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It was not easy to leave Agios Nikolaos Marina. Even
after the boat next to us was blown up, we felt very comfortable
there. We had gotten to know people in town, the streets were
familiar, we knew the people in our favorite stores and staff of
the Internet Cafe had become so friendly they even knew how we liked
our coffee. Charlie arranged to get thirty-five kilos of olive
oil from a local store, and the arrangements for that took some
doing on his part. We are totally sold on Greek olive oil,
particularly from Crete. I wonder if just tastes so good because
we are here in Greece?
We had
been "going to leave" for days before we finally unplugged our umbilical
cord and pulled away
from the dock. The winds had been really high. As usual
they screamed out of a bright clear sky. The predictions kept
coming up bad, so we continued to delay our departure. The delay
did give us an opportunity to get to know our dock mates, a couple
from England, Nina and Alan Bissex. They have been cruising
for many years on their boat, Kikatu, mostly around England and in
the Med. They have also cruised the Caribbean with friends and
family.
 Preparing
to leave, Charlie discovered we had salt water in the fishing tackle
storage bin. That meant he had to take everything out and we had
to wash, sort and re-pack it all. Time consuming, but necessary
to keep things in good order. This delayed our departure a
little longer.
June 15, Charlie got up really early. Before I even stirred, he had our new gangplank stowed, the shore power cord put away and the multiple mooring and dock lines removed,
so our departure would be smooth and without dock help in a 15 knot crosswind. We pulled away from the dock at 05:15 and melted into the dusky dawn with little noise and barely a
ripple. He plans ahead, and thinks things through, and lets his crew in on the plans so we don't have the screaming, yelling and cursing we so often see when people are docking or
anchoring. Over the years and over the miles he has devised a system of hand signals when anchoring, that usually communicate to me, (at the wheel) what he, (on the bow handling
the anchor) wants next. Usually it works like a charm and his dedication to anchoring carefully lets us sleep in most conditions without worry.
As we looked back on Crete, with the lights of Agios Nickalous
twinkling on the hillsides in the hazy grey- pink first light
of day, we hated leaving. It was really time to move
on. Cruisers without schedule can get really attached to a place
and pretty soon are no longer cruising but just living on a boat
attached to a dock. We had looked
over our sailing guides and the Greek Tourist guide books and decided
our next stop would be Karpathos about eighty-five miles north-east
from Crete. For the first part of the day the seas were confused
and rough, but as the day progressed we had wonderful winds which
pushed us up to nine knots with no help from the engines.
We arrived at our destination in the afternoon and after studying
the guide books decided on an anchorage. The spot made us feel rather
at home, like the St. Johns River in Florida. A beautiful
pristine spot, with a power plant right smack dab in the middle.
I guess if we want to do without electricity we could do without
power plants. We put the anchor down and had dinner aboard.
After seeing the people on the nude beach, we wondered if the fellow
with the burned buns knew how bad he was going to hurt that night.
June 16, we weighed anchor and motored into the town of
Pigadia. We tied stern to the quay with some help from a local
guy who took our lines. Charlie had deployed the anchor before
we backed in  and
we felt we were set until a Greek Coast Guardsman came up and told
us it was not a good place to stay as the strong northwest winds
( Meltemi) were coming soon and we needed to get to the other side
of the island for protection.
Since we had experienced the winds here in Greece before,
we took his advice seriously and we untied our lines, hoisted
the anchor and took off for the other side of the island.
We found an anchorage in Ormos Amorofos Bay and anchored over sand
and rocks for that night. The following day we again hoisted
our anchor and moved a little way down the island to Ammoopi Bay
and discovered the fine sand holding ground and the even finer dining
at Nick's Restaurant. This location looks like a post card.
At the point of the peak is a white, blue trimmed chapel in traditional
Greek design. Hugging the very protected bay are a variety
of small resorts with their colored umbrellas spotting the beach
with bathers sprinkled among them. The variety of bathers
is vast: from the adorable children playing in the sand, the shapely women sunbathing topless, old,
harry and big bellied men in too brief swim trunks.
For the most part the human animal is blessed by wearing at
least a basic amount of coverage. Few look like the classical statues
of by-gone days. We are definitely back into over-fed part of the
world.
We found an Internet Cafe in Pigidia and have gone over
there to send and receive e-mail. The winds have let up temporarily
only to start again. After being assured by a local that the meltemi
was over ( only lasts 3 or 4 days), we weighed  anchor
the morning of June 20, to cruise up the island so that we could
go up to Olympos, only to turn around and come back into the shelter
of Ammoopi Bay. We then went ashore for the second time that
morning to find a jeep to rent to drive up the island to see the
very isolated village of Olympos.
All over the Greek Islands are scattered beautiful little chapels,
usually perched on a hillside silhouetted against the sky. The designs
are similar, the white walls and domed roofs usually the brilliant
blue of the sea or sometimes tiled. Why so many? Why
are they built? I will have to find out.
The ancient design of the towns does not allow for the passage
of busses and large trucks, but that doesn't stop the busses from
coming, and trying to come. We have held our breath watching
tour busses go "where none have dared go before" usually without
dire consequences. Most of the narrow streets barely allow
room for cars but the busses come, people park haphazardly and pedestrians
step out in front of traffic, even pushing baby carriages .
Scooters, motorbikes and motorcycles are also popular and I discourage rental of such at every opportunity. I do treasure my knees and wish to keep them intact.
We located a four wheel drive vehicle, a Suzuki, and rented it for the day and took off. We were told that the drive to Olympos was difficult and that the road part of the way was
very bad. No exaggeration there, the road most of the way is not paved and in areas chunks of the road have fallen away into the chasm below. There is not a hint of a guard rail, no
markers, and when a piece of road is gone there is sometimes a pile of rocks to designate the pitfall and sometimes nothing. The drive was one of the most spectacular we have ever
taken. The narrow rocky road is hung precariously on the side of the mountains with falling rocks on one side and sheer cliffs on the other.
The Suzuki was a little gem, and handled the terrain
with ease, better than I did. No pictures can do this scenery
justice, the colors are intense. 
The blue of the Mediterranean below, the clear cloudless sky,
rocky outcroppings and wind sculptured pines clutching the
sides of the mountains where ever there is enough loose soil for
them to take root. There are occasional small olive groves
and even more infrequent small garden plots. There are a few
goats scaling the rocky cliffs and flights of white gulls against
the intense blue of the sky. The trip itself was a treat and seeing
the isolated village of Olympos another pleasure.
We arrived in the mountain top village of Olympos about
four in the afternoon to almost deserted streets. The wind
was howling through the narrow slippery stone streets.
There are no cars in the town, you park outside the town and walk,
for the old city was built way before automobiles. There were
workmen headed home with their tools loaded on the backs of their
donkeys. We strolled through the available shops and made
some purchases. One of the women invited us into her home
which is also her shop and we  visited
with her and her daughter. She fixed Greek coffee for us and
we admired all the various family pictures she had displayed.
We had hoped to possibly buy some of the traditional Olympos dresses
for our grand-daughters but found that was not feasible.
The island of Karpathos is somewhat off the beaten track of intense tourism. We have enjoyed being here, talking with the locals, and finding that many
of them have US connections. Many of the people we have met here either were born in the US or have family there. People are very friendly as illustrated by our trip back from Pigadia the other
day. As we walked to the taxi stand we saw a bus parked across the street with two towns posted on the front. Not recognizing either I stepped into the bus, smiled and
said,"Ammoopi, Ammoopi". Pointing to the bus, indicating (I thought) "Are you going to Ammoopi?" One of the passengers then said, "Do you speak English?" "Yes, I do, is this
bus going to Ammoopi?" He laughed and said, "That is what we were trying to tell you, they will take you to Ammoopi, just get on." Busses to order, I don't know whether it was
on the route, but we got to Ammoopi, half the price of a taxi fare. As soon as the wind lays down we will leave another wonderful anchorage and set off to
explore a new island, new people, and new sights to see. Each island is different and although close, most of the people here have not visited the islands close by. Not too
different from home, many times we don't take advantage of the wonders close at hand. From Sea Gem in Ammoopi , Karpathos, waiting for the winds to calm, until later. . . |
