Category Archives: Europe

Passage from Pylos, Greece to Syracusa, Italy

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According to the forecast, the sea conditions looked good, so yesterday morning we got ready to go and headed out around 1230. Shortly after pulling out, someone came on the radio calling out a “Securite! Securite! We have a situation at X coordinates. There is a load of bananas in the water”. Then a few minutes later, we heard someone calling the “Banana Port Control” for permission for the “monkey ship to enter”. Oh no. Is the Monkey Boy (the radio abuser aboard some ship) back? Or just people making fun of him? The banana talk died, and we thought no more of it.

Seas were relatively calm and it has been a smooth and uneventful ride. Our speeds were excellent given the RPM. With the exception of currents, our speed really is determined by the wave height. The smaller the waves, the faster we go.

The sunset was spectacular once again, turning into a bright red glow of fire and casting a soft pink glow on the sea.

At 2100, the Monkey Boy came onto the radio. Sigh. It really was him earlier. He started by calling out “Mayday! Mayday from the banana boat!”, then Continue reading →

Sightseeing Around the Pylos Area

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This morning we rented a scooter to go site seeing. Since renting the scooter in Aghios Nickolaos, Eric has wanted to get another one. Neither of our two tourist guides mentions Pylos at all, but the scooter rental place gave us a map listing the tourist attractions of the area.

We headed south to go to the town of Methoni, where a castle is located. We had seen the fort from Kosmos yesterday on our way to Pylos and it looked beautiful, so we were eager to see it up close.

The landscape between the towns was mostly olive groves and scrubby plants on rolling hills. There were a couple industrial stores and a handful of homes, but for the most part there was no development between the towns. It was a nice drive.

When we arrived at the castle, we saw admission was free, so we were expecting it to be a dud. We were surprised to find that it was actually quite good, with some of it very well preserved. It is much better than the castle at Kos.

The castle was originally built by the Venetians in 1209 and expanded many times over the next 200 years. You walk in on a fancy stone bridge over a now dry moat, through a grand entrance gate. The entrance was an addition in made in 1714. When the entrance was made, there was an easily removable wooden bridge resting on pillars of stone. In the early 1800’s the permanent and decorative stone bridge was added. Once inside, there is a fairly long walkway where you have nothing but huge walls on either side of you.

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At the end of the walkway are the gates into the castle complex. When we stepped through the gate, we were taken aback at how large it is. It covers much more land mass than you realize looking at it from both sea and land. This photo does not Continue reading →

Welcome to Pylos, Peloponnese Peninsula, Greece

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At about 0700 we tucked in between an island and the mainland. Sheltered by the island, we had about an hour and a half of flat seas. Ahhh. We were joyous about the reprieve. On the other side of the island, the waves were less vicious and easier to handle, for a while, anyway. This is because the island partially blocks the wind, slowing it down to only 10 knots apparent.

We had gone around the bottom of Greece and were now moving north, up the eastern side of the country. Our plan was to only be in Katacolon for a couple days, then move west to Sicily. Eric had been looking at the charts this morning for a port we could check out of the country from that was closer to our current position than Katacolon. We realized there was no real need to move so far north, seeing as the trip to Sicily would take the same amount of time no matter where we left from on the lower eastern side of Greece. He found what he was looking for, a small town named Pylos, located close to where we were.

At 0900 we pulled into the harbor, which was totally flat and calm. You’d never know how hard the wind was blowing in the ocean from looking at the bay. We pulled up to the “marina”, dubious about availability at this time of the year. Someone was waiting for us and directed us to a prime side tie spot marked “captain”. Of course, we assumed the guy worked for the marina. Turns out there is no marina staff. This guy sells diesel fuel and was hoping to get a new client, hence the helpfulness.

Pylos has a different look to it than the other places we have been to in Greece. Yes, the buildings are blocky and situated on a hill. Most of the buildings look like they are detached, at least the ones most visible. Most of the buildings are less than 5 stories and have pitched, red tile roofs. We guess the roofs are what change the look of the town so much, at least from the distance. In the Plain of Thessaly they also have some houses with pitched roofs, too. It also looks like many buildings in Pylos are relatively new.

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Once Kosmos was situated, we Continue reading →

Passage from Bali, Crete to Katacolon, Greece

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Since the party went so late, yesterday we slept in late and were really out of it all day. We are normally in bed by 2200 (10:00 pm) kind of people, and we just don’t adjust well to the late nights.

Eric was up earlier than Christi, and he went for a swim. There was zero wind outside and it was roasting hot. The kind of heat where, when you Continue reading →

Passage to Bali, Crete and Visiting the Family

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Now that it was once again safe to run the engine, we pulled out first thing yesterday morning to go to the anchorage in Bali, Crete. In the bay at Agios Nickolaos, we were protected from the wind and big seas. As soon as we rounded the corner to leave the bay, we were smacked with 30 knots of wind on the nose and big waves that smashed into the bow relentlessly. This lasted about 2 hours before things started to calm down. The wind dropped to the low 20’s and the wave force reduced enough that we could open up the pilot house doors. It became an overall OK ride since the waves are not as steep and rapid as the last few trips we have made.

After 10 3/4 hours of paralleling the north shore, we pulled into the anchorage. We have long dreamed of the day we would pull up to Costa’s and Maria’s hotel and drop anchor outside their door. It was an exciting moment for us. And for them, too. Maria said was thrilled when she glanced out the window and saw Kosmos in the bay. She said she frantically waved to us, but we didn’t see it.

The wind was coming at just the right angle to make the anchorage rolly. To make matters worse, there were two speed boats doing circles around us. One pulling people on inflatable tubes, the other pulling parasailers. Argh. Paravanes were definitely a must in here. We put out the paravanes and brought down the dinghy. Getting the dinghy down in the rocking bay was not easy. We can’t remember if we have mentioned this or not, but we think that the paravanes make Kosmos look like she has a force field around her, like if you get too close you will be zapped with a tremendous electrical shock. We always laugh about it when they are down.

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We puttered over to the small port. Maria told us Continue reading →