Greek sailing, day 4 - crossing to Zakintosh

We woke up to a very windy day. Inside the harbor we just felt the wind, but looking over to the bay outside we could clearly see waves raised by the wind.

We started getting ready to leave Kefallonia. Udi went to the store to pick our order of tiropita and spinakopita and check on the weather prediction. The weather seemed to be windy today but the next few days should be nice.

Before we moved out, Ayelet and Udi did check up on the engine oil levels and the workings of the various pumps that remove water from the bottom of the boat. This check turned into a somewhat prolong maintenance session. I didn't go into the details, since they were both busy with it for a while. Instead I strolled toward the harbor entrance to watch the waves and the boats sailing out on the bay.

All the sail boats that left the harbor opened their sailed and seemed to get a fair amount of wind. An interesting observation was of a boat that came into the harbor and tried to dock. It was a rented sail boat, and I suspect the crew wasn't very proficient. They did the usual maneuver of turning until the boat is aligned with the desired docking position, and then lower the anchor while moving backward. They, however, did not take into account the wind that kept pushing their boat sideways. The first attempt they almost smashed into one of the docked boats. The second attempt was on a wide area free of boats, but still did not succeed. After the third attempt they gave up and sailed out of the harbor (I am not sure what did they plan to do then).

Once the maintenance was over, we set on our way. By now the procedure of disengaging from the wharf, lifting the anchor, was familier and routine. We started sailing south parallel to the shore.

concentrating on electronic devices instead of the scenery :-(

Our first destination was a "geocache". I didn't hear about this term before reading about it in Ayelet's blog. The idea in short, is a global treasure hunt game. A geotag is a small treasure hidden in some place, usually a place that you would not normally reach, but of interest. The tag is described on the game's website, with clues how to find it. Once you find it you can enter comments on the website, but you can also replace the treasure in the cache. Udi and Ayelet discovered the game during their travel, and now whenever possible they check for caches that are in areas they tour. Usually the caches lead to surprisingly interesting out of the way points.

Our destination was a geocache hidden in a cave that can be reached by swimming. The note said that it is easy to find and the main issue is finding the cave. This seamed like a great excuse to stop at a cave we did not hear about. About half an hour of sailing brought us to the location, and based on the map given in the cache description we found the cave entrance. We lowered anchor and went into the water to explore the cave (and find the cache).

entrance to the cave 

inside the cave

after a search, the cache was just outside the enterance

We snorkeled in the area a bit, seeing nice rocks with sponges and other sealife on them, and the grassy seabed.

self portrait

Once we all were back and ready, we lifted anchor and continued south. Soon we reached the south end of Kefallonia. Once we moved out of the shelter of the island the wind picked up and so did the waves. We opened the sails and set out across the open sea span. This was the roughest ride we had so far, the boat was tilting between 10 to 20 degrees and the waves that crashed on the boats washed us once in a while. I was happy that experience led Ayelet to make sure all windows are tightly sealed in advance, and so none of our belonging got wet. It took few minutes but then I got used to this ride, and actually enjoyed it.

Early in the crossing we picked up another palamida on the the fish line. We retrieved it and tied it to hang outside the boat while we crossed. I was hoping that we might catch several in one day and then can make dinner with fish as main course. However, our luck did not repeat.

The crossing took about two hours, and brought us to the northeast tip of Zakintosh. Once we had land upwind from us the waves subdued, but the wind was still strong. We passed a series of cliffs with impressive caves and arches (which we will revisit more carefully tomorrow) and arrived in Agios Nikolaos. This is a small natural harbor formed by a bay with an hilly island protecting its entrance. The harbor serves as base point for tourists visiting the north shore of Zakintosh.

approaching Agios Nikolaos

view of Zakintosh north end, with Kefallonia in the distance

When we got close to the harbor entrance, a man in a speedboat came toward us. He waved and then came side by side and talked with Udi. He basically gave us instructions where to dock and how to get there. To make sure we did not get lost he stayed attached to us for most of the ride.

When we got to the wharf he directed us to through a rope (a line?) to a fellow who was standing on a local glass bottom tour boat. We thought they wanted us to dock next to that boat, but it turned out that we were to tie beyond the boat and use it as a bridge to the land. Looking down the reason was clear - the harbor is very shallow, and while the glass bottom boats could get to the wharf, a sail boat with a deep keil could not.

We also learned that we could get water and electricity, but it was expected that we will pay a visit to the restaurant on the shore (that was apparently owned by the operators of the wharf). This is not an uncommon practice in few places. It leaves the cost of docking + services (usually around 15-30 Euro) as unspecified income of the restaurant.

Ayelet sent Roni and me to clean the fish on wharf to avoid a mess on the boat. The second time around it was much easier. This time we made ceviche with a bit more spice and a bit of fresh herbs.

cleaning fish

Ayelet and I decided to go try the internet at the restaurant, so that Ayelet could finally upload a blog entry she was trying to load the whole week. We sat on porch close to the water, and ordered ouzo and a plate of appetizers. The ouzo was nice, and the appetizer plate included quite a few items. The best was pickled octopus (and who would have thought I would enjoy that). Sadly, we found that the internet connection was terrible and so Ayelet could not achieve her goal (the blog was loaded only after I left).

view from the restaurant

We returned to the boat for some relaxed time. Eventually everyone decided they were hungry, except the two of us who snacked. The restaurant was now full of tourists. It was not clear where they all came from as there were no obvious hotels near the shore. The waiters managed to arrange a table for us on the sandy beach. We ordered rather classic souflaki, which turned out quite dry. The "local" wine we ordered was terrible, but we got a second carafe "on the house" (I guess for docking our boat).

During dinner there was a show with a live band and three dancers. The theme was greek music. The band included the expected bouzouki playing a lead role. The dances switched costumes between elaborate designs, and alternated between performing complex dances and dancing with people from the crowd. I guess this was a good show for tourists, we found it a bit overdone and artificial. 

We returned to the boat, and watched The Big Blue. This was chosen as it included scenes in Greece as well as a lot of free diving. I always loved this movie, although I must confess that I don't completely understand the plot. This time, I found the character played by Rossana Arquette somewhat annoying. 

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Greek sailing, day 3 - going on a hike

Once the summer months are over, public transportation in greek islands is at reduced frequency (and in many islands will stop in a month or tow). We needed to catch a bus toward the trail Udi found on the map. However, the only bus in the morning time left at 7:15. 

And so, after a very short sleep, we woke up early in the morning. We had something to drink and packed our backpacks (I took my camera, Udi packed food and water bottles).

It was mostly dark outside, with some early signs of the sun about to rise. The bus waited at the specified time and we paid the driver. Roni got a waiver from her parents, and so we were only four. 

The bus route took us back and forth through the small town, and then through the gorge inland. It was interesting to note that bus stations along the road looked like shelters - they were closed from three directions and had partial coverage from the front. Apparently, the winter time can be harsh here.

Trip route (I smooth some of the twisted roads going up/down)

We got off the bus next to the first real intersection on the road. The bus continued toward the main city (Arogstolion). We now had to hitchhike to the trip starting point. We decided to split into pairs to increase the chance of catching a ride. 

Ayelet trying to catch a ride next to the bus stop

We waited at the intersection and at some point the traffic got busy with many cars - most likely from the morning ferry. Somewhat uncharacteristically no one stopped for us. They made various hand signs that we didn't make sense of. It was clear from the map that there were very few destinations between were we stood and the village we wanted to get to.

At some point Ayelet and I decided to start walking and see whether we can have better chances if we seem to be doing some of our work. After about 15 minutes we saw Udi and Tomer in the back of a tourist car (small cars that are most likely rental). We, however, didn't manage to get a ride. It was early morning and it was still cool. We walked from the outskirts of the village where the bus dropped us off. The road was crossing fields and orchards surrounded by rocky hills on both sides. We walked for quite a while and the road started climbing uphill. 

Our luck changed and a rather beat up old car stopped for us. They took us all the way to our destination (which we almost missed as the name on the sign was unrelated to what was shown on our map). We were happy to regroup with Udi and Tomer how scouted the village. 

We had a task to get bread for our lunch. However, the village did not have a bakery. There was a daily bread truck that passed through and sold bread. However, it was due only at 11 or so. The only sign of life around was a small cafe with two old men sitting on the porch. We decided to start the trip with coffee. One of the old man was the proprietor and asked us in good but somewhat gruff English what we wanted to drink. The options were greek coffee or instant. We choose greek. 

Sitting on the cafe porch - Ayelet talking to the proprietor

Ayelet started chatting with the guy. We learned that as a young kid he moved (with many other village residents) to Australia, where he learned his English. He did not like it there, and so after saving money for the return trip, found himself back in Athens. He was the youngest son (out of 8) of his family, and when his father died and returned here to run the family establishment. We learned that during the winter only few families stayed in the village. He told us that he remembered from his youth winters where more than a meter of snow accumulated on the ground. 

The inside of the cafe

He didn't have bread either. And so we resorted to buying plastic wrap cakes (some variant of chocolate croissant).  

We set off on our trip. The start was along a dirt road that climbed from the village. It run along orchards that seemed semi-deserted. We ate grapes and figs from the trees along the route.

The road reached an area that seemed like a ruined village. A church was still partly standing, and the rest of the buildings were in much worse shape. I suspect that these were ruined in the great earthquake of 53. But it might be that they were deserted earlier.

We reached a saddle between two hills. It seemed that local shepherds made a temporary home here. 

We left the road and started walking along a rather narrow trail that slowly climbed along the face of the mountain. At points the trail was a bit unclear and was lost in various goat trails that crossed it. And so we had to backtrack to find the actual trail.

Here is a place to mention the issue of footwear. I was wearing my new "minimus" shoes. There are very light sports shoes with a strong but thin sole that stimulate walking/running barefooted. Sadly, walking over sharp pointy rocks is not something that you would want to do with bare feet. And so by now had very sore feet. I must say that the shoes stood to the stress of these rocks very well, but I also felt each and every sharp angle :-(

Our climb took us around  and above a valley that was nestled by the mountain. 

At the end of the climb we reached another saddle point, which was on the seaward extension of the mountain. This side was covered by old oak trees and had magnificent views of the sea shore below us.

We stopped for lunch. Udi brought cheese and salami, some vegetables, and olives. We had very little bread (leftover from yesterday) and so we cut it into rather thin slices. 

Toward the end of lunch a cloud started approaching toward us from the mountain and it became noticeably cooler. We started heading toward the outlaying hill south of us. 

Remains of a goat

Tomer's imitation of a goat

The map showed a trail around the hill. We started on what seemed to be a trail, but very soon had doubts whether it was a real one or a goat trail. The hillside became much steeper, and the going was tough.

Eventually we reached a small plateau overlooking the sea. The sights from here were breathtaking.

We continued downwards in a steep oak forrest. 

We reached another goat herders compound with many dogs and hundreds of goats. From here we followed a winding dirt road that zig-zagged down toward the main road. 

By now it was hot and our water supply was low. At the bottom of the road we found a small stream with running water. Splashing in the cold water revived us.

From there it was a short hike to the main road. Catching a ride back was easy for some reason. Tomer and I road with a very nice elderly guy who didn't know a word in English. It was clear he wanted to chat with us, but the communication was not that easy. 

He dropped us in Poros and we walked to the harbor, with views toward the big outcrop of rocks that stood outside the harbor. 

By now everyone was tired. And so after a shower each of us caught a short nap on some bench or on the deck. Eventually we managed to pick ourselves up and go for dinner. We heard recommendations of a local taverna just next to the harbor. By the time we got there it was late, and they were out of many of the dishes. Still we had a very nice dinner.

After dinner we all sat in the boat's living room and watched a movie that takes place in Kefallonia - "Captain Correli's Mandolin". Its a terrible movie and I don't recommend it... By the end of the movie most of us were asleep, and we all got to our beds to sleep.

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