Spinalonga again
St Barbara's Web Diary
Peter & Sue Goldsmith
Wed 15 Apr 2009 15:13
35:17.16N 25:43.80E
12.00 15th April
Spinalonga ( again!)
There has been an interesting debate on board StB as to whether this diary
should be a seamless account of our adventures authored by different people
at different times, whether it should be a more eclectic mix of jottings to
whatever the fancy takes one, or whether we should sign-off our
contributions or leave readers to guess who has taken up the muse. (You
might have thought yesterday's sudden foray into Scots, royals and traffic
cameras fitted the latter category). In the finest of liberal traditions no
decision has been taken and we will continue to develop organically.
Shore leave has been fun, an opportunity to be tourists, wandering around in
shorts with rucksacks, a beer in a quay-front cafe whilst writing postcards.
The town has a very pleasant atmosphere, mostly local people with a few
visitors. I'm certain as the summer advances this balance will shift, the
number of euros changing hands will fund another winter but the atmosphere
won't be as pleasant. Its a real pleasure to be here at this time of year.
Last night's dinner in the Lighthouse restaurant was fun. Service begun a
little slowly, there appeared to be one chef and one waiter, but this wasn't
an issue as we had hours before us and were enjoying the ebb and flow of
life promenading. After we'd had our main course and asked for the bill we
noticed a man, looking remarkably like our waiter, ride off on a scooter. We
joked about this and waited. Some while afterwards a woman walked casually
up to the restaurant to be met with the raised and seemingly annoyed voice
of the chef. Soon after that she had quite clearly taken over waitressing
but had quite a backlog to catch up with. Wanting to wander around town we
decided to add up our own bill, scribbled on a napkin, and present the money
to whoever would take it in order to be on our way. That's the trouble with
tourists, always rushing around!
A night in the marina, to the chimes of loose halyards, the squeak of
mooring springs and the drunken chatter of Blue Water finishers returning
from their celebratory drinks in town - well they can be forgiven having
mostly just arrived from Suez and wanting the mark to point of completion
for their world circumnavigation. Even so, very much looking forward to a
second night at anchor under the shadow of Spinalonga, lets hope our
imaginations are not kept awake by the moans of the many lost souls who were
confined there!
Finally, I think I'll leave you guessing as to who authored this - it will
be interesting to see if this passes censorship.
Captain here - the above remains as written. A request for authorship has
for the moment been denied . If you are following carefully it will be
straightforward to determine who wrote which piece. First of the clues for
the major prize comes soon so please pay attention.
We are anchored here with the expectation of moving west tomorrow along the
north coast of Crete to be in Hania for the weekend. In time for Greek
Easter celebrations.