We always enjoy being in the marina in Agios Nicholaos. The town is pretty and walkable. We have friends in the marina. There are good restaurants. There is a bar about 60 steps from the boat where you can get an icy beer under shady trees…..but tourist season was beginning and things were getting crowded. We were waiting for a replacement dishwasher (the old one gave up still under warranty) and for some reason the shipment was being delayed. Victoria (who loves the dishwasher) decided we can leave without it….and suddenly everything was better! We picked a day to leave (the weather looked reasonable) and we were packing the boat for the summer!
Over the winter, Victoria had seen Darcy as a puppy being walked in a basket and decided she had to have him, so we now have a dog on board. He is doing fine although he is not fully trained to do his business outside on the deck (perfect spot I can wash it away) but he does not seem to get sea sick and likes sunning himself on the deck. He can go up the stairs from inside but doesn’t know how to go down yet but I’m sure he will learn.
We did our usual fill up with diesel then hang out in Elounda for an afternoon then leave early AM for a long day-sail. We left at 4:45am, no moon but I could see the shorline by starlight and to save time I left Victoria upstairs and went down to make our usual morning espresso. It was a bit bumpy leaving the shadow of Crete and when I was making the coffee I got a bit sea-sick! First time! Must be because I was down below actually doing something not just moving inside the boat or trying to sleep. In any case I felt a bit crappy for most of the day. Otherwise the winds were perfect. We made Astypalia in just over 12 hours which is a record I think.
Also for the first time we had a bad experience anchoring. There were several boats in the bay and room for many more but after we anchored the guy beside us in a catamarane with a New Zealand flag decided we were too close and started yelling and swearing at us! We were 30+m away and slightly behind him. I told him it was fine. He kept swearing. I told him to go f-himself and that was it. He moved himself after a few days. He wasn’t a charter he was just an idiot.
Danae was with us on the trip and we had several perfect days of perfect temperature and crystal clear water. Honestly paradise. Then we had 4 quite windy days where I don’t want to leave the boat for very long just in case the anchor drags (unlikely but not impossible) but today until next weekend is supposed to be very nice before the winds pick up again.
Funny incident on shore: we were having dinner on shore by the beach. Darcy was on a long leash and was playing with some kids. The little boy said something, and Danae said that he wanted to know the dog’s name. I responded ‘Kakoli’, which means ‘little-poo’ in Greek and the boy understood immediately! Kakoli! he seriously replied. There was no difficulty in communication as there often is when I speak Greek…..in this case it was a pure mind to mind connection wiht the 6 year old kid 😉
Now for the obligatory boat maintenance part. Just over 1 year ago I bought new batteries for the boat: 6 big Bosch truck sealed lead-acid batteries. Cost a lot. They were supposed to be good quality and I didn’t want to swith to Lithium yet. Last summer they were not holding much of a charge…..about 25% capacity was my estimate after less than 1 year of use. I was very mad. I had to run the generator to charge the batteries very late in the day (8pm) and in the morning the voltage was already dangerously low. Anyway I fumed over the winter and when we got back to the boat I was looking at options for replacing them, but I wanted to make sure there was not just one battery that was causing the problem. So I disconnected all of the batteries and tested them one by one. (I bought a battery tester.) They were all good! What is going on? I reconnected everything again and suddenly the batteries are perfect.
Almost certainly there was a bad connection somewhere between the battieries that was causing them to not charge and discharge properly. All the connections were snug when I removed them so not sure where the problem was but it is fine now. As always, 90% of problems on a boat can be fixed by taking things apart and cleaning them…..on a salt-water boat anyway. Even in your perfectly dry battery compartment.
Adventures on Spruzzo 