Flying Through The Air

The diver that inspected my boat tells me my problem is serious and cannot be fixed without my boat being pulled out of the water. Fortunately this port has several cranes that handle this on a regular basis. After meeting with the marina officials, the company that does the lifting, getting notarized by the police, my boat is hoisted overhead and as if in some remake of Peter Pan flies through the air and is put down on dry land. Somehow it seems all wrong to me. This boat is most happy in clear blue water. It is now more like a high-rise condominium.

The mechanic, his assistant, the Lagoon rep and I all look over the problem. It is more than serious. The bottom half of the screw drive to the propeller is broken completely in half. No one is sure what caused the problem. Of course they want it to be something I did so they do not have to pay out the warranty. I of course reassure them it is nothing I did. The jury is still out. We first have to fix the problem. After calling all over who knows where, we try and locate the part we need. I am still waiting for a shipment date. I guess that is the next blog.

Islands and Cracks

The next day I set sail for a little island across from Athens. It is close and has a ferry connection back to Athens. The wind is quite strong and the waves show their white tops. It is only a couple of hours away. As I enter the port, my starboard engine starts to make a strange whine sound. I lay down the anchor and back into the quay. With the help of some kind Greeks, I get the boat secured. It is a cute little island with a very small and very old town. Things have not changed much over the years except tourist have replaced fish as the main harvest. The port however proves to be not very well protected from the strong winds that blow in this part of Greece during the summer. My boat name, Etesian actually comes from the name of this breeze that blows through the isles. You would think that would gain me some favor with the winds of change, but I get knocked around about the same as everyone else. I decide that this port is not suitably protected to leave my boat and after reading in my pilot book decided to head to Mykinos. There is a new harbor there and the rates are cheap. Ferry connections to Athens are easy and it is only about 5 or 6 hours sail. As I head out, that starboard engine is giving more trouble than I thought. I stop the boat in the harbor and decide to dive down to see if I can determine what the problem is. It turns out to be a big problem. Instead of the propeller staying in a fixed position, it freely rotates from left to right. Clearly, this is something that needs some serious attention. I limp back to Athens using just my port engine.

With only one engine I find it impossible to turn left. So with luck and a prayer, I managed to bring the boat alongside the quay. No one is happy with my arrival. A Greek man starts yelling that I cannot stay. Charters are coming and there is no room for me. I tell him I have no steering. It is irrelevant to him. I must move. I have found that a lot of ranting and raving can go on, but in the end, nothing happens. So I just stay there. I don’t hear another word from the guy. I do however report to the marina and they start ranting that I cannot stay. I tell them that I will get the problem corrected as soon as possible. I don’t go back to the office, but just stay where I am. Fortunately there is a Lagoon dealer across the street and I arrange to have my boat looked at the next day.

Athens

With a stiff breeze all the way from Corinth Cannel we made it to Athens in about 5 hours. The harbor was crowded but we managed to find a place and settle in. We spent the next couple of days visiting all the tourist spots. The Acropolis is really one of the best historic sites in the world. A commanding view of the city and the grandeur of ancient Greece paints a beautiful picture in marble and fluted columns. There are ruins sprinkled throughout the city. Temples long forgotten erected to important god that is now relegated to myths and legends. There is no order to this city. Streets are strewn along with all the logic of a plate of spaghetti. And with the Greek alphabet coded on all the street signs, it is more like solving a mystery of some forgotten place in time than a modern city. But most Greeks speak English and with their kindness and help, we manage our way around. It seems no matter what city we are in, we are always drawn like moths to a flame to restaurants and tourist shops, and something I quickly tire of. After 3 days of exploring and soaking in the summer heat, my daughters wind up their time here on the Etesian. Reality starts to soak into their bones and with a fond farewell, they catch their flights back to the states and back to the real world. I miss them already. We have become a well-oiled crew with each person knowing just what to do as we cast the lines to the quay. When we set sail, everyone does their tasks with ease. Now I am by myself.

I too have to prepare to go back home. My youngest daughter Malorie is getting married. She was planning on a fall wedding, but seems to be driven to make the marriage happen sooner rather than later. So I schedule my trip for August 14th. I will be home for about a week. The marina tells me I can not leave the boat here because it is way over booked on the weekends when all the bareback charter boats come in from a week sailing in the Aegean. So I start off looking for a suitable port to keep my boat for the week I will be gone.