New Port: A whole new adventure

The fun of the New Port gets a whole separate blog to itself. 

For starters we decided to go straight from Aegina to Mykonos which was a 22 hour sail.  I only had to be on watch from 2:00am – 4:00am and then from 10:00am-noon.  I was technically allowed to sleep the rest of the time, but I didn’t get a solid nights rest.  It wasn’t terrible weather, just a little bouncy in the v-berth where I was laying down and I just couldn’t fall asleep. 

When I was on watch, it was cold.  I had on a long sleeve shirt, wool sweater, and jacket.  I need to thank my brother for the wool watch cap he gave me and to the vender in Aegina for the basic scarf I was able to pick up there.  I was chilly.  The best thing to do was hide under the bimini and just try and stay out of the wind.  It wasn’t unbearable, but it was cold.  I didn’t have much traffic at all when I was on watch, which was nice and that was it.

When we got to the Mykonos city marina there was a boat of Germans on one wall and a man on a boat on another yelling out that one side has power and the other didn’t.  We of course chose the place with power and was told to dock side to like the German boat was.  Apparently the bow lines that were attached to the dock, weren’t quite long enough for boats our size so that was the best solution.  We weren’t quite ready to dock like this and were a little frantic getting a bow line ready and fending off, but we managed and were set.  It was just like how people dock in America, how hard can it be?  Well they were leaving and offered us their power and water tokens so we saved €30 by mooching whatever power and water credit they had left and all was good in the world.

Then the Port Authority came by and said we had to back the boat in.  By then a boat with Italians and a British boat had come in the same way and the British guy explained that the lines weren’t long enough for our boats.  The Port Authority didn’t care and said it had to be done.  So the Italians right away got lines ready and swung their boat around.  We watched how they did it and then helped the British guys (a father and 27 year old son) move theirs.  It requires a lot of pulling and fending off to move a sail boat like that.

When it was our turn, of course the wind picked up and our engine wouldn’t start.  It’s been an ongoing problem, but this time it took awhile for it to turn over and start.  Not a good thing.  We wanted it on just in case we would have to put it into gear to avoid running into another boat, and eventually were ready.  All of the other people came over to help move our boat too and apparently we were on the part of the dock with the shorter bow lines.  After pushing and pulling and fending we had the back of the boat against the dock, but still had trouble finding a line that would hold it steady.

We tried a combination of lines and as Chuck and I were pulling them out of the water at the bow of the boat, we realized they were a tangled knot in the water which is terrible.  We eventually chose one and tied it off, but it was going almost straight down and didn’t really keep the bow from pitching left and right.  So it kept the boat from hitting the dock and the other boats were far enough that we weren’t at risk of hitting them in the front.  It was not ideal, in fact it sucked, but the boat was still there when we would leave and come back so that’s a plus I guess?

Once the marina started filling up due to crazy winds and weather, I understood why the Port Authority made such a fuss about it, but it was such a pain in the ass.  The weather got super crazy.  It did a 180 (for all my Facebook friends!) and went from a beautiful breeze in the high 70s to crazy gusts that swung the bow of our boat around like a small rag doll.  It still isn’t the worse Dad has seen over here but it would go from 5 knots to 20 in a matter of seconds.  Not something you want to be out and have to figure out sails in.  What was weird was that we were sheltered by the land in a bay.  So these winds were by land and I can only imagine what it was like on the open water.  No thanks.

The public marina was also where the ferries would let off and all of the cruise ships.  It was fun to see all of the different cruise ships come through and I’ve decided I want to go on a cruise when I get back to the states.  I know I should be tired of the water, but the food and fun and having someone else clean up after me, all sounds fabulous.

So like I mentioned in my other post I didn’t go out and party in Mykonos, but the ugly Americans in the boat next to ours sure did.  They were from Miami and had hired a Greek Skipper and chartered a boat for a week to do the Greek Islands.  They came back the first night they were there and were absolutely trashed.  We were filling up with water and Chuck ended up helping them onto their boat.  They were so loud and slurring everything they said.  Talking about buying a helicopter and playing Greek music and ranting about how it’s stupid they can’t break plates anymore.  The poor Skipper just sat there and listened and then said he was going to bed.  They were up a long time after that and were so loud and talking about the most ridiculous things.  Then the second night when they came back, we heard a splash!  Their gangplank was wooden slab to walk on, and one of the woman apparently slipped off of it and hit either the boat or dock on her way into the drink because she was complaining about being bruised everywhere the next morning.  Dad and I were still up and we ran upstairs with the boat hook to make sure someone was there to fish her out.  She was laughing and they were all on board getting her out.  Now while falling into the water generally doesn’t matter, at night it can be really bad.  There were no lights on the dock, there are no ladders to get out of the water at these marinas, and there were 20 knot gusts of wind that were pushing the boats back.  She could’ve fallen between the boat and dock when the winds blew the boat back and it would’ve pinned her and done some serious damage.  Crazy Americans.

The other main adventure, thank God didn’t happen to us, was with a German boat as it was leaving this morning.  We were getting ready to go too so we saw the whole thing and Dad’s nightmares came true for these guys.  They had put out an anchor which we didn’t do because under us was knots of these ropes, chains, and a lot of rocks which our anchor doesn’t do well in.  They were pulling up their anchor and it had caught on a rope and chain that was attached to a cement block under the water.  They were able to lift the rope off, but it took about 15 minutes to get the chain off.  At the same time the guy at the helm was so focused on the anchor he backed the dingy, which was hanging off the back of the boat, into a fishing boat that was docked next to them.  Dad whistled right before it happened and the guy glanced and didn’t have time to adjust.  There were apparently a couple of guys down below and they came up and were able to fend off which helped some, but it was a mess.  There were 4 grown men trying to get the chain off at the bow and three grown men fending off in the back plus a guy at the helm and a girl standing there doing nothing.  For starters I am not sure where all of these people slept… and another thing, if this happened to us when it was just Dad and I… disaster.  They ended up getting a rope and looping it around the chain and tying it tight to the deck of the boat while they slowly lowered the anchor to loosed the tension created.  Once that was done the guy at the helm had to worry about not running the side of the boat along the front of the fishing vessel and they were off! 

We luckily had no problems getting out of the marina and were able to get out without any extra lines, chain, or anything else that was lurking below.

Mykonos: land of vomiting pelicans

Mykonos town was awesome.  I can see why people come here to have a good time and to spend some money.  While it is on the expensive side, we weren’t staying in the actual town and limited out evening drinks to boat cocktails and wine so we kept it on the reasonable side. 

This is a panoramic view of Mykonos.  The whitewashed building and fishing boats made it beautiful and so photogenic.

This is just a pretty picture.  Most of the shutters and doors were that Greek blue on whitewash walls, but these were green. 

I didn’t eat here, but it’s just one of the many colorful scenes that awaits around the corner in the city.  It’s pretty impressive.

When we did eat in town we ate at a place that was off one of the streets that leads up into town where we saw a group of fisherman eating the night before.  Judy said it was like a Greek Waffle House because you can see them prepare your food right there and it’s a small greasy spoon type of place.  I got the chicken gyro and it was SO good.  We went back the next day after our trip into Delos and Dad and Chuck got the “meal of the day” which was a hearty portion of pork in some sort of sauce and a pile of roasted potatoes.  You can’t go wrong there.

We were docked at the new port which was where all of the ferries and cruise ships dock and took a € taxi into town.  The first order of business was to visit the Port Police and check in.  They weren’t too thrilled that Dad had folded his transit log and gave him crap for that.  These guys really need to choose some better battles.  Dad then put all of the documents in my backpack and we were going to explore the town.  Well I saw one of the pelicans that are essentially the mascot for the island and said I was going to take a photo.  Apparently nobody heard me and when they turned around I was gone.  When I turned around they were gone and I assumed Dad was letting me walk around on my own, which we knew I was going to do eventually anyway.  Well Dad began to worry that someone had seen him put all of our passports and boat papers into my backpack and thought someone had abducted me.  I was a lost “child”.  They combed the streets for me and then when they decided to go for lunch I was sitting there munching on my gyro and that was when I was informed that I was lost.  Oh well.  The lunch was really great and then I really did venture off on my own, with everyone being well aware of it!

Mykonos is a very popular tourist destination.  Most of the cruise ships stop here, boaters stop here, and if you do a tour of the Greek Islands – stop here.  There is a ton of shopping with stores like Sephora, Juicy, and other high end boutiques which all had a small table and two chairs set up outside so after you shop you can sit and enjoy a coffee. 

A store front on the “5^th Avenue” of Mykonos.  These are handmade boots with a sequence Minnie Mouse attached on the side.  Disney characters and cartoons are really fashionable here.  It’s a little odd seeing a 40 year old woman walking around in killer boots, cute pants, and a Minnie Mouse t-shirt.

There are of course iconic things that every tourist should see while on the island.  I will share in photos!

This was the original pelican I went to see and this was when I became a lost child.  These are the town’s mascot.  Petros the pelican is about 3ft tall and has a pinkish hue which is pretty cool.  The stories state that Petros was part of a group of pelicans migrating in the 1950s and he was exhausted and stayed behind in Mykonos where the fisherman nursed him back to help.  Locals say that the pelican hanging out in the harbor is the original Petros, however I saw two of them that day separately and then two together the next morning waiting for the Delos ferry…

As you can imagine, tourists are dumb.  This pelican was hanging out near one of the touristy shops and got swarmed with people wanting to pet it and get photos taken with it.  The pelican wasn’t having it and wandered out into an open area where it proceeded to throw up a half eaten fish and then attempted to fly up the hill.  I am not sure if its wings were clipped or because of its size it couldn't actually get airborne, but it sure did hop with purpose!

This is Little Venice.  During the day it’s restaurants with a view of the windmills and the neighboring islands.  At night this is where all of the high end bars and clubs are located.  The area was dubbed Little Venice because of the houses which were once owned by ship owners and aristocrats rise and hang over the water much like the Italian town. 

This is my attempt at getting a photo of myself in front of Little Venice.  This was also when I was “lost” so it was me taking a photo of myself “MySpace style” with the SLR.  I did alright.

The windmills are seen from Little Venice and by approaching ships as they come into view of Mykonos.  They were originally used to grind grain using, of course, wind power.

This is another attempt at me taking a photo of me in front of the windmills.  I could’ve asked someone at this point, but I was being stubborn and anti-social so again I am pleased with how I did.

Mykonians claim they have exactly 365 churches and chapels, one for each day of the year.  I took photos of a couple I saw.

This one had just been whitewashed.  It’s apparently some sort of law that all buildings in Mykonos be whitewashed on a regular basis.  That would be the business to go into.  I am not sure if it’s up to the building owner, or if there is just a group of people who go around and leave notice that tomorrow at 1pm their buildings will be whitewashed, but either way it would be a lucrative business I am sure.

This one was right on the water in the main drag of town.  Each of the churches I entered had the beautiful gold and bright colors of the Byzantine style.  They were all super small, but were chock full of paintings and gold bling.

The most famous of all the churches is the Church of Paraportiani.  It is actually a conglomeration of four chapels that mix Byzantine and vernacular idioms.  The church is solid to protect it from the elements and whatever the sea has to dish out.

This is just another view of the Church of Paraportiani.  It shows the sober architecture and the complete whitewash. 

I had seen all I wanted to see and even made a stop at the Post Office and then I was ready to go.  We considered going back to the island for the crazy night life that is supposed to be happening after dark, but the weather didn’t hold up and after talking to a British guy my age who had been into town the night before, the night life is pretty much dead after the month of September.  For all who travel Europe, this isn’t “The Season”.  Basically June – August everything is happening, at least in the port towns, and then it trickles off through September and is nonexistent in some places by the end of October.  I personally live vicariously through the ugly Americans that were docked next to us and who came back to their boat so trashed that one of them fell in the water… while hilarious and a great way to sober up, it’s super dangerous and stupid to fall between the dock and back of a boat in 20 knot winds… just saying.  More on that in my experience at the New Port!

Oedipus... the Original Mother... Our visit to Athens

Since we are in Greece, it’s necessary to go into Athens.  I can say now that I have been to Athens, seen the sights, and have taken photos to prove it.  It was much like my trip to New Orleans this summer, I can say I have been there, but would I go back?  Not necessarily.  It’s a huge city as you will see from the photos and there were a million tourists there to fill it up. 

We took a hydrofoil into the city.  On our trip so far we have been avoiding these things because they are super fast and have the right of way.  We decided to cheat on the Pipedream and board the “Fly Dolphin1” to get to town.  It was a lot of fun.  A bit expensive - €24 for one person round-trip, but like I said was a lot of fun.  This is a photo of another one passing us on the water.

This is Ruben the rooster… someone had a fake rooster attached to their window sill so Dad and I decided to take advantage of that photo opportunity.

This was either a temple to Zeus or to the metal working gods, I am not sure which.  Regardless I really liked the contrast.  From the top of the Acropolis, you could see the entire city and wherever there was a patch of green from trees there was some sort of temple or monument.

I am not sure what theater this was.  We didn’t have to pay to enter the Acropolis and came in from a back entrance, so the little Greek map I had didn’t help a whole lot.  It was at the base of the Acropolis and was very well intact.  How much is actually original or what was “restored” I don’t know.

This is the Propylaea – a structure that designed to install the proper reverence in worshipers as they crossed into the spiritual world of the Acropolis.  As you can clearly see by the photo, there is a lot of excavation work going on right now.  That was strike one of visiting the Acropolis.  Something about being in a high spiritual, ancient place and having a double wide set up with scaffolding to disrupt your visions of what life was like.

This is the mob of tourists we were fighting.  As you can see strike 2 for the site.  I understand it’s one of those “must sees” in Greece, which is why we were there, but oh my there were so many people.  And this isn’t even the busy/hot season.  I mentioned how it reminded me of Disney and sure enough my Dad offered to take a photo of a past Disney cast member I knew – Susie the character captain.  It’s a small world!

This is Dad and I being awesome tourists!  We have some nice photos of us there too, but why be nice when we can look absolutely silly?  It makes for a more interesting photo anyway.  This is in front of the Parthenon by the way.

Dad and I looked so cool that Chuck and Judy wanted the same photo!  We actually got separated up there and with all the people it got a bit scary that we wouldn’t reconnect, but sure enough we did and it worked out great for photo ops.

This was a photo taken from the base of the hill looking up at the Parthenon.  Did you know?: it was built between 447 and 438 BC under Pericles’ rule and is dedicated to Athena.  It has served many purposes including a temple to Athena, a Turkish mosque, and most importantly a place to store gunpowder in the 1600s.  This was when it was bombed and the dent seen now was made.  According to Fodor’s it also used to be brightly colored and described as a “painted lady” of the Acropolis.

The Acropolis Museum was amazing.  It was built on top of an excavation site and you can see the entrance here that looks down upon the digging and dusting.  The admission was a whopping €5 and even though we had to check our bags and cameras at the door, it will be one of those experiences I keep pictured in my mind.  The incredibly modern building was a great juxtaposion to the ancient site.

One of the coolest things was throughout the museum, inside and out, there was a UV filtering plexiglass that gave museum patrons a look down at what was below and created a whole different type of exhibit.  In addition to that are many sculptures, friezes, and iron figures taken from the Acropolis to create a very diverse collection that made the trip to Athens worthwhile for me.

When we were exiting the museum we saw a group of German teenagers and one of them was wearing this shirt.  “Oedipus – The original mother fucker”.  It was too good to pass up without a photo.

Sailboat Wall

Aegina is an island located about 30 miles south of Athens.  To dock in Athens itself is a hassle… an expensive and nerve racking hassle so we decided to go for Aegina at someone’s request and it turned out to be a decent idea. 

The island is described as the “playground for Athenians” during the summer months and the quay where we docked showed every sign of that.  High priced restaurants, at least four banks located right by the water, and a row of ferry ticket stops to get people to and from Athens.

Once the walk was made away from the water, it resembled any other modern city with pharmacies, clothing stores, home good stores, and of course a fresh fish market.  Our best finds were on the other side of the fish market – a grocery store and a great kebab restaurant that we went to twice on account of its lively owner and amazing lamb kebab that was accompanied with pita, tzatziki, and a great red sauce that was both sweet and spicy.  The lamb melted in my mouth and had such a great flavor.  We also ordered a “green lettuce salad” which was just that- romaine lettuce, onions mint, and it had a great balsamic dressing that was awesome.  Like I said we went one night and then it was so good decided to make it our “last meal” in Aegina and ate there for lunch too before we left the island.  It was located next to a place we wanted to try because when we walked past the day before there was a crowd of local fisherman sitting and eating – so we knew it was good.  That place only served fish though so we voted against it and went next door to one of my favorite Greek meals to date.  We did eat at another restaurant on the water that Judy’s Greek Island’s book recommended which was very good too. The seating area was across the street and we watched as the woman who both owned and cooked the food walked it across the street to us.  When Judy asked what was part of the vegetable plate, the woman invited her into the kitchen to taste what she wanted and then make up her own plate.  Dad and I enjoyed what we considered the best tzatziki we have had in Greece.  This of course meant that it had a ton of garlic in it.  I would go on record saying it may have been a little too much in some bites, but Dad loved it.  So props to Judy for finding that place!

While in Aegina Dad and I made another trip to the pharmacy.  The first day we were there I went for a walk in search of a place to do laundry and stopped in the biggest pharmacy I’ve seen so far in Europe and was taken aback by two of the most attractive “chemists” I have ever seen.  I literally wanted to have their babies.  They directed me to where the laundry service was and when we went back to the same pharmacy a couple days later, they were gone.  But what we did get was stronger eye drops and dad got an antibiotic and cough inducer for his lung that has been bothering him.  It’s amazing in Europe how we walked in, said the stuff we had for my eyes wasn’t good enough and they simply say “Stronger?” you say yes and within a minute and €3.18 later you have it in your hand.  No visits to the doctor or having to explain the symptoms a million times to 20 different people.  The antibiotic was even easier.  His medicine total was €34 but he got what is essentially a Z-Pack and a cough inducer by walking  up to the counter, explaining what symptoms he was experiencing, what he needed, and no questions asked he had what he needed.  Apparently visiting a doctor is just as easy here.  It’s free to take a visit to the “medical center” and the doctors are there all day – no siestas.  Even for Americans.  We haven’t had to experience this first hand because thanks so some advice from an eye doctor back home and dad taking the medicine religiously, we are both feeling better and won’t have to make that trip.

So we read that Aegina was the place for people to be ferried in from Athens and had an idea that it was a popular place for boaters, but we really had no idea.  The marina is off limits unless you have a special note from the Port Police (?) and I was sort of happy about that because the marina looked run down anyway.  We backed up to the boardwalk with our anchor ready and got what appeared to be one of the last openings along the line.  What we didn’t know is that there is a rule somewhere that says when there is no more space left along the wall, it’s ok for boaters to just tie up to the bow of your boat and the boat next to you and hang out there…

This is what the boardwalk or quay looks like from land.  As you can see there are a lot of boats tied up along the road and not much space for anyone else to fit.

Captain Wayne was not too thrilled about people tying to the front of our boat.  He tried to deny it, but the boat next to us said that even if we said no to one, more would come and we would be 4 boats deep before the night was over.

This is a view from the bow of our boat.  The boat to the immediate right was tied onto our boat and the boat to the right with their anchor out.  The one to the left was tied between the boat to the left and the one on the other side of him.  The boat directly in front, and over our anchor chain, was tied to those two boats.  This was as deep as it got in front of us, but it did get 4 boats deep further down.  It’s a good thing we didn’t have to leave suddenly… craziness!

If our bow was lower and we didn’t have so much stuff on our deck, it would be customary for the boat in front of us to put a gang plank to our bow and they would just walk across our boat to get to shore.  Well lucky for us our bow is highly inaccessible so this was how they got to shore.

And the final German guy they went back to get, fell in the water.  He was not a happy camper.  From what we gathered he had a brand new iPhone in his pocket… oops.

This just gives another perspective.  It was taken off the bow of our boat and shows the cluster of boats.  

We asked what was going on and apparently these are all charter boats hanging out for the night before making the sail to Athens to turn in the boats.  Too many boats, not enough water?  We have a similar problem with cars on the road I would say.  It was basically double parking at the Orange Park or Millennia Mall.