Sunday, December 1, 2013

Morning in Epidavros, Preparing to Set Sail

Tuesday, June 12, we awoke in the aft, starboard berth of our sailboat.  With no air conditioning and the windows vented, the sun tends to wake you up.  Also, when in port, noises in and on boats nearby and on the quay (pier, pronounced "key") will alert you that morning has arrived.

Before the trip, we had been told that there would be a meeting held every morning, a "briefing".  I am by no means a morning person, and I had been worried that these meetings may be as early as 7 or 8am.  Not to worry, our lead crew established our morning briefing time at 9:30am.  Whew!

We had the option of purchasing groceries and preparing and eating breakfast on our boat, or of eating at any of the tavernas or cafes.  Our meeting was to be held at the Hotel Poseidon, so we chose to have breakfast there.

I ordered a fruit plate and fresh-squeezed orange juice.  I think Chris ordered Greek yogurt, which also came with fruit and some honey.  I couldn't believe my fruit plate when it arrived!  Huge and beautiful!
Little did we know at the time, that this kind of fruit, yogurt and fresh-squeezed OJ was offered at every little Greek port we would visit.  Just heavenly.

At shortly after 9:30, the group gathered for our first morning briefing.  I think each table introduced ourselves aloud, or maybe there was a roll call?  We met (or re-met) our Skipper, Harry from New Zealand (the Kiwi), our Engineer, Bobby (also from NZ, I think?), and our Hostie (hostess), Kate, from Australia.  They all live on Lead Boat Kyra, which is a bit smaller than any other boat in the flotilla.  This is pretty impressive, because they carry with them all kinds of supplies, tools and replacement parts for on-the-spot repairs of any of the flotilla boats.

We were told that we would head for Vathi that day, and were given the compass coordinates to get there.  Harry told us what to expect of the weather and the winds. He also suggested the latest arrival time that we should plan to make our appearance at Vathi.  Sometimes, they wanted us to arrive by a certain time due to impending weather, wind, and/or storms.  Other times, they had parties and group dinners planned for us.  But we figured out at some point that they like to set a "curfew" (if you will) so that they could plan for when they could be "off the clock".  It's pretty admirable that the lead crew works so hard without days off.  I'm sure it's a fun job, but they are "on call" 24/7.

Kate told us what amenities would be available in Vathi, as well as some fun things we could think about doing there (volcano hiking, anyone?).  When I say "amenities", what I mean is - she told us which tavernas were the favorites, where the trash bins were, where we could shower and how much it would cost, and where we could find someone to help us hire a taxi if we wanted to leave town.  This was part of the Hostie briefing every morning.  Some ports had banks and ATMs; some didn't have shower facilities.  Some ports had grocery stories, fresh water for the boat, even ice.  Some did not. So it was always important to listen to Kate's part of the briefing.

During Bobby's part of the briefing, he asked if any boats needed any supplies or repairs, and he scheduled a time to take care of those.  Bobby may have the hardest job of the lead crew!

Before we left home for our vacation, we had received this Harbor Guide.
Now, I'm a compulsive planner, so I was excited to get this guide to study and review.  But there was one problem.  There were about 20-25 ports listed in the harbor guide, and we didn't know which ones we would visit.  In fact, on this flotilla, you really don't know which port you will visit on a given day until sometimes the day before, and sometimes after lunch on each day's voyage.  It all depends on weather, winds, and how crowded each harbor is.

So I didn't spend too much effort studying ahead, mainly because I didn't want to get all excited about visiting a port, only to have to skip that one once we were on vacation.

Inside the harbor guide, there are about 2 pages for each port, listing information about the history and geography, along with a harbor map.  These maps were essential as we pulled into each port, as we would radio Lead Boat Kyra and they would let us know where they wanted us to dock.

Here is the harbor map for Epidavros.
Our boat was moored along the left side, just under where it says "fishing boats". You can see the Hotel Poseidon, where we had our morning briefing.

After breakfast, we took inventory of all of the items on our boat and signed off on an inventory sheet.  We were missing a couple of items, one of which was a horseshoe-shaped life saver float.  I think we were also missing a teaspoon.  Kate got these items for us, so we'd be complete as we sailed off that afternoon.  The boats came with all kinds of cool things, like nautical charts and old-school compasses, binoculars, harnesses (which we never used), first aid kit, tool kit, lots of linens, tea pot and coffee pot, etc.

We had one or two minor technical issues.  I think one was that our shower wouldn't drain.  Also, one of our water tanks was empty.  Bobby was making the rounds to all the boats, prioritizing repairs, and such, so while we waited for him, Chris hoisted our flags.


Here are several angles of our boat, moored "Mediterranean style".  There's an anchor off the front, and lines on both sides of the stern.  This is how we moored at most ports.  It makes it very easy to get onto and off of the boat, but doesn't provide much privacy.

 Konitsa is a beautiful 34-foot Benetau.

You can see some of the supplies the boat is outfitted with, including the bucket and sponge on the back, horseshoe life float, the stern anchor, dock lines and fenders. There is a compass above the steering wheel, and storage under the port-side seating.

Incidentally, the bow anchor is attached to a winch (a windlass) in the bow of the boat. It is one of the scariest things I've ever seen.  We were warned about how dangerous that thing is and I was literally afraid to go within 3 feet of it for the first half of our trip.  But eventually I was forced to learn to use it.  When we arrived at each harbor, I had to be on the bow, with the windlass remote in hand, ready to drop the anchor while Chris steered the boat.
 
When Bobby came by to check everything out, he did a sailing/safety briefing. There were two other boats just like ours, so our briefings were done on another boat, together.

We had arranged to pay for an "extra set of hands" offered by Sailing Holidays for the first couple of days.  We weren't sure how confident we would feel with just our Sailing 101 certification under our belts.  But after talking to both Harry and Bobby, they decided we had enough boating experience (from our lifelong experience with ski and wakeboard boats) that we probably wouldn't need the extra help, so we ended up nixing the extra set of hands.

We still spent the money, however, in the form of an outboard motor for our dinghy.  The dinghy and paddles are standard equipment on each boat in the flotilla, but the outboard is not.  That outboard was money well spent, although we had a love/hate relationship with it over the next 13 days. More to come on that.

Once the boat was all set, we walked over to a  taverna for a sandwich for lunch, then to a grocery store to stock up on snacks, ice, and the essential beer and wine.

By about noon, we were ready to leave the sweet, quiet town of Epidavros and set sail for Vathi...

I love Greece!