On to Vathi!

I woke this morning to find a mummy beside me. Kirk is completely buried under a white sheet. I can only assume that this means there was a mosquito in the vee berth with us last night. I also find our respective internal thermostats amusing. He is swathed only in his protective bedsheet, while I on the other hand, have a sheet, a light blanket, and a thick fleece blanket pulled up to my nose. On an average winter day outside, I will be happily wandering along with no socks or gloves and Kirk will be shivering like an ice age is approaching. Biology, isn’t it wonderful?

Today we were “supposed” to head off the dock around 8 am….but “supposed to” just doesn’t seem to jive here.

The first thing that got in the way was the hunt for water. Our neighbour was looking and we had also intended to look. There was a sign on the dock that said free water for boats only (like a truck is going to drive up and take it out on the end of a narrow pier… actually…. probably…) . Looking for water involved two screwdrivers to lift the heavy metal plates. Then lift a second plate below, and usually find a water connection with no tap and an electrical outlet under a pool of water. Excellent combination. The problem was, none of the water connections had a tap on it. So you needed a special fitting, which had probably all been removed by an enterprising individual in town so he could sell them to you.

As we drank our respective morning caffeinated beverages I saw a boat outside of the harbour floating. I thought (initially) what a lovely morning for a float. There is no wind, no waves, the sun is low in the East. But as I watched, it occurred to me that it was a strange place for a float….in line with a ferry berth….and there seemed to be some odd activity going on…someone was in a dinghy alongside the boat… Spyglasses come out. Hmm….methinks something is amiss. We watch through the glasses as he tries to start the dinghy motor but fails…. This isn’t good…obviously the sailboat is currently in a defunct state, and the dinghy outboard is also not cooperating. But they are in no current danger, there is no ferry, there is no wind, there are no waves, they are far from shore and could drop an anchor if needed. We continue to monitor and are starting to discuss putting the motor on our dinghy to go see if we can assist when their dinghy bursts to life. They have set up a side tow and it will never cease to amaze me that an 8 foot dinghy with a 5 hp motor can actually tow a 34 foot sailboat. As they reached the entrance to the harbour Kirk and I went down to ask them where they were headed and that we would assist them from the dock. He maneuvered the boat to the centre of the harbour and she dropped the anchor. He pushed it as hard as he could to set it, and set it did. Then he began the painful process of attempting to back it into the dock. By this time we had three boat crews mobilized and eight people involved. Us, four people on the boat next to us and next to which they were aiming, and a couple three boats down. The fellow from the latter boat jumped into his dinghy and headed out to assist. He grabbed a stern line and laboriously dragged the boat backwards until someone from the boat next to us could hook onto it with a boat hook and grab a line and walk it back to Kirk on the dock. The woman from three boats down jumped onto the currently unoccupied boat and grabbed the other stern line and walked it back to me on the dock. Safely docked! We were impressed at how eight people all helped and everyone actually did something useful. Once settled, they said they hoped they could repay the favour someday…we said “We really hope not, but thank you just the same” 😉

So, that killed about an hour. And then Kirk assisted the neighbour in his continued hunt for water…to no avail. The only functional one was too far for his (or our) hose. So, the last thing to do before leaving Sami was return the scooter. We did, and on our way back encountered our water hunting neighbour brandishing a fitting for the water. His mission was accomplished.

Finally we made it off the dock at about 10:30 am. Off to Big Vathi on Ithaka. Not a long way to go, but a popular destination we knew. Always thinking about dock space. We see a line of boats ahead, all but one turn South. Excellent. As we round the Southern tip of Ithaka we see a mast just over the spit of land. It comes around and it is a Sailing Holidays boat. Our spirits are buoyed, where there is one…there is usually a pack. They don’t travel alone. This is even more excellent. Another, another, another. We realize they must have been in Vathi last night and this has worked out perfectly. Of course…there are many flotillas out here…but it’s early and they will all still be on the move. As we round the first corner to the entrance to Vathi, we see probably in excess of 30 boats, all heading away from where we are heading into. Wonderful! We look up to see six occupants of a boat waving wildly at us…they are flying a dead fox…oh yes, we remember you, how’s the headache? OK, so maybe I need to relax on my anti-6-Germans-in-a-boat-thing. At least they are friendly, they just don’t lift a finger to assist anyone.

We round the final corner and look at our charts. There are several places to moor in Vathi harbour, the most secure being in the NE corner. We see only two boats off the main town quay and think this is perfect. But when we come around to where we want to be….it’s quite well occupied…but there is one…teeny…tiny…space between two boats. We deliberate….we would like another lump free night and this IS supposed to be the spot in here to get it….OK, let’s try.

Kirk pulls up and gets a line, I drop fenders all over the place, we move the dinghy to the bow since there is no room for it alongside…it’s really going to be a squeeze. I prep the anchor, we are ready…Kirk starts to back up….I am concerned about his line…he says he’s all good and he has a great line. I say I can’t drop the anchor or we will be crossing at least two others. He may be able to see the slot…but we are not dead straight with the bows and therefore the other anchors….I will not drop the anchor and ask him to put the boat forward and make another attempt, this time moving the entire boat to starboard so the wind will help and push us to port as we back up. It works perfectly! But as we reverse and get closer I become more and more alarmed at how small the spot is and how wide we are…..how can we possibly fit…and there is no one on one of the boats to fend if we screw up!!! In the end, Kirk backs the boat flawlessly in without even touching either boat, even though there is less than a foot on either side. The four people on the boat to starboard cheer and say that we have obviously done this before…we smile and say never this tightly. They ask us if this is how we berth in Canada since Kirk did such a great job…we say, uh, no…the last time we did this was four years ago. They are from Holland….the questions about Canada begin. “We assume you brought the flag but not the boat?” Yes, wouldn’t be much of a holiday otherwise. Very nice people. As we get everything tidied up and retie a couple of lines we see a familiar couple walking towards us. Our British neighbours from Poros, two nights earlier.

This may start to sound redundant…but it’s really, really….really HOT here! And this isn’t even summer??!?! I can’t imagine being here in July! The weird thing is the lack of humidity. It’s only about 20-25%. We aren’t even getting dew on the boat in the mornings anymore! Either that or it’s evaporating before we make it out of bed!

We have a cool drink and decide to go for a walk into town. Still looking for stamps! Not that any postcard I would send anyone will actually make it home to Canada before we do! I’ve been looking for stamps for days!

Why we continue to go for walks when the sun is directly overhead is beyond me. But we do, and it’s stinking hot. I am actually looking forward to some rain and cool weather….I know, that’s weird.

Vathi is a lovely town. There isn’t much original left here. As in other places everything was destroyed in the 1953 earthquake. But it has been rebuilt with some care and it is really very nice. We stop for a glass of wine to beat the heat when we realize that the other end of the harbour (very big harbour) has some wind funneling down into it. We buy a loaf of bread, then back to the boat where I whip up some tsatziki and we nibble. It’s too hot at 5 pm to even consider dinner. Maybe when the sun goes down. But before then, as it cools off, we will take a walk around to a neat little church that lies at the end of a path we saw carved into the hillside as we entered in the boat.

More boats are starting to arrive, the other areas are starting to fill. Time to go for a walk…..no Wifi here…maybe in town…might have to wander in for another refreshment later…