It sounds like a million swallows/sparrows are in the trees around us, doves in the background. This place is likely the most peaceful place we have been. Hazy today, lots of high cloud.
Again, the winds are barely in existence, but we are hopeful. We now know that at some time shortly after 9 am the weather will be broadcast on channel 4 so we no longer bother with channel 16 beforehand. However, we discovered something new and sort of disconcerting. Kirk turned the radio onto channel 4 early and we heard the woman listing off coordinates. We listen closely and realize that for ten minutes she is providing latitude-longitude coordinates for locations that the navy is doing practices! We take a stab and guess that this is what we saw a week or so ago when we saw the fleet of vessels and one that looked like it was threatening to come visit us. However, she goes so fast that you couldn’t get them all written down if you tried. Note to self: stay away from military vessels…one might get a shot across the bow.
We actually got a good wind once we passed the South tip of Kea. We got a great sail, heeled just nicely, almost all the way to the mainland when I tried to dump some wind and turned the wrong way. That was a shock! Then we got behind the bottom of Macronisos and the wind died down to 2 m/s from behind. We went wing on wing for a little bit but even that became tough to keep wind in the sails consistently so we motored into Sounion.
We anchored below the ruins. It seems like a somewhat fitting place to have our last night at sea. Below the Temple of Poseidon, built sometime around 450BC. It is a beautiful set of columns up on the hill and we plan to zip up there fairly early before it becomes populated with the tourists we saw being bused in.
We double anchored and noted that a sailboat that was in a bit farther was flying a Swiss flag at the stern. Then we realized that it was Captain California. They were just pulling out and didn’t see us so we missed our chance to say hello and ask him how his trip was out of Paros that day that we took the catamaran to Mykonos. It was pretty wild.
A gorgeous double master pulled in and anchored a bit later.
We see lots of freighters and ferries in the distance and the planes are more constant and lower overhead. We know we are close to Athens. A booze cruise pulls in, does a stupid job of anchoring right off us, they start to swing towards us. We stand and stare angrily at the crew and do our best to indicate our displeasure while the boatload of Japanese tourists wave and take photos. It doesn’t take long for the crew to pull up and move around the corner.
Peace. As the sun sets, the light is fantastic and the clouds break up letting the stars shine through. The moon is brilliant and the lights come on at the temple. We zip ashore to get a couple of night shots and then back to bed.
A bit of bioluminescence in the water, but you really only see it when you flush the head. No, I do not sit in the dark and pump the head for my evening jollies, just mentioning something that I noticed ….while pumping the head, in the dark.
