Crete Part 1

As usual for a passage, we were up before dawn and weighed the anchor at first light.  Pointing Bisou due south we headed off.  The winds were in our favour and not too strong so we were able to sail most of the way; although there was quite a swell on our stern starboard quarter, Bisou took it in her stride and we had a fairly uneventful if long journey.  As we approached the north coast of Crete, the winds seemed to pick up as did the seas.  The pilot guide also warned of gusting winds off the cape at the entrance to the bay where Ayios Nikolaos is located, so we lowered the mainsail and just kept the genoa raised.  It was rather choppy with confused seas as we entered the large, north-facing bay, so the last hour or so of the trip was not as pleasant as it could have been.  In addition, we decided to go straight to the marina because of the problems we were having with the starboard engine – we had had in mind to anchor in a lovely bay south of Spinalonga Island, near Elounda, but thought it best to get a mechanic to look at the engine as soon as possible with the weekend coming up.

I had sent an email to the marina requesting a berth but had not heard back by the time we entered the bay, and so called on the telephone.  The marina official indicated initially that they did not have any room for a catamaran, but when I pleaded that we had engine trouble she said that they would find a space.  By the time we arrived at the marina an hour or so later, the marinero came out to meet us and guided us to a place alongside the outer mole.  It was quiet and the water calm inside the marina and we had no trouble berthing the boat with his assistance.  The first marinero that we met (there are four employed by the marina who work in rotating shifts) was Giorgos (George) and he was new to the marina.  He spoke excellent English and was a wealth of information about where to eat, what sight-seeing to do, etc.  He was also very helpful.  The other incredibly helpful marinero was Stratos; he always made sure our lines were snug and helped us get out of the final berth we were squeezed into on our last day.

By 6pm we were tied up alongside and ready for a shower and dinner.  Giorgos had recommended a place in town, beside the small lake, called Karnagio, and to have their specialty – a smoked pork shank.

Tad with an icy beer and the smoked pork shank

Ayios Nikolaos is a cute town, and fortunately the marina is on the opposite side of the peninsula to the more touristy area.  It’s pretty easy to get around and is a clean and tidy town with some nice, up-market shops and restaurants.  There are beaches scattered everywhere although the nicest one that we found was a short bicycle ride to the south.  We walked through town to the restaurant and found a break-dancing competition going on right outside the restaurant.  Luckily for us, we were able to get a table overlooking the competition which was quite entertaining although the music was somewhat loud for us ‘oldies’!  The meal was extraordinarily delicious and took next to no time for them to bring it out – as it turned out (because we ate at this restaurant several times) it is a very popular dish and I am sure they prepare a number of the shanks in advance.  The combination of a large, icy beer a delicious pork shank with potatoes and salad and a long day at sea meant that we were very relaxed and sleepy as we walked back to the boat.  We had a good night’s sleep and woke refreshed the next day.

Giorgos had organized for a mechanic to come to the boat in the morning, and amazingly he turned up on time!  He agreed that the problem was most likely an air leak (which Tad had figured on) but the question was – where was the leak?  Eventually the mechanic decided that it must be around the Racor filter (a fuel filter) and tightened the top, which, while not exactly loose, was not as tight as it could have been.  This seemed to solve the problem – we ran the engine several times in the marina over the course of the following week, as well as a short excursion outside the marina without any issues.  Fingers crossed that it was finally fixed!

While all this was going on, I went on an exploration of the town – a newspaper, some fresh fruit and veggies and of course checking in to the marina office.  Just a quick note on the marina staff – Thespina who seems to be more or less in charge of the office is lovely!  As I checked in, I was given a ‘welcome bag’ of goodies including a bottle of Cretan wine, some olive oil, a map of the town and some information on the marina.  We had not decided how long we would stay but committed to three days with an option to extend.  In the end we probably should have paid for a month as we ended up staying 10 days which would have amounted to the same total cost – I did ask about this when I paid for the second extension but Thespina would not back-date the charges.  Good to know for next time around! Another item to note – we had asked for water to be hooked up (or rather turned on) as Tad wanted to hose down the boat.  As it turned out, we ended up moving to a berth before we used any water but they charged us the “minimum charge” of EUR 3.50 anyway!  Even though we had not used a drop!

Other ‘essential’ tasks included getting my hair done (!), buying more internet credit and of course, another delicious dinner at Karnagio that night.

The following day saw us renting a car and driving for about an hour to Knossos, just outside of Iraklion.  We actually missed the turn off the first time and took the next one, only to discover the Lidl grocery store!  This is Tad’s favourite place as they stock a particular type of smoked sausage that he loves!  I reminded him that our freezer was already pretty full of the sausages and that we had very little room left – in addition, we would be out all day in the heat exploring Knossos and then the archaeological museum in Iraklion and I wasn’t sure if the sausages would fare too well.  Although we really did not need anything in particular, we still ended up with several bags of groceries which we tried to bury under things in the back so they wouldn’t get too hot.

Once we were able to get turned around we headed to Knossos.  Parking was not a problem – the locals have it sorted.  You park beside a restaurant, for free, but are then expected to buy something from them.  So we obliged and bought a couple of bottles of water (and a couple of ice creams on the way back).  It was a short walk to the entrance of Knossos where we discovered a very large queue to the ticket office!  It took us about 20 minutes to get to the front of the queue (afterwards, I read in my Lonely Planet Guide that you are recommended to either go first thing in the morning (ideal as it gets so hot in the middle of the day) or after about 3pm) but then we were inside and ready to explore when I spotted some guides.  We negotiated a EUR 10 per person rate as the guide explained that she took small groups of about 8 people and already had 4.  She needed 4 more and then we would head off.  Once again, we waited for about 20 minutes and then were off.  The guide spoke excellent English and had some very interesting things to say about Knossos, including some more recent information that as yet was unpublished.  It was a very hot day and shady spots are few and far between – we even witnessed one poor guide (an older, rather overweight woman) who almost collapsed and needed to be taken back to the entrance area.  The site is no longer being excavated as it’s too ‘fragile’ (danger of the buildings and structures collapsing); the ‘restoration’ work carried out by the archaeologist,  is rather gaudy and artificial-looking, but admittedly it does give the untrained eye and idea of what the place must have looked like in Minoan times.  A visit to the archaeological museum in Iraklion is a must, following Knossos, and we managed to spend another two hours here.  The artefacts and art-work are spectacular and well worth a good visit.  An added plus is that the museum is air-conditioned and the ticket price we paid at Knossos included the visit to the museum.  By now it was almost 6pm so we drove back to the marina for dinner and bed.

Some of the restoration work at Knossos

Part of the restored frescoes

Giant urns for oil and wine

Although we had rented the car for two consecutive days, we were told the next morning that we would have to move Bisou from where she was moored as there was a coast guard boat coming in.  The marinero (Stratos) showed us where we could go to berth, but although the berth was plenty wide enough, the distance between the pontoons that we would have to navigate was VERY narrow (more to the point, the mooring lines from both sides extended so far into the fairway that there was practically no room to navigate!  It seemed that we would have no choice, so we made the decision to go out of the marina to empty our holding tanks, flush them and then come back in before the wind picked up.

Those of you who have been following our blog will have read about our ‘toilet troubles’ in a previous post.  This was still in the early stages when we thought we could remedy our problems by simply flushing out the holding tanks and then Tad would take the valve apart and see if there was a problem with the valve.   In any case, off we went, a short distance out into the bay where we were able to flush the tanks until we felt they were ‘clean’ and then came back towards the marina.  As we approached the entrance, we saw an Australian-flagged yacht waiting to enter – we motored past them and said hello and said we would look them up once we were berthed in the marina.

We waited for a marinero (it was Stratos) to come to the pontoon to assist us, and then Tad navigated Bisou very slowly and carefully between the mooring lines and the boats to the berth.  I was running back and forth gently pushing us away from bowsprits, anchors and other paraphernalia sticking into the fairway and Tad was an amazing driver getting Bisou into a very tight spot.  The mooring lines were covered in barnacles and were really too short for our boat (subsequently scratching the gelcoat on the starboard hull) but at least we had a safe berth for the time being.  Even though it was already early afternoon, we decided to use the rental car for the rest of the day by driving to the Lassithi Plateau, in the same direction as Iraklion.