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 Reading
the cruising guide advised that there would be repair services Levkas
Town, about twenty miles away.
Between Ithaca
and Levkas lies the renowned island of Skorpios made famous by the
Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis. We circled the island
and took photos. The Onassis estate still owns the island, no one
is allowed ashore but you can anchor and swim up to the beach, you
cannot go above the high water mark. Aristotle Onassis, his sister,
his son and his daughter are buried on the island. Perhaps, finally
there is peace that money and prestige could not find in this life.
Cruising beyond
Skorpios we entered the Levkas Canal and proceeded toward Levkas
Town. You can read all the cruising guides you want to, but still
when you arrive in a place you have to bump around trying to find
what you are looking for. The boat yard shown on the sketch was
simply an area in the marsh with less than a dozen boats up on supports.
We motored slowly through the harbor and there were no empty spaces.
Finally down at the very end we saw a spot. I was on the bow, noticed
a Canadian flag on the boat next to the space that was vacant, and
called "Can we come in there?" The fellow nodded and we
prepared for the challenge of Med. mooring in a cross wind. I deployed
the anchor and Charlie backed in beautifully. We had no more than
gotten all the lines tied than a man approached and said we couldn't
stay there, another boat had this space and needed it. I happened
to notice that he was wearing a Contract Yacht Service shirt. I
called him back and explained that we were coming in for repairs,
not to merely dock. That altered the situation Joe said he would
work something out, "Not to worry." Contract Yacht Service
is an English Company and has been here for more than fifteen years.
We were taking
a space but, "Not to worry . . . " they just make room.
It is so busy here that you can watch the boats coming and going
for entertainment. When the camel gets his nose under the tent,
he just comes on in. So it is with bringing boats in to dock stern
or bow to the quay. They brought the boat in next to us where there
wasn't room for a canoe -- just squeezed everyone closer than sardines.
This is not
a fancy marina. They are building that now. This is a town dock
with a combination of fishing boats, nets, live-aboards and transient
yachts. The facilities of the town are right here: restaurants,
grocery stores, bakeries, fruit stands, post office and Internet.
I also found a laundry which is a rare commodity.
Good for his
word Joe has been organizing the stanchion repairs. Charlie has
straightened most of them with his trusty "come-along."
One had to be removed, taken to the welding shop and re-fabricated.
Since it was thru-bolted to the deck, removal the stanchion required
the entire Navigation Cabinets on the port side be removed. To do
this all electronics had to be disconcerted including: single-side
band and VHF radios, Immarsat C (satellite communication), central
instrumentation for wind speed and direction, boat speed and water
depth, the amp hour battery monitoring instrument, computer monitor,
the Garmin GPS (global positioning system), and the Trace Inverter
Control Unit. With all the accompanying complex cable arrangements
these all had to be disconnected to repair one stanchion. It took
two days to re-fabricate the stainless steel stanchion and now we
are waiting for Olivier, the able and charming French electrician
to reattach all the webs of wires and cables. When Olivier took
everything apart he took it upon himself to organize the wires.
Things are more systematic now and little by little we are coming
back together. When will we leave? Today, tomorrow who knows? Right
now I will go to the post office, get the laundry, stop by the Internet,
grocery and fruit stands. As I walk, I can inhale the multiple bakeries
on the way.
Until later,
from Sea Gem in Levkas Town in Greece . . .
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