisfied that it would hold. |
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We enlisted support from a passing dinghy to set the stern anchor. I
set
the anchor from the dinghy before the rode was properly secured to the
bow.
Marion saw the problem, and fetched the slack rode and cleated it to
the
stern. Just as she was doing this, the rode became taut due to the boat
swinging
to starboard. Marion lost the fingernail of her right index
finger
when the line snapped onto the cleat.
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Boats continued to arrive and the wind was strong even in the
sheltered cove. There were about 20 boats waiting out the storm.
It's a funny thing having a storm with not a cloud in the sky.
We made lunch, went swimming, and watched the weather. After a
while the boats started leaving so we followed suit. |
We had a tough time anchoring in Poros. The windlass controller was not working well and I had to play out 50 yards of chain rode by hand. This was the the third time I had problems with it.
We strolled the town and found a very nice supper at 7 Brothers restaurant. We highly recommend that one in Poros. Waiters entertained us with spirited Greek Dancing.
On Friday we bought some minimal provisions and a had a wonderful sail to Alimos. The winds were 12 kts and full sail was in order for the first time. We hove-to for lunch and watched the other boats sail on by.
Charlotte said, "Isn't this just great? I never believed we would be sailing in Greece. I mean this is really Great".
That evening we had dinner at Vassilis Taberna and came back to the boat. It was hot so we spent our last night on deck, watching the stars, and listening to the Disco bar music from the clubhouse.
Would we do it again. "Yes-Sireee."
