mainland Greece (well Hydra)

Panulirus
CR and KN Williams
Fri 8 May 2015 06:43

37.22N 23.28E

 

Friday, 8th May

 

We’ve had an uneventful journey across the Aegean to Kithnos in the Northern Cyclades and are now in (almost) mainland Greece on Hydra.  Weather has been perfect although C still says 16deg C is too cold to swim.

All has been quiet and nothing has broken (yet). We came from Paros where we anchored in a beautiful bay spoilt only by a tripper boat with very loud americans on board. I suppose america is a big country which is why they have to shout all the time; thankfully they were taken away after 4 hours so all was well.  In several bays up to 3 miles in diameter with only two boats in them we always seem to attract noisy americans who anchor 20 feet from us. It reminds me of the Private Eye cover where Blair and a hundred photographers went onto an empty tube train to show he was a multicultural man of the people. He sat next to the only other passenger, a black girl, and the bubble read “Why do the loonies always sit next to me?”


Three longish hops done and only one more to go before Athens where we stop for a bit.

 

Hydra is where, on our very first flotilla, they had to take us round the corner and anchor because it was too full.
It is car free and unlike all pedestrian zones I’ve ever been in, it really is! Usually the pavements are full of delivery vans, motorcycles and police cars, together with mopeds roaring about hooting at you. Here they have only donkeys (they might be mules but I don’t know) who carry all the cargo.

 

 

 
 

 

The harbour is incredibly busy with 300ft ferries, fast ferry catamarans, fishing boats, yachts, catamarans, gin palaces and dredgers; all in a space no bigger than Limehouse Basin. We arrived early enough to get on the town quay.

 

With Cameron (as it seems) back we can wave goodbye to an EU referendum before I die! He’ll drag out ‘negotiations’ for years and Merkel and the frogs will give absolutely nothing away (I can’t see them abolishing the CAP and stop subsidising EDF, Renault and Citroen).
 At least I won’t have to pay £8000+/year to live in my ‘mansion’ (i.e. a semi-detached in Wimbledon).
Hopefully the SNP will be emboldened to have another ‘once in generation’ scottish referendum which, with any luck, they’ll win.

 

K

 

We entered Greece in Kos and clearing in involved 2 visits to the Port Police, 2 visits to passport control (hidden behind the cafe at the ferry dock) and a visit to the tax office to get a receipt for 29 euros for a cruising log. All spread over 3 days.We spent a week in Kos waiting for a northerly gale to go through and trying to get a Greek wifi modem.Then to Leros and Patmos (lots of motorbikes on the quay) and Amorgos. Amorgos was lovely and had an excellent fish restaurant where we had succulent lobster cooked in tomato sauce with pasta. Keith has decided he now likes Greek food so long as you avoid the (charred) grills.

C