Friday 1st September...
Linda -
September is our last month on the water this sailing season. We weren't exactly sure of when we would be lifting out of the water therefore we only paid the Greek TEPAI cruising tax for July and August. And so, as it happens we are still cruising. That means our first job today was to head down to the local Post Office and pay the TEPAI for September. It's pretty pricey for Thesee at 120 Euros per month. Second job, now we have current TEPAI was to go to the Hellenic Coastguard and get our Transit Log stamped. They must be getting used to seeing us in there by now. Third job was food shopping. We're low on supplies having been at small islands the last two weeks. We actually ran out of all fruit and salad items about four days ago.
It's monthly maintenance time again, this kept Dean busy for a while. We've used up one of our two tanks of water, and the drinking water here on the quay is very salty (they call it brackish), not good for putting in your water tanks really unless you just use it for showering and boat washing. We do have bottled water on board for drinking, and our remaining tank should be OK for about two weeks. So no emergency at the moment.
The winds are picking up, quite a lot of boats coming and going this morning. I think the quay is full now, so any latecomers will be out of luck. No photos today I'm afraid.
Saturday 2nd September...
Linda - For a change of scenery we took a leisurely wander around the back streets on the north side of town, which is mainly residential. Dean wanted to get to the hardware shop to buy another padlock for the dinghy (the current one has gone rusty). Normally to get to the hardware shop entails taking your life in your hands walking up the main street out of town with a constant stream of passing scooters and cars, and no pavements! Today, we found our way through the quiet narrow streets. This made a good opportunity for some photos. But first a coffee stop.
One street back from the seafront
Looking the other way
Quaint cafes and shop fronts
Dean is attracted up a side alley to this busy workshop
Now in the residential areas
The thickest rope I've ever seen outside this shop front
Of course, a few Churches to be found
Fancy gates on this Church
Another
Lots of lovely front doors
(I like front doors nearly as much as I like tablecloths)
Unusual small Chapel here, very nice indeed
A ladder needed to get to your front door! 😮
Nice house
Christmas every day here
Dean's favourite place, the hardware shop
They've got EVERYTHING
A different return route took us on to a higher road
Pretty decorations
A rotating vent on this chimney stack
Aha, back to this Church now
Later on a military vessel came into port
Sunday 3rd September...
Linda - We have electricity! Decided to plug into the mains today. The boat batteries haven't been reaching 100% charge the last few days with solar power alone, probably because the sun is getting low in the sky now Autumn is approaching and we have less daylight hours. In the 10 euro electricity cost we also get water too. Not particularly good for drinking, but good for washing decks and cockpits. This kept Dean occupied this morning whilst I did some inside the boat cleaning chores.
The wind was strong today, the quay remained full apart from one or two leavers. A few boats arrived later but no spaces available. Most tried to get into a 'too small' gap near to Impavidus where a small boat was taking up two spaces. It wasn't the small boat's fault that he was hogging the spaces, because there was a catamaran next to him previously but when it left a large motor boat came in and the spacing went all kaput. Anyway, it was fun and games as newly arrived boats attempted to squeeze into the gap, one boat even had his anchor down before being shooed away, then as he raised his anchor there was a toilet attached to it! Really, I can't believe people expect to find a berth knowing people are sheltering from the wind. Even the 7 or 8 rally boats here didn't venture out in today's weather.
Anyway, back to the small boat hogging the two spaces. The owner was already having a stressful day, his wife is very pregnant indeed and apart from shooing off the new arrivals, his wife decides to go into labour and gets taken away in an ambulance. Watch this space for a new arrival of the human kind.
Just before dinner we stretched our legs with a walk along the quay and a little drinkies in a bar. We weren't out long, but when we got back a boat had in fact squeezed into the little gap. There's going to be trouble when the new parents arrive back with a newborn baby.
Monday 4th September...
Linda - A day of food shopping, and renewing our Greek sim card for the internet for one more month. The big news is we heard the new baby has arrived... IT'S A GIRL! Yay.
Weather is calming down, although some rain due tomorrow. What! What is this rain they speak of??
A couple of photos taken late afternoon after a little drinkies with Ant & Cid in a bar on the quayside.
Statue in aid of the Kalymnos Sponge Diver heroes
Ant, Cid, and Dean with Goddess Nike
Tuesday 5th September...
Linda - Well, it didn't rain after all. Good. A lot of boats left this morning, and not many came in, so it's pretty well spaced out on the quay tonight. Our dear friends Brenda and Mark arrived in Kos today, we'll be meeting up on Friday....very exciting.
Jobs day on Thésée. I only have one photo and I'm afraid that's the loo. It was a good opportunity for Dean to remove the hoses and bash them about on the quay a lot to remove the crud. The loos work so much better once he's done this job. Both loos done in less than half a day. It can be very tricky threading the hoses back through the boat again. Today one was a pain, the other was sweet.
He tried to splice some shore lines too but it wasn't very successful I hear. Another of his jobs was dying my hair. I didn't realise how desperate this was because it's so hot I always have my hair tied back. Still, I must look my best for the upcoming visitors.
We also went to book car hire for Friday. We're planning on giving our visitors a tour of Kalymnos. I don't know what it is about this place, we just love it.
Wednesday 6th September...
Linda - A stressful day for Dean. The fridge keeps defrosting every four hours, even though he has set it to defrost every 48 hours. You wouldn't believe how complicated the settings on the digital thermostat are. There are a complete multitude of settings involved. He has literally spent hours, days, even weeks trying to get it to do what it should be doing. He's even reset it to default mode and it's still doing wierd stuff. Right now it's at 10.6 degrees when it should be at the most 6 degrees. We just hope it doesn't decide to defrost itself overnight.
My day was spent planning and booking our flights back home in October.
Dean did more work on getting the heads tanks cleaned. Another nightmare, but I won't go into the gorey details...
And a short stroll around the quayside late this afternoon to stretch our legs. 4pm and it was still very hot outside.
Thursday 7th September...
Linda - Today, booked hotel for our overnight stay near Athens Airport on our way home, Dean spent the morning trying to sort out the heads. Was he successful? Yes and No, mainly NO. Got the guest cabin ready for Brenda and Mark's visit tomorrow. Went for a beer with Ant and Cindy because they think they will leave tomorrow. A beer turned into two beers , one rum & coke, and a litre of red wine. Three hours later we returned to Thesee for dinner, fortunately pre-prepared by moi earlier.
Friday 8th September...
Linda - Early this morning we said a sad cheerio to Ant & Cindy as they left Kalymnos and started their journey south towards their winter berth in North Cyprus. But only a couple of hours later we were very happy once more as the fast ferry from Kos approached bringing our dear and special friends Brenda & Mark. We had a hire car at the ready to take them on a tour of the island to all of our special places.
Bye Bye Impavidus 😞
Hello Brenda and Mark 😀
Only a 40 minute journey from Kos on the fast ferry
First stop of the day was at Masouri on the west coast of the island with magnificent views of Telendos Island.
Here's Super Markio 😄.... a pic for the grandchildren
Masouri is a rock climbers paradise
Time for cake on the balcony at Masouri
Second stop was to Emporios (in the north of the island) for lunch on the beach, and check out the views and buoy field.
Views to die for in Emporios
Heading to the restaurant for lunch on the beach
Idyllic lunch stop
One of the restaurants
Such a quaint unique place
Very calm here today
Peace on Earth
We are here
Local boats
Sponge-diving souvenirs
Shapes and Sizes
Back at Thesee around 6pm and time to crack open the rosé again before getting ready to go out to dinner at our fave restaurant.
Cheers
Besties
Saturday 9th September...
Linda - We still had the hire car until 11am. Just enough time to zip across to another of our favourite bays called Vlychadia on the south of the island. This is where the sponge diving museum is located and it's definately worth a visit, if only a quick one. It didn't open until 10am so even enough time for a coffee at the adjoining restaurant.
Refreshments before the museum opened
Bren & Mark at the entrance
Huge shells
Ancient pots
One of the strangest looking fish
Everyhing here was found on the seabed
Even a record player
Corals?
Bren's favourite shells
We returned the car by 11am and there was another three hours before Bren & Mark's ferry to take them back to Kos. Back on Thesee we took more photos and then went for a nice bacon and egg sandwich with chips of course. They didn't sell rosé wine, so we 'made do' with a small bottle of red, and small bottle of white, and made our own kind of mix. Tasted good to us anyway.
On Thesee's starboard deck
Now three of us
Now four!
Making our own rosé
3pm rolled round 😞 and we had to wave bye bye to Brenda & Mark as they disappeared into the distance when the ferry departed. We are truly delighted that you came to visit us in the sun.
Thank you so much.
A little later, back on board Thesee once more, a sail boat that was coming into port lost propultion and could not manoevre into the berth (which happened to be right next door to us!). Three dinghy's were helping by pushing the boat sideways (as the wind was on the beam), and one brought a long line ashore from the boat, and Dean virtually pulled the boat into the quay. There were a lot of onlookers indeed. When the boat was in and tied up securely, Dean suggested that there may be something wrapped around the boat's propellor. Turn out he was correct, and a diver came to remove a massive amount of rope from the said prop. There were two port police and also a Coastguard boat standing on.
In Greece, if you report a problem with your boat, it virtually gets impounded until a surveyor has been and accessed that the boat is sea-worthy. We don't know if this will happen or not as they told us the diver had given them a certificate or something to say the boat is fine.
And before you ask, no, it wasn't Turkish people he rescued this time!
No comments:
Post a Comment