Rhodes, Crete and the Peloponnese

When we left the harbour in Rhodes the anchor was stuck fast. I thought maybe we had found the statue of the Colossus lying on the bottom. Try as we might maneuvering the boat back and forth it would not budge so unfortunately we had to send a diver down to free it from a metal plate it was hooked under. It would have been a very inexpensive mooring at only 6 euros a night but the €120 for the diver made it the most expensive one night mooring we have had to date!

We planned to head northwest and wend our way down the Dodecanese but the meltemi got up to 30 knots from that direction so we decided to head SW to Crete. We took shelter in an anchorage on the east side of Crete at a place called Zakros and waited a couple of days until the wind dropped. Even here catabatic winds rushed down the steep mountainside in gusts in excess of 30 knots.

We moved a further 40 miles along the south coast to Ierapetra and anchored opposite the town for a few hours while we did some emergency provisioning and then sailed overnight to a new marina near the small town of Palaiochora. We were the only yacht in the marina; in fact we were the first yacht this year. The new marina, which is still not finished, has no office and hence there is no body to pay. We got two free nights moored comfortably alongside the dock with water and electricity included. The quaint little town itself is a short walk away and has lots of little restaurants lining the sea front but not many tourists.

We headed for the Peloponnese, a two-day sail of 140 miles or so. There was now little wind, (always either too much or too little and usually on the nose) so we sailed when we could and motored when it dropped to nothing at night. Unfortunately the thrust bearing on the Aquadrive, which connects the propeller shaft to the gearbox, spat out its ball bearings and that was the end of the motoring option. We had a very slow sail to Kalamata in the Peloponnese, (4 days). It all got too much when the wind disappeared completely with 8 miles to go, so we towed the boat with the dinghy. Yes it can be done in calm conditions 13.5 hp towing 20tons of boat!

David left us here and flew home. William had the fun job of moving the half-ton generator through 90 degrees to allow access to the offending thrust bearing which it was sitting on top of. The engineer who operates in the marina was very good and managed to extract the aforesaid bearing plus the rest of the Aquadrive while the boat was in the water, saving us an expensive lift out. He also fixed the bearing saving us having to ship a new one from the UK.

Kalamata is situated in the Messenian Gulf, overlooked by the imposing Mount Taygetos. It is a fairly large town with a good range of shops including hardware, chandlery and a bakery near the AB supermarket that sells wonderful ice creams for €1.10Fig is my favorite so far but I still have to try the chocolate.

The old town winds its way up the lower slopes of the mountain, through narrow streets and flights of stone steps towards the castle. We walked to the castle and it's free to go inside. It is in ruins but there are within its walls an open-air theatre and a small church. The view from the top, of Kalamata and the surrounding area, was worth the climb. The town is famous for olives and they are very good. They come in a variety of sizes labeled large, giant and the biggest as colossal. I have yet to try a colossal one.

We have enjoyed our stay in Greece and it would have been nice to see more of the islands but we need to move on. With the engine back in action we plan to leave for Italy early in June.