Tuesday, 8 August 2023

Crazy about Kalymnos

Tuesday 8th August...
Linda - I told you I would sleep well didn't I? Woke up at 8am. Dean managed to get his haircut at the barber shop, after being told yesterday that he needed to make an appointment. A comment which made him chuckle as he's never made a hair appointment in his whole life!

Then it was off to the AB Supermarket for supplies, and secondly the booze shop where we purchased two boxes of our favourite red wine, a slab of Mythos beer, slab of coke, and a dozen sprite. Bonus, the owner delivered the lot to the boat by scooter. 

Our laundry didn't turn up at noon as promised so by 2am we decided to go out and check out the local bus timetables at the Tourist Information. The man was so helpful, he even gave us a freebie book about Greece. Then it was ice-cream time and a walk along cat alley. These cats must be the kittens we saw last year. All snoozing in the shade without a care in the world.








Before we took a stroll back to the boat, we took a quick look at the local beach for future reference, then en-route to Thesee Dean bought me a new sunhat, because I've been moaning too much I guess.


One of the many pirate ships on a day trip


This is the little church way up on the mountainside


Walking through the bars alongside the port


Cat sleeping on top of an ice-cream fridge


5pm, Beer 'o' clock. Took a walk to a nice little bar hidden behind the main street where we find they have a bowling alley, pool table, and table football. Right, need to get a games night sorted for maybe tomorrow or the day after.


Wednesday 9th  August...
Linda - Wow, it was very windy last night and throughout the whole night. We've not felt the boat shudder like that since Almerimar in 2018. Saying that, I must have been sub-conscious because I definately slept. I wish this meltemi season would end, but it seems it goes on until at least the end of August.

This morning it had calmed a little and we felt comfortable continuing with our plan of catching the bus to Vlychadia with Eternite crew. It was only a 15 minute bus ride to this lovely little bay, only to arrive and find out that the area was having a power cut. This meant we couldn't even get a coffee. We had to settle for a cartons of orange and cans of sprite. Also, they had told the Sponge Diving Museum owners not to bother opening because of the power cut. Drat, and double drat. That's one of the reasons we came.


Along the quay this morning


Thesee


Large speedboat with 6 x 450hp each engine!


View from the bus looking over the port


At Vlychadia we whiled away a few hours on the beach, chatting and swimming. We've anchored in this lovely little bay twice before, and now find that they have put two buoys in the anchorage. They both had boats on this morning, but still room to anchor further out.


Vlychadia


Beach front cafes


The (closed) museum


Dean tippy-toeing over the pebbles


No swimming for me today


Dean enjoying his dip in the lovely clear water


Guess who?


The beach


More swimmers now


Relaxing


So, on to this evening...... there was live music and singing in the main square in town. We went along to find the place packed. Not a table to be had in any of the bars. We hung around for a short while pondering what to do, then a cafe owner brought out a table and four stools for us. No soon as we had sat down, one of his main tables became vacant and he moved us over. What a great business etiquette. The concert was basically what you would expect with some more Greek dancing. That's twice this week. It was a good night with a good vibe.


Pirate boat lit up on the quay


More bright lights here


Greek dancing





Thursday 10th August...
Linda - A visit to the hardware shop first thing was successful, in that we bought a 3 metre wire drain unblocker. Next a stop off for a breakfast sandwich. A rest this afternoon, then at 4pm we all went out for a game of ten pin bowling. Sadly, I had to settle for second place to the winner David.  A drink and evening meal followed at our favourite restaurant 'Stukas' which is only about 50 metres from the boat.

Me in action





Now Dean's turn


Who got the strike?


Friday 11th August...
Linda -  DisAAAAAAster today. Our passarelle cracked. And it wasn't our fault 😒.

The ferries and large craft that come into this harbour bring a lot of surge when they arrive. And when I say a lot, I mean A LOT. For a few minutes all the yachts on the quay roll all over the place, snatching back and forth at the lines which tie us to the quay. We've even attached our rubber compensators to the lines to help with the jolting. The ferries come throughout the day and night, one last night just after midnight. 

Today around lunchtime we were inside the boat and the rolling started, then we heard a loud crack. We quickly went outside to find our passarelle extension had cracked along the part which attaches to the main passarelle. It would seem that during the back and forth jolting, the passarelle had got pushed into a cleat on the quay and the force had snapped it. 


The crack


Not a happy bunny


Close up

Dean had to run the gauntlet to get ashore and then remove the extension. He then snapped the end clean off and set about making amends. The only thing he could do was to make the extension smaller by about half a metre. Out came the tools. BMIEP (boat maintenance in exotic places).


Measuring up for the reduction in size


Now sawing the remaining piece into shape


There it is....our new mini sized extension


After this, we walked around to the Hellenic Coastguard to get our transit log stamped out as we are leaving tomorrow. Time for a drink at the beach cafe and then another in town. At the beach cafe there were some cats playing about with a dead fish (no tail on the fish at this point). They were throwing it up in the air and chasing it, even a little kitten joined in, and eventually the kitten got hold of it.


Cats playing Fish Chase


The kitten finally gets a go at it


One more rum punch for me


Statue of the Goddess Nike (the winged Goddess of Victory)


Saturday 12th August...
Linda - Change of plan this morning... ('cos we can). It's still a bit lumpy out there although the last of the high winds have passed. It takes a little while for the sea to calm down, and although we are staying on the eastern/sheltered side of the Dodecanese chain we aren't in any rush to go anywhere.

So Dean paid up a further 10 euros for one more day here. It's ridiculously cheap on this quay. At 10 euros a night it's cheap enough to stay here the whole summer!  We pondered over how to entertain ourselves, and subsequently decided to go 'On the Buses' again, this time we bussed it to Masouri, again with Eternite crew. Masouri is on the west coast of the island and just a 25 minute bus ride. It's such a picturesque coast with the magnificent Telendos island about 1km off shore. I love that name Telendos, it sounds so splendid and ginormous..... it's a perfect name for this big rock.

After arriving we found a bar with a view (of course) and took a table for lunch.

Telendos view from the bar


So lovely here


Looking southwards down the coast


....and now looking north towards Emporios, and then Leros island


Me and Telendos


Next was a short walk along the road until we soon came across some steep steps down to the beach. At the bottom we found a cafe with free sunbeds on the beach. What's not to like? I think I'm getting used to this saying. Time for another treat, a cuba libra for me please, beer for Dean, and a swim for Eternite crew.












The bus back was a little late turning up, but that meant we had time to buy English Mature Cheddar cheese, and proper Brie. Yay.

A very enjoyable impromptu afternoon. Tomorrow we will definately be out on the water again. Heading north, but no particular island or anchorage decision as yet.


The next blog post will be called 'How many islands???'




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