A weary crew arrived in Kos Marina at 7.00 am (taxi from airport for 4 good value at €25). Breakfast at the marina café. Handover of boat to us took several hours while we waited for cleaning to finish and inventory checkout, etc. A bit of a stinker to be told not to put toilet paper down the loos on the boat. Provisions were loaded from the supermarket and we had the first of many pleasant lunches on deck. Left marina in blustery conditions at 3.00 heading for Pserimos. Beware of sandbank on Kos promontory which we drifted very close to while sailing with mainsail only. Reached Pserimos at 5.30 and docked at our own quayside taverna. We ate at Manola’s Taverna (well selected by Ray from Spetses). Arguably, this was the best meal of the week where we ordered several different portions of starters and main courses and shared them all between us. Manola, who had visited Dublin as a ship’s engineer) came up trumps with complimentary dessert and Ouzo at the end of the night, setting an important precedent for the rest of the week. Unfortunately, Barry snored his way through the main courses but we didn’t mind as there was more left for the rest of us ! Here we had our introduction to the excellent bottled Greek beer ‘Mithos’ which we insisted on for the rest of our holiday.
9.15 – 11.45. Wind right on the nose so we motored to a beach on Kalimnos Island where some of the lunatics from Spetses swam to the beach. Motored on to Pandelli on Leros at 12.45, arriving at 3.00. Tied up alongside Spetses (which had an earlier argument with the quay wall). The recommended restaurant, Mezedopolero Dimninmis (or something like that), proved to be the costliest of our holiday (€380 for 12 including complimentary fruit and the ‘down the hatch in one go’ Ouzo which we were now developing a taste for. Got a bum weather forecast from the owner who assured us that the wind would be from the south the following day. No such luck however.
11.00 – 1.30. Force 6+ crossing to Lipsi town on the island of Lipso. Thank God for sea legs tabs. These were the biggest seas of the holiday and the boat hammered down on the waves. Marie slept below through everything although she must have been airborne some of the time. Docked on a floating pontoon (keep fenders at water level) for which, after much bureaucratic form filling at the police station, we were charged 85 cent for the night. Some people went to the beach while others adopted the local custom of afternoon siesta. Pandora’s choice of restaurant on the waterfront was Vianni’s. Very good starters. No shortage of churches here (365 – one for each of their saints) with their blue domes visible in every direction. Weather beginning to become very hot but harbour police said the wind was likely to continue for several more days. A navy gunboat visited the island briefly. Given the problems they had docking, they could have learned a few lessons from our lads ! Barry went looking for their anchorman to give him some advice.
10.00 – 12.00. Much to John’s delight, we hoisted the sails for only the second time and headed for Patmos. Wind gusting force 5/6 meant we had to be very alert to avoid a broach but, as Martin says “We made it”. Went stern-to on Patmos quay and took on water from a tanker (€15 for 260 litres). Our very own St John led the pilgrimage to the monastery of St John on the mountain. Having started out on foot, we needed no encouragement to transfer to a bus heading to the monastery (€1 each busfare) only to find that it was closed on Wednsday afternoons (Note to self: Always check opening times in guide book beforehand). Our St John tried his various ‘Getting into Public Houses after hours’ techniques to gain entry but the pony-tailed monks were having nothing of his pleading. The miracle we needed never happened and we trudged down the mountainside vowing to make another assault early the following morning. The walk down the Byzantine path to the town was very pleasant and the views of the harbour were amazing. Pandora had choosen Leuka’s Restaurant and, while there was a good atmosphere, the lamb from the spit that many choose was a bit dry (probably delicious an hour earlier) and failed to reach expectations. The ubiquitous chips were even served with the starters this time. O for a spud ! Moved on to a little bar for nightcaps before setting alarms for 7.30 am and falling into bed.
Eleven of the twelve apostles (Barry had enough religion for one week) were up before we were awake to take taxis (€5 per cab) to the monastery. Do these guys drive on the left, the right or the centre of the road ? The monastery was built in honour of St John in 1088 and, because of the threat from pirates, enormous fortifications were required to protect the monks and the valuable treasures of the monastery. A very articulate guard gave us a tour of the chapel and a commentary on the various paintings and sculpture from ancient times. He refused point blank to take a tip for his service. Later we walked down to the actual Cave of the Apocalypse in which St John (theirs not ours) transcribed the book of revelations. Note to Brendan: Mind your head in caves ! We bought lovely fresh breads (including olive bread) in a little bakery in the town before motoring out of Patmos harbour to a little cove where most people (even Aine) swam and some discovered old dwelling caves in a huge rock at the beach. Barry found his own entertainment in the form of a topless babe who tantalised him from the beach. Following a very pleasant lunch on board, we sailed (intermittently) on to Lakki in light winds (weather forecasts here aren’t up to much). The marina charge in Lakki (an Italian built port town from WW2) was €17.80 which included water, shore power and showers. Staff were extremely pleasant and helpful. Despite very negative comments in the guidebooks (‘People don’t linger in Lakki’), Barry and Marie found a restaurant To Petrinos (beside the Post Office) where we had the most amazing souvlaki. Never had so much meat served up at one time and the chef produced beautiful baked potatoes with garlic butter. We were accompanied to the restaurant by a pack of dogs who seemed to know that we were going to dinner. One of them caused a crash on the road outside to the amusement of everyone except the driver of the truck who lost part of his load on the road. After downing the obligatory ouzos, we moved on to a bar owned run by a Demis Roussos lookalike who drank more drink than we did and startled everyone with his exploding bottle opener and pen. Good live Greek traditional music provided (similar to Irish traditional). In spite of protests the combined choirs of Pandora and Spetses attempted to sing Molly Molone backwards in Irish. Our patron finished off the night for us with a round of barbecued calf’s liver which met with different reactions from our crew. He gave Brendan a special mustard to spread on his portion.
9.00 – 11.30. Motored and sailed in very light winds to Vlikadia on Kalimnos where Barry, our anchorman, got in more practice than he wished at setting our anchor in the bay. Having dragged several times, we eventually moved outside and dropped successfully to have our lunch. Note to skipper: Set of recognised hand signals or alternatively a hearing aid required for Barry. This is not a suitable overnight halting place. Hauled anchor at 1.00 and headed for Vatti (Kalimnos), a beautiful harbour and village (Rima) at the head of a fiord. Difficulty docking stern-to due to shallow water and ballasting coming out from quay wall. As usual, we met a friendly dog on the pier who followed us everywhere but was useless at getting rid of the many cats who wanted to share our dinner with us. Barry and Marie chatted up the owner of the local Hotel Gallini who was originally from Australia. She seduced us with free beer in the afternoon, knowing that we would be back to eat later. When we did, five of us opted to share a large red snapper fish. Poor Ray was last to be served his portion and was aghast to be offered the head and the tail of the fish only (Apparently it’s the nicest bit but Ray wasn’t impressed) The local cats did well on our leftovers. The serving staff were a bit dour resulting in a rather flat atmosphere. Service was also disjointed with some people finishing their main course before others started. Specially ordered potatoes and carrots came with the starters instead of the main courses. All in all, the Restaurant Porto Vatti at the quay, where we retired for a contemplative end to the evening, may have been a better choice. We live and learn.
9.30. More practice for our anchorman when we snagged a long mooring line from a fishing boat when hauling in our anchor. Earlier, another boat had snagged our anchor when hauling theirs and Barry had to come to the rescue as the rest of us were taking our final stroll through the village. Having left the shelter of Kalimnos Island, we got the most consistent winds of the week and some great sailing. At one stage we touched 9 knots. Everyone had a turn on the wheel. We anchored in a bay at the southern end of Pserimos for a swim and lunch where we were hit by a ‘mini tsunami’ caused by a speeding ferry. Note to crew: Keep the lid firmly on the roast peppers jar if there is any risk of a sudden swell ! Arrived back to Kos at 3.45 after refuelling (€65 for Pandora and €75 for Betsy). Boats checked out ok. The diver checked underneath but didn’t see the ding on Betsy’s hull. Had a very good final dinner at Barbas Restaurant washed down with double servings of ouzo on the house (The power of tipping !). With the exception of John, Mary and Brendan, who went to sample tequila at a Mexican taverna, people headed back to the boats for a bit of sleep before our taxi call at 3.15.
We arrived at the airport at 3.45 to discover our plane had still not left from Gatwick. Finally got away from Kos airport (complete with Rays undeclared contraband) at 10.20 am and arrived back in Gatwick at 11.50 local time. Note: Allow >1.30 hours for luggage to arrive at the conveyor belts in Gatwick.
Aine Sheehan
22nd June 2005
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