Kythnos beach
My camp
I think this is the only photo I took durring the crossing when it calmed down some. I really did not feel good at all!
Pretty sure I just puked
Me beach from afar
the Beach
Sunday, April 25, 2010
couple of pics
Kythnos beach
My camp
I think this is the only photo I took durring the crossing when it calmed down some. I really did not feel good at all!
Pretty sure I just puked
Me beach from afar
the Beach
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Am I Thinking?
It has come to my attention that I might have not been doing the smartest activity ever thought up, if not crazy. Playing frogger with ships at the same time peekaboo with my boat (Norwegian friend I made calls my boat an air mattress) as I duck under the peak of waves. I have decided to drop out of the Aegean sea crossing. I take this in a good way as in I tried and have decided to move on somewhere I am not fighting the weather and ships, Croatia is the new venue for Ben and his Kayak! Like many other weeks, this past one has been full of everything.
I did make the crossing from Kea island to Kythnos after a long ordeal of patients and scare. Patients with the weather so many sailors I have met say is the key to survival. Yes I can be a patient person if I want to be and I know that does not make sense but it does to me. I understand that weather is one of my biggest challenges using a boat the size of mine. The use of resources form the internet have been the key source of information. The weather reports on the VHF radio are not good told by many of the locals, if you are even able to hear them. So patient I must be and pacients I was on the day I was intending to set out for the crossing. Nothing but sitting and waiting at port with intentions to getting an early start the next day.
Intionaly I really wanted to get an early start, but that did not happen. Now my excuse: first I did not want to get up and second another excuse I slept horrible because of the rain, sand flies and the disco that played 90's hits tell the morning light! (It does all come into play though and with good luck in the future, it just shows everything is for a reason)
The first part of the day was uneventful with not much more than a slight swell and little to no wind. It all came into action when rounding the southern point of the island into the obvious windward side. It never got too horrible really, but slowly progressed from mild winds, big rolling waves to wind in your face slowing progress and waves breaking over the bow of my boat. None of the conditions really bothered me besides the fact it could get worst. I decided I would not cross that day(again good thing I got up later than I wanted to or the weather might have hit in mid channel) and for sure not at the southern point for if the weather did get worst blowing me further south I would be without land. That land part was an issue too. The southern part of Kea island is cliffed out. Even if I wanted to there was nowhere to land my boat. My decision was to head further up the east side of the coast looking for a beach to camp out on and wait out the weather before it got worse. Slowly, very slowly I did make my way up the coat at about 1MPH paddling at a good pace. By that time though I was into it and did not care I was enjoying the ride the sea was giving me and singing away with my iPod! I landed at my beach early afternoon.
My Beach, it is a wonderful place. An old site of Greek ruins. It actually comes with two beaches separated by a rock outcropping on which 3 temples lye in ruins. Then there is a small chappel and a a couple of workers huts for working on the ruins. The hillsides are terraced from long ago and so many stone fences with corrals line the hills. So there I was at my beach just me, alone. It is a funny feeling though because it is a deserted beach but so long ago alive with many people giving it a weird feeling like someone else should be there.
I really had nothing to do and that is not good. I hate beach holidays. I have only really been on one you could say. I was in Mexico after climbing some volcanoes I had to wait at the beach for a friend and then spend time there. I think it was 5-7 days and really after 1 or so hours on a beach laying around I need to run around or something. So now I was stuck on a beach alone and for how long well the weather only knew. I ended up spending 1 and a half days on the beach and my something I ended up doing was hiking. The terraces really give you a great trail to run around on. So much work was done by so many people there in the past it was amazing to be the only one there. I also did head inland to find house and some people. I put a plan C or so into play that if I was not able to paddle way before my 3 day supply of food and water I could break everything down and hike it out to a road and hitch or something.
I built fires at night, read a little and enjoyed the sound of the waves. But still throughout those days the wind and waves held there own for my little kayak. I did even try once to go out but then remembered to be patient. The night before I actually did make the crossing a sailboat and crew from Denmark did come into the bay. They too in there 40 something foot boat were hiding from the weather. This justified my reasoning and was now happy to be doing nothing on a beach. The crew of the boat came ashore asking me if I needed anything with the offer to take me to the other side of the island the next morning. I declined the offer though knowing I was self supported and had time to wait it out. Something about me is I never like to go backwards. I will try anything and the idea as everyone obviously knows might be too big for me to bite off but I hate going backwards. So that night I decided to just get a good nights sleep and hope for the best the next morning.
The weather the next morning was looking up for a great crossing. Perfect amount of wind to sail and only smaller sized waves to deal with now. The big problem was I was feeling horrible. I not sure actually why. Maybe it was something I ate or the wine I had was bad? Even though, I had to go puking and a head ache my decision was to go. So after packing up real quick and puking up the food I tried to eat I was in my kayak and paddling.
First thing I hate being sick, I rarely get sick and second you never want to get in a kayak when you have to paddle and you have to make it to the other side when you are sick. At first it was fine I had a little wind with it picking up making it so I did not really even have to paddle. But after the winds got higher so did the waves. At the point I believe I was 3 miles offshore almost half way in the 8 mile crossing the waves were higher than my head while sitting in my kayak with a slight white cap on them. This will do nothing good at all for your stomach let alone your nerves. I was really doing it then! I had thoughts of going back but the thought of going back did not sit well with me I was almost halfway across. When I tried drinking anything I would just puke it up all over the side of my boat. So this is it I was just going and counting the tenths of miles slowly going by.
Then there is the boat traffic. Even when the weather is great I never want to be in the channel. The ferries and large container ships along with just your regular recreational boats scare me. I know they can't see me. I have a VHF radio but still I don't want to have to judge when I should use it or not and then it be too late. So again I want out of this channel ASAP. Traffic is high today just my luck and many pass by obviously without incident. Then I see one of these cargo ships coming a distance off. It is really hard to tell how far but it does look possible with my progress and his we could connect. The decision is to either stay where I am and wait for him to cross or make a run for it. Now if I stay where I am, I am exposed to others longer and if I run for it I may not run fast enough. So I choose to run haha.
Paddling and watching we become closer and closer connected. Maybe I should have stayed where I was but still we will see. The actuality of him hitting me is slim but I do not want a chance at all. Within a few hundred yards I decide to call him on the radio just to warn him of my presence. It must have been funny to hear my transmission. I think it was something like this”Big shipping vessel this is Irene do you see me” or something like that. I know I did use big shipping vessel haha. Lack of professional use of the radio probably warned him more than the words. The radio worked and my worrying was over as the crew looked over and gave me a nice shout of enthusiasm.
Still I hate the traffic and there was probably nothing to worry about. All I had to do was get to the other side now and get off the boat. This seemed easy but not at all. By the time I did make the crossing to Kythnos, where I was there was nowhere to get out. Rocky cliffs lined the coast. I wanted nothing more than to get off the boat and lay down or die. None of that was possible as I still had a good 7 miles to go from there to the port. This was the long part of the day. I would paddle and stop then do it again. I wanted nothing to do with being there. I had no choose though. Hours went on like this, I was pathetic. My worst and best performance yet. I did make it obviously and with that it became my best performance because I did it. I was met at the beach by a local named Consta. His family owns a restaurant situated on the beach and he offered me a fresh squeezed orange juice “On the house”
How I hated and loved that experience. I would do it again, but do not ask me to. I have said this before but I do love to suffer and maybe give myself too much pride in it sometimes. Sometimes though I wish this was not the way I was. My short term memory of pain my be the reason I get myself into these ideas. Somethings I do want to develop in my life but this one is undecided and I think it is just the way I am.
The island of Kythnos was nice. The town of Loutra where I stayed is a small place. Perfect really all you really need is there. Soon after I arrived I was greeted by an older Norwegian man: Lasse, who owned a 40 something foot sailing boat. He was the only other tourist around. After talking for a bit and him telling me I was traveling on an air mattress we agreed to meet for dinner to try to find a good steak. Maybe this is only funny to me but I was not really sure about finding a good steak and was right. Hamburger steak I guess you could call it, we did though the next night find a descent steak. Over the next few days we spent time eating together telling stories with me learning lots about the sea and sailing.
I am in Croatia now, with the advice of Lasse and my troubles waiting around for better weather. Another choose would have been to go to the southeastern islands of Greece near the Turkish coast and sail about for a bit. The problem though is time, both mine and relations with the politics in Greece. As many of you may know the economic crisis has hit hard in Greece. This past week some of the transport systems have striked and the ferry's along with the train services were effected. This also played into a role of my decision. I just did not want to put of with there issues. A choose was made, Croatia is a nice place having been there two years ago and the island hoping seems like a given area to try it out.
So here I am on my final train leg. In about 1 hour I will be in Zadar. I have been traveling since 8PM two days ago when I left Athens, it will almost be 47 hours by the time I arrive. I do not mind this type of endless travel. You just go with the flow and sometimes the system is smooth but most of the time it is not. I always do know I will make it there someway. Just like today when I did not read, as I can't read that the train does not run at 1300 to Zadar at my connection on Saturdays, I had to wait 3 hours. But those three hours were in a small town I would probably never seen if I did not have that luck.
So as for this last week, it happened and another is in the future.
I did make the crossing from Kea island to Kythnos after a long ordeal of patients and scare. Patients with the weather so many sailors I have met say is the key to survival. Yes I can be a patient person if I want to be and I know that does not make sense but it does to me. I understand that weather is one of my biggest challenges using a boat the size of mine. The use of resources form the internet have been the key source of information. The weather reports on the VHF radio are not good told by many of the locals, if you are even able to hear them. So patient I must be and pacients I was on the day I was intending to set out for the crossing. Nothing but sitting and waiting at port with intentions to getting an early start the next day.
Intionaly I really wanted to get an early start, but that did not happen. Now my excuse: first I did not want to get up and second another excuse I slept horrible because of the rain, sand flies and the disco that played 90's hits tell the morning light! (It does all come into play though and with good luck in the future, it just shows everything is for a reason)
The first part of the day was uneventful with not much more than a slight swell and little to no wind. It all came into action when rounding the southern point of the island into the obvious windward side. It never got too horrible really, but slowly progressed from mild winds, big rolling waves to wind in your face slowing progress and waves breaking over the bow of my boat. None of the conditions really bothered me besides the fact it could get worst. I decided I would not cross that day(again good thing I got up later than I wanted to or the weather might have hit in mid channel) and for sure not at the southern point for if the weather did get worst blowing me further south I would be without land. That land part was an issue too. The southern part of Kea island is cliffed out. Even if I wanted to there was nowhere to land my boat. My decision was to head further up the east side of the coast looking for a beach to camp out on and wait out the weather before it got worse. Slowly, very slowly I did make my way up the coat at about 1MPH paddling at a good pace. By that time though I was into it and did not care I was enjoying the ride the sea was giving me and singing away with my iPod! I landed at my beach early afternoon.
My Beach, it is a wonderful place. An old site of Greek ruins. It actually comes with two beaches separated by a rock outcropping on which 3 temples lye in ruins. Then there is a small chappel and a a couple of workers huts for working on the ruins. The hillsides are terraced from long ago and so many stone fences with corrals line the hills. So there I was at my beach just me, alone. It is a funny feeling though because it is a deserted beach but so long ago alive with many people giving it a weird feeling like someone else should be there.
I really had nothing to do and that is not good. I hate beach holidays. I have only really been on one you could say. I was in Mexico after climbing some volcanoes I had to wait at the beach for a friend and then spend time there. I think it was 5-7 days and really after 1 or so hours on a beach laying around I need to run around or something. So now I was stuck on a beach alone and for how long well the weather only knew. I ended up spending 1 and a half days on the beach and my something I ended up doing was hiking. The terraces really give you a great trail to run around on. So much work was done by so many people there in the past it was amazing to be the only one there. I also did head inland to find house and some people. I put a plan C or so into play that if I was not able to paddle way before my 3 day supply of food and water I could break everything down and hike it out to a road and hitch or something.
I built fires at night, read a little and enjoyed the sound of the waves. But still throughout those days the wind and waves held there own for my little kayak. I did even try once to go out but then remembered to be patient. The night before I actually did make the crossing a sailboat and crew from Denmark did come into the bay. They too in there 40 something foot boat were hiding from the weather. This justified my reasoning and was now happy to be doing nothing on a beach. The crew of the boat came ashore asking me if I needed anything with the offer to take me to the other side of the island the next morning. I declined the offer though knowing I was self supported and had time to wait it out. Something about me is I never like to go backwards. I will try anything and the idea as everyone obviously knows might be too big for me to bite off but I hate going backwards. So that night I decided to just get a good nights sleep and hope for the best the next morning.
The weather the next morning was looking up for a great crossing. Perfect amount of wind to sail and only smaller sized waves to deal with now. The big problem was I was feeling horrible. I not sure actually why. Maybe it was something I ate or the wine I had was bad? Even though, I had to go puking and a head ache my decision was to go. So after packing up real quick and puking up the food I tried to eat I was in my kayak and paddling.
First thing I hate being sick, I rarely get sick and second you never want to get in a kayak when you have to paddle and you have to make it to the other side when you are sick. At first it was fine I had a little wind with it picking up making it so I did not really even have to paddle. But after the winds got higher so did the waves. At the point I believe I was 3 miles offshore almost half way in the 8 mile crossing the waves were higher than my head while sitting in my kayak with a slight white cap on them. This will do nothing good at all for your stomach let alone your nerves. I was really doing it then! I had thoughts of going back but the thought of going back did not sit well with me I was almost halfway across. When I tried drinking anything I would just puke it up all over the side of my boat. So this is it I was just going and counting the tenths of miles slowly going by.
Then there is the boat traffic. Even when the weather is great I never want to be in the channel. The ferries and large container ships along with just your regular recreational boats scare me. I know they can't see me. I have a VHF radio but still I don't want to have to judge when I should use it or not and then it be too late. So again I want out of this channel ASAP. Traffic is high today just my luck and many pass by obviously without incident. Then I see one of these cargo ships coming a distance off. It is really hard to tell how far but it does look possible with my progress and his we could connect. The decision is to either stay where I am and wait for him to cross or make a run for it. Now if I stay where I am, I am exposed to others longer and if I run for it I may not run fast enough. So I choose to run haha.
Paddling and watching we become closer and closer connected. Maybe I should have stayed where I was but still we will see. The actuality of him hitting me is slim but I do not want a chance at all. Within a few hundred yards I decide to call him on the radio just to warn him of my presence. It must have been funny to hear my transmission. I think it was something like this”Big shipping vessel this is Irene do you see me” or something like that. I know I did use big shipping vessel haha. Lack of professional use of the radio probably warned him more than the words. The radio worked and my worrying was over as the crew looked over and gave me a nice shout of enthusiasm.
Still I hate the traffic and there was probably nothing to worry about. All I had to do was get to the other side now and get off the boat. This seemed easy but not at all. By the time I did make the crossing to Kythnos, where I was there was nowhere to get out. Rocky cliffs lined the coast. I wanted nothing more than to get off the boat and lay down or die. None of that was possible as I still had a good 7 miles to go from there to the port. This was the long part of the day. I would paddle and stop then do it again. I wanted nothing to do with being there. I had no choose though. Hours went on like this, I was pathetic. My worst and best performance yet. I did make it obviously and with that it became my best performance because I did it. I was met at the beach by a local named Consta. His family owns a restaurant situated on the beach and he offered me a fresh squeezed orange juice “On the house”
How I hated and loved that experience. I would do it again, but do not ask me to. I have said this before but I do love to suffer and maybe give myself too much pride in it sometimes. Sometimes though I wish this was not the way I was. My short term memory of pain my be the reason I get myself into these ideas. Somethings I do want to develop in my life but this one is undecided and I think it is just the way I am.
The island of Kythnos was nice. The town of Loutra where I stayed is a small place. Perfect really all you really need is there. Soon after I arrived I was greeted by an older Norwegian man: Lasse, who owned a 40 something foot sailing boat. He was the only other tourist around. After talking for a bit and him telling me I was traveling on an air mattress we agreed to meet for dinner to try to find a good steak. Maybe this is only funny to me but I was not really sure about finding a good steak and was right. Hamburger steak I guess you could call it, we did though the next night find a descent steak. Over the next few days we spent time eating together telling stories with me learning lots about the sea and sailing.
I am in Croatia now, with the advice of Lasse and my troubles waiting around for better weather. Another choose would have been to go to the southeastern islands of Greece near the Turkish coast and sail about for a bit. The problem though is time, both mine and relations with the politics in Greece. As many of you may know the economic crisis has hit hard in Greece. This past week some of the transport systems have striked and the ferry's along with the train services were effected. This also played into a role of my decision. I just did not want to put of with there issues. A choose was made, Croatia is a nice place having been there two years ago and the island hoping seems like a given area to try it out.
So here I am on my final train leg. In about 1 hour I will be in Zadar. I have been traveling since 8PM two days ago when I left Athens, it will almost be 47 hours by the time I arrive. I do not mind this type of endless travel. You just go with the flow and sometimes the system is smooth but most of the time it is not. I always do know I will make it there someway. Just like today when I did not read, as I can't read that the train does not run at 1300 to Zadar at my connection on Saturdays, I had to wait 3 hours. But those three hours were in a small town I would probably never seen if I did not have that luck.
So as for this last week, it happened and another is in the future.
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Next stop Croatia.
Weather, time, unsettled transport strikes, ship traffic and just plain scared I have made the decision to go to Croatia. I am in Athens with a start to Croatia tonight on a bus. The goverment transport systems are on strike and I want to leave Greece ASAP. I will write more soon but want to roam the streets before traveling endlessly the next day or so. I think this is the best choose for me to be able to actually get out on the water and not just hang out on a beach. More soon!
Friday, April 16, 2010
Sea PIcs!
From bag to Boat!
Sign says it!
Me boat and Daniel's boat!
humm nice water
Enjoying the open water!
Sailing
My sailing ship
fishing boat
village
streets
spring
village streets
Sheep head yumm
Island Hopin!
Sunny perfect weather, this is Greece! Kea Island and I am waiting. Waiting for good wind. Good wind for my kayak that will make my next crossing a pleasant one. I arrived here on the evening of the 14Th after making the crossing from the port of Lavrios. Before Lavrios which is 20-30 miles southeast of Athens which is just a nice bus ride from Athens where I spent half of last weekend enjoying the city. The week has been a good one, new changes in the right direction as far as my enjoyment is considered.
Athens-Nice place, but really big. Again the weather perfect when I arrived this last Sunday morning. A quick walk around the port with my luggage I was able to find the metro to the city center. Really easy the transport is in Athens. Knowing that the Olympics were there in 2004 I am able to understand why this is. The hostel I was easy to located and very central. Central though is not the central square where everything is nice and perfect. Central in Athens is a hodgepodge of people who live there because it works for them. I liked it. I met so many different people on the streets, mostly foreign to Greece. The Hostel was plane, kind of reminded me of a hospital. Yes it was very clean but no character.
As it was a Sunday the historical sights were free and that is a great plus as they were expensive compared to other such sights throughout the world. Amazing though, I was really impressed like anyone should be. I do find these types of places funny. Everyone taking pictures left and right with no real need to look at them I guess, maybe they do that at home I am not sure?
Enjoyable as the sights are I really like to see what is going on at the moment while in city's not just the historical. Athens is great for this. Wide range of people watching, from the markets to the tourist sights, to the parts of town you would not want to be seen at night. So overall Athens was great, I was able to see a small part of the culture but still with the motivation to get moving and start the Greek part of my Kayaking trip.
Intentionally I was going to start on the 13Th from the Port of Lavrios. I made it to Larios around 9AM or so but the fact is I wanted more time to set up. I first need to stock my water supply. A quick hop to the supermarket and then to the port and I was ready to start unpacking my boat and setting up.
The marina in Lavrios is nice I think. Mostly full of charter boats but also some private boats. I found a nice area and talked with the owner of one of the charter boat company and he said to go right ahead an put in wherever I needed. Nice and simple. Few people believe me at first when I say I have a boat in my bag. I think that it is funny too when they are surprised like I lied to them! When setting up my boat I always get a lot of lookers. I am thinking if you want attention you need million dollar boat or mine, either way I can get attention.
One to notice what I am trying to do was an older but still young Italian guy who owned a nice sailboat near here I was setting up. Interested and wondering we talked and talked. Daniel a tried and true sailor with countless years on sailboats liked my idea. In mutual respect we talked about sailing and the fact that I knew nothing about what I was doing but with Daniel in total agreement of my undertaking with the same understanding of desire for adventure. My departure was delayed yes by talking and learning so I decided to stay there in Lavrios that night enjoying the company and incite of Daniel. Slow process of setting up the boat was also delayed again when Daniel made me lunch and made me drink a glass of his special wine from his home in Italy. With the boat perfected and my nerves at easy for not having to cross that day Daniel and I basically talked all day about anything and everything. That night we ate everything Italian (besides the Swiss chocolate.) Great simple Italian food and after a nice walk into town for coffee and of course Italian. That night I had my own cabin on the boat what a pleasure really, with my boat tied to the back of the boat I slept great that night looking forward to the crossings.
14Th- The biggest sailing/ kayaking day of my life and I felt good. Calm winds, a nice cup of coffee and the encouragement of everyone on the docks I was off. Heading out of the harbor it was really calm. Putting crossings into easy terms for me when crossing: I just think of it like I am right on shore but actually miles from it. I believe the mental game for me is big. All I really have to do is paddle and sooner than later I will get to the other side. What I want to do is watch out for other boats. I am not really sure but am almost positive that the radar on other boats can not see me. My idea is that I will dodge the ships not even thinking that they see me to move out of my way. All of my thoughts are conservative with the confidence that all it is is paddling.
The first crossing is about 2.5 miles and the secound is almost 10 miles, 9.89 to be exact. All I can really do is start and start I do. Four to 6 hours it should me. Again all I can really do is paddle. Just a mental game to keep going. There is a little wind so I am able to sail which gives me a little push. The sail does a great job and I feel confident of the stability of the boat and the sail.
Time goes on throughout the crossing and so do I. In my head I think of this as a big ordeal, it maybe or it may not, but I make it one. Winds pick up a little near the island. Eyes are set on a small beach that has a nice campground I have heard. It is a little rough getting in the bay as the winds coming off the cliffs. Still I am able to sail into the bay landing the Kayak on a nice pebble beach. Empty as it looks there are people around. Being my first stop I have nothing to work off of in perspective. There is a small restaurant with some people working in it. I ask about camping only to find out I need to wait tell 5PM. No problem, the wait on a nice beach with a slight breeze and a warm sun goes fast as I fall asleep shortly after sitting down.
Campground is not open and I really do not want to camp out alone as I have done enough of that for right now. I enjoy human contact believe it or not. The town of Korissa is a nice 5 or so miles away with another 3 hours I should reach it in not time. The water is still nice just a little wind but nothing to be worried about. Time goes by fast me singing to myself and watching the coastline go by. Arriving at Korissa it has a nice pleasant port with everything I need. Paddling in to the port people greet me with wonder of where I have came from. It is a nice evening. John a local whose family owns a gyro shop tell me to come by after my boat is taken care of. I end my day with a gyros and a beer and sleep on my boat tied up along side the rest of the harbors boats, falling asleep to an old man who talks to himself and he seems to enjoy it!
Same old man I fell asleep listening to still at it when I awake from my boat. I was able to sleep 11 hours laying on my boat with people passing as it was tied up right along a sidewalk. This is a skill I think I could use in the future. The night before I did not really even look at the small town. I want to stay at least a day and get a feel for the place. Organizing and waking up just the normal routine I have in the morning I meet Phil. Phil and his wife Daniele an Australian, French couple have a 46 foot Sailboat 50 meters or so down the way with a couple fishing boats between us. We talk just about well sailing I guess and the norm of what and why we are in Greece. Phil offers me if I want to tied my boat off to his to keep my valuables safe and a little more protection from the wake the ferry gives off. Great and again I am amazed by how wonderful people in this world are. Phil and Daniele's boat is amazing a great early retirement home! There plan is to sail the next 5 years with the destination of Australia. Coffee is nice and welcoming as is visiting like always with good people. There plan for the day was to walk up to the small village of Loulis/Chora. Me being my rude self pretty much ask myself to be invited with a nice for sure from Phil and Daniele. 5.5Km a nice walk into the hills of Kea. The place was really nice, small streets with beautiful colors and wildflowers all the way there. The big attraction though was this stone lion dating back to 600 BC I think. Yep we saw it and it looked like a lion. The nice part of the walk though was the good company and the perfect spring weather. Nice Greek salad at a restaurant and walked back to the port. The rest of the day I took some notes from sailing books of the area and enjoyed the heat of the afternoon. So nice of them Phil and Daniele invited me for dinner on there boat which I could not refuse. Dinner was perfect, a fresh lentil vegetable soup, wine, bread, cheese along with a coffee. Again a perfect night of visiting with great people into the night over dinner. I am so grateful for the amazing people I have met and thank you all!
I slept on the deck of Phil and Daniele's boat. Today though the weather is not what I am wanting for sailing my boat. Phil and Daniele offered to take me around the top of this island on there boat. That would have cut off a good 6 or so miles. But with the forecast and the way it was looking my plan now is to hold up here tonight again so I am able to get the best forecast I can for tomorrow even though a longer day. Somewhere around 20-5 miles which is not that bad. 8 mile crossing but so far the forecast looks great for tomorrow. I am just taking this one day at a time learning a little more patients everyday. I can't complain though, life is good.
Athens-Nice place, but really big. Again the weather perfect when I arrived this last Sunday morning. A quick walk around the port with my luggage I was able to find the metro to the city center. Really easy the transport is in Athens. Knowing that the Olympics were there in 2004 I am able to understand why this is. The hostel I was easy to located and very central. Central though is not the central square where everything is nice and perfect. Central in Athens is a hodgepodge of people who live there because it works for them. I liked it. I met so many different people on the streets, mostly foreign to Greece. The Hostel was plane, kind of reminded me of a hospital. Yes it was very clean but no character.
As it was a Sunday the historical sights were free and that is a great plus as they were expensive compared to other such sights throughout the world. Amazing though, I was really impressed like anyone should be. I do find these types of places funny. Everyone taking pictures left and right with no real need to look at them I guess, maybe they do that at home I am not sure?
Enjoyable as the sights are I really like to see what is going on at the moment while in city's not just the historical. Athens is great for this. Wide range of people watching, from the markets to the tourist sights, to the parts of town you would not want to be seen at night. So overall Athens was great, I was able to see a small part of the culture but still with the motivation to get moving and start the Greek part of my Kayaking trip.
Intentionally I was going to start on the 13Th from the Port of Lavrios. I made it to Larios around 9AM or so but the fact is I wanted more time to set up. I first need to stock my water supply. A quick hop to the supermarket and then to the port and I was ready to start unpacking my boat and setting up.
The marina in Lavrios is nice I think. Mostly full of charter boats but also some private boats. I found a nice area and talked with the owner of one of the charter boat company and he said to go right ahead an put in wherever I needed. Nice and simple. Few people believe me at first when I say I have a boat in my bag. I think that it is funny too when they are surprised like I lied to them! When setting up my boat I always get a lot of lookers. I am thinking if you want attention you need million dollar boat or mine, either way I can get attention.
One to notice what I am trying to do was an older but still young Italian guy who owned a nice sailboat near here I was setting up. Interested and wondering we talked and talked. Daniel a tried and true sailor with countless years on sailboats liked my idea. In mutual respect we talked about sailing and the fact that I knew nothing about what I was doing but with Daniel in total agreement of my undertaking with the same understanding of desire for adventure. My departure was delayed yes by talking and learning so I decided to stay there in Lavrios that night enjoying the company and incite of Daniel. Slow process of setting up the boat was also delayed again when Daniel made me lunch and made me drink a glass of his special wine from his home in Italy. With the boat perfected and my nerves at easy for not having to cross that day Daniel and I basically talked all day about anything and everything. That night we ate everything Italian (besides the Swiss chocolate.) Great simple Italian food and after a nice walk into town for coffee and of course Italian. That night I had my own cabin on the boat what a pleasure really, with my boat tied to the back of the boat I slept great that night looking forward to the crossings.
14Th- The biggest sailing/ kayaking day of my life and I felt good. Calm winds, a nice cup of coffee and the encouragement of everyone on the docks I was off. Heading out of the harbor it was really calm. Putting crossings into easy terms for me when crossing: I just think of it like I am right on shore but actually miles from it. I believe the mental game for me is big. All I really have to do is paddle and sooner than later I will get to the other side. What I want to do is watch out for other boats. I am not really sure but am almost positive that the radar on other boats can not see me. My idea is that I will dodge the ships not even thinking that they see me to move out of my way. All of my thoughts are conservative with the confidence that all it is is paddling.
The first crossing is about 2.5 miles and the secound is almost 10 miles, 9.89 to be exact. All I can really do is start and start I do. Four to 6 hours it should me. Again all I can really do is paddle. Just a mental game to keep going. There is a little wind so I am able to sail which gives me a little push. The sail does a great job and I feel confident of the stability of the boat and the sail.
Time goes on throughout the crossing and so do I. In my head I think of this as a big ordeal, it maybe or it may not, but I make it one. Winds pick up a little near the island. Eyes are set on a small beach that has a nice campground I have heard. It is a little rough getting in the bay as the winds coming off the cliffs. Still I am able to sail into the bay landing the Kayak on a nice pebble beach. Empty as it looks there are people around. Being my first stop I have nothing to work off of in perspective. There is a small restaurant with some people working in it. I ask about camping only to find out I need to wait tell 5PM. No problem, the wait on a nice beach with a slight breeze and a warm sun goes fast as I fall asleep shortly after sitting down.
Campground is not open and I really do not want to camp out alone as I have done enough of that for right now. I enjoy human contact believe it or not. The town of Korissa is a nice 5 or so miles away with another 3 hours I should reach it in not time. The water is still nice just a little wind but nothing to be worried about. Time goes by fast me singing to myself and watching the coastline go by. Arriving at Korissa it has a nice pleasant port with everything I need. Paddling in to the port people greet me with wonder of where I have came from. It is a nice evening. John a local whose family owns a gyro shop tell me to come by after my boat is taken care of. I end my day with a gyros and a beer and sleep on my boat tied up along side the rest of the harbors boats, falling asleep to an old man who talks to himself and he seems to enjoy it!
Same old man I fell asleep listening to still at it when I awake from my boat. I was able to sleep 11 hours laying on my boat with people passing as it was tied up right along a sidewalk. This is a skill I think I could use in the future. The night before I did not really even look at the small town. I want to stay at least a day and get a feel for the place. Organizing and waking up just the normal routine I have in the morning I meet Phil. Phil and his wife Daniele an Australian, French couple have a 46 foot Sailboat 50 meters or so down the way with a couple fishing boats between us. We talk just about well sailing I guess and the norm of what and why we are in Greece. Phil offers me if I want to tied my boat off to his to keep my valuables safe and a little more protection from the wake the ferry gives off. Great and again I am amazed by how wonderful people in this world are. Phil and Daniele's boat is amazing a great early retirement home! There plan is to sail the next 5 years with the destination of Australia. Coffee is nice and welcoming as is visiting like always with good people. There plan for the day was to walk up to the small village of Loulis/Chora. Me being my rude self pretty much ask myself to be invited with a nice for sure from Phil and Daniele. 5.5Km a nice walk into the hills of Kea. The place was really nice, small streets with beautiful colors and wildflowers all the way there. The big attraction though was this stone lion dating back to 600 BC I think. Yep we saw it and it looked like a lion. The nice part of the walk though was the good company and the perfect spring weather. Nice Greek salad at a restaurant and walked back to the port. The rest of the day I took some notes from sailing books of the area and enjoyed the heat of the afternoon. So nice of them Phil and Daniele invited me for dinner on there boat which I could not refuse. Dinner was perfect, a fresh lentil vegetable soup, wine, bread, cheese along with a coffee. Again a perfect night of visiting with great people into the night over dinner. I am so grateful for the amazing people I have met and thank you all!
I slept on the deck of Phil and Daniele's boat. Today though the weather is not what I am wanting for sailing my boat. Phil and Daniele offered to take me around the top of this island on there boat. That would have cut off a good 6 or so miles. But with the forecast and the way it was looking my plan now is to hold up here tonight again so I am able to get the best forecast I can for tomorrow even though a longer day. Somewhere around 20-5 miles which is not that bad. 8 mile crossing but so far the forecast looks great for tomorrow. I am just taking this one day at a time learning a little more patients everyday. I can't complain though, life is good.
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Sailing
Kea island http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kea_(island) I arrived yesterday night after crossing fro the port of lavrios. To crossings. One about 2 miles and another 9.89 miles. In lavrios had a great time visiting with and Italian who was ther4e withis his sail boat, suoper nice guy. The crossing was great with a great surprise of a submarine coming up near me about 3 miles offshore, kind of scary! Now on Kea island I slept on my boat in the marrina. But now I have to go as I am having dinner with a couple who own a sailboat. i will write in detail more later.
Monday, April 12, 2010
Can I or should I and I Will try!
Crossing th Aegean Sea! Can I or should I and which route is now the question. Here I have a couple maps I put together for ideas of crossing the Aegean Sea. The options all look pretty fun with a great since of adventure no question about it Slower progress than the river should be expected. Sailing should be a option. Then there is weather issues more than a bad day in the rain. Wind is the issue. My boat is really not that great in the wind. The large size of the sit on top and baggage I carry with me makes me a large object for the wind. Like I have said before time and time again I am not really sure what I am doing but I will try and we will see.
Option 1: A considerably challenging complete crossing. Crossings are big, with many. The longest is about 17-18 miles with many in the 10-12 miles range. I'm really going to have to just go for it with this one knowing I have a very fine line of risk. I would like to do this one. The pure paddling without the use of ferries is pleasure to my ideas. The actuality of this happening is will depend on my observation of the situation and the amount of risk I am willing to take on.
Option 2: Same as option 1 with the use of a ferries. I have put markers on the map of a definite ferry crossing but also with this option I could cut out ethics and use ferries when ever needed. This maybe the most sensible option. Still a challenge but with the safety of when I deem necessary the use of a ferry is no problem. What I do not like about this option is I can back out of challenging myself before I have even tried. I will still have challenges I know too with the crossings I do try. This puts me in a predicament all the time with deciding weather to go or use the ferry. I know also this is most logical option and possibly the quickest too. This question will be up to me.
Different ending to the story map: This ending is a shorter option still connecting the crossing complete. All of the routes can use this option. This option puts is about 65 miles at that point compared to about 110 miles. Ferry connections may be better on the way back from the shorter option and I am sure I will just want to make it across the big puddle of water by then.
Option 1: A considerably challenging complete crossing. Crossings are big, with many. The longest is about 17-18 miles with many in the 10-12 miles range. I'm really going to have to just go for it with this one knowing I have a very fine line of risk. I would like to do this one. The pure paddling without the use of ferries is pleasure to my ideas. The actuality of this happening is will depend on my observation of the situation and the amount of risk I am willing to take on.
Option 2: Same as option 1 with the use of a ferries. I have put markers on the map of a definite ferry crossing but also with this option I could cut out ethics and use ferries when ever needed. This maybe the most sensible option. Still a challenge but with the safety of when I deem necessary the use of a ferry is no problem. What I do not like about this option is I can back out of challenging myself before I have even tried. I will still have challenges I know too with the crossings I do try. This puts me in a predicament all the time with deciding weather to go or use the ferry. I know also this is most logical option and possibly the quickest too. This question will be up to me.
Different ending to the story map: This ending is a shorter option still connecting the crossing complete. All of the routes can use this option. This option puts is about 65 miles at that point compared to about 110 miles. Ferry connections may be better on the way back from the shorter option and I am sure I will just want to make it across the big puddle of water by then.
Friday, April 9, 2010
Trying because I can!
Last Saturday I packed my boat up in Budapest, Hungry transporting myself to Thessaloniki, Greece. Spending Easter in Budapest was not my idea of fun. When exiting the river into a big city I feel overwhelmed. Usually takes a couple days of just hanging out to get back into the mood. Other issues with my trip and life also put a damper on my time in Budapest ,oh and also the rain. My train trip was nice though. I love riding the train. 22 hours on the train watching the countryside go by visiting with some really nice people is not a bad time. Thessaloniki is a nice city. Pretty big but not bad. A good time for watching people and enjoying the wonderful weather. I was even on live TV Thursday. Some type of morning show it was pretty funny. Now though it is time to go. I leave on a boat tonight for Athens. This evening waiting for this boat I have many thoughts of the past weeks and the overall trip.
Feelings of defeat always come with compromising. Compromising to meet the needs of myself and fulfillment of justifying my outlandish idea. My idea of the trip going and going pleased me on paper. From the last post I said I was mentally deprived and yes I was. Mentally with the freeway type travel on the Danube just another bend in the river and another. If you have not done a considerably long endurance activities into the weeks or months realm alone, you have to have a understanding that you can not understand what this evolves. No matter how well of a writer or speaker you will never know. Some may dream of doing such things, but most of us should keep these dreams dreams. I say this through my trying of this experience, I did not succeed I failed. Failing I do know that I experienced a level of experience only done with action. I am not also saying I will never try something like this again. When on the river I talked with many people, many who thought how cool that must be to paddle everyday and live on the water. You can see in the eyes of the old and young the sense of adventure they have. This brings me motivation, motivation in the fact I tried, tried because I could. I look at the whole experience as learning. Learning not about kayaking so much as it really is not that hard once you put in a couple days in, but learning that you can try anything. Anything you may want, this does not mean that you will succeed but trying is your right and with your ambitions action can follow. Putting a positive spin on it for me, I am glad that it was not something too easy and I was able to learn. The best part though is I am not done, I have sea to cross now!
Aegean Sea- Athens will be the starting point (yes the ending point ha aha.) The reason for Athens is my crossing with be at a south east angle. Through rescearch I have found that the winds come from the North to north east in the month of April. So starting in Athens I should be able to use the wind to my advantage. Yes sailing, I was not able to sail much on the river but did get a little in towards the end. The sea is full of life, life to entertain me. Just like the river I will have long days there is no doubt. My look at it is though I will have a chain of goals. Island to island connecting the chain with crossings ranging from less than a mile up to almost 20 miles. Yes this scares me scares me as I am in a small boat and big water. We will see, I will try. My new thought on my endeavor is I will try anything, anything at all and as long as I learn and make it out alive I'll give it a shot.
Two hours until my boat leaves. I am taking the slow boat to Athens. Around 30 hours crossing the sea almost to Turkey and then back to Athens. I will put my GPS in tracking mode as it should be interesting so see the roundabout way. I want this option because I want to see the sea, see it up close getting a feel for what a distance of what being offshore so far is like. This will take a lot of imagination, which I know I am up for because I will be on a big boat not a 15 footer. I do have some stratagees for this idea and believe I am up for it, but again we will see
Feelings of defeat always come with compromising. Compromising to meet the needs of myself and fulfillment of justifying my outlandish idea. My idea of the trip going and going pleased me on paper. From the last post I said I was mentally deprived and yes I was. Mentally with the freeway type travel on the Danube just another bend in the river and another. If you have not done a considerably long endurance activities into the weeks or months realm alone, you have to have a understanding that you can not understand what this evolves. No matter how well of a writer or speaker you will never know. Some may dream of doing such things, but most of us should keep these dreams dreams. I say this through my trying of this experience, I did not succeed I failed. Failing I do know that I experienced a level of experience only done with action. I am not also saying I will never try something like this again. When on the river I talked with many people, many who thought how cool that must be to paddle everyday and live on the water. You can see in the eyes of the old and young the sense of adventure they have. This brings me motivation, motivation in the fact I tried, tried because I could. I look at the whole experience as learning. Learning not about kayaking so much as it really is not that hard once you put in a couple days in, but learning that you can try anything. Anything you may want, this does not mean that you will succeed but trying is your right and with your ambitions action can follow. Putting a positive spin on it for me, I am glad that it was not something too easy and I was able to learn. The best part though is I am not done, I have sea to cross now!
Aegean Sea- Athens will be the starting point (yes the ending point ha aha.) The reason for Athens is my crossing with be at a south east angle. Through rescearch I have found that the winds come from the North to north east in the month of April. So starting in Athens I should be able to use the wind to my advantage. Yes sailing, I was not able to sail much on the river but did get a little in towards the end. The sea is full of life, life to entertain me. Just like the river I will have long days there is no doubt. My look at it is though I will have a chain of goals. Island to island connecting the chain with crossings ranging from less than a mile up to almost 20 miles. Yes this scares me scares me as I am in a small boat and big water. We will see, I will try. My new thought on my endeavor is I will try anything, anything at all and as long as I learn and make it out alive I'll give it a shot.
Two hours until my boat leaves. I am taking the slow boat to Athens. Around 30 hours crossing the sea almost to Turkey and then back to Athens. I will put my GPS in tracking mode as it should be interesting so see the roundabout way. I want this option because I want to see the sea, see it up close getting a feel for what a distance of what being offshore so far is like. This will take a lot of imagination, which I know I am up for because I will be on a big boat not a 15 footer. I do have some stratagees for this idea and believe I am up for it, but again we will see
Monday, April 5, 2010
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Expect Nothing and Hope For Anything!
Amazing week in the life of Benjamin Hargrove. Unbalanced creating a balance of normality in hoping for nothing and expecting anything. Bratislava to Budapest somewhere around 175 miles in 6 days including the side trip which was more scenic but slow. So much has happened this week again. My only known fact is that everything works out somehow some way. Oh have I mentioned that plans are useless? Ideas are better, better that plans because plans change and ideas are created as you please. The idea now is to get a direct train to Greece and starting the island hoping. I'm tired I am bored of the river. So many endless days both mentally, physically hard with only another corner of the river to go around and wonder. Yes I know this is what I am looking for the unknown. I am though also looking for contact with people and culture. My travel by Kayak on the Danube has brought this but alone this way of travel has made me a little mentally deprived. Maybe but maybe not I will become satisfied going to Greece for a little while but I'll try it. I have more ideas too but who knows who knows? Not me!
My thoughts of taking it slow has kind of worked but all the same my instincts tell me to keep going and going pushing the everyday. Just another mile, just keep going there is something around the next corner. Then there are those days when you never want to get up and get going. Yes, maybe because it is raining and I did not put up a tent. Stuck under a piece of tyvek I brought from home propted up with sticks to keep it off my face. Paddling into the wind barely moving because the river is so slow. Sleeping in the bushes with a full moon bright enough to read my book from while listening to the river animals. Portaging around a small dam, scouting it out and having dogs chase me. Deciding to just go a little further and not camp at the outskirts of town only to be welcomed by the local paddling club and given a room to stay in. Mid 30 mile days followed by a 50 mile day only to think the next would be a rest day ending as one of the longest. Finding a Marina by accident with camping only to be give a bed in the tour boat by the captain after a night of a few beers talking with Internet translation The next morning given gifts of a Thermos, tea, cookies, toilet paper and water. Arriving near Budapest and other kayakers coming up to me saying they have read my blog. Singing endlessly to myself on the river while locals stair at me. Finding way to keep going all day on my boat maybe stopping to stretch my legs once or twice. Sailing a bit too which I am excited for in Greece. Packing up the boat on the bank of the river in Budapest tourist district while preforming perfect packing I have perfected. Wondering the streets of Budapest with my boat for hours literally stopping only when people offer to buy me beer when they hear my story, then having to pee on the streets like any other person would do. Over spending my on my normal budget in a 3 star hotel when giving up looking for a hostel at almost 11PM. Enjoying the hotel while taking just a little extra from the breakfast buffet in the morning for my pockets and lunch.
Now in a Hostel annoyed by the party seen a little in shock of my alternative travel mode compared to the norm. Raining in Budapest, I have interest to walk the streets but not really. I have spent too many long days in the rain this last couple weeks. The streets are full of tourist. It is Easter weekend but still Budapest is super modern western. Starbuck type coffee shops, subway everywhere, the nicest Mcdonalds I have ever seen. Kind of put it into realm of southern Thailand is where I can relate. Southern thailand as in tourist and more of them than locals it seems. Tomorrow I go to Thessaloniki Greece on the train. I have scouted my route to the train station for my oversized lugage. One conection in Belgrade, Serbia but other that that smooth sailing as far as can ever be seen. Ideas of spending a night there then a ferry to the island of Chico. Who knows though. Just bought a nice bottle of wine to enjoy and look forward to a nice relaxing evening.
My thoughts of taking it slow has kind of worked but all the same my instincts tell me to keep going and going pushing the everyday. Just another mile, just keep going there is something around the next corner. Then there are those days when you never want to get up and get going. Yes, maybe because it is raining and I did not put up a tent. Stuck under a piece of tyvek I brought from home propted up with sticks to keep it off my face. Paddling into the wind barely moving because the river is so slow. Sleeping in the bushes with a full moon bright enough to read my book from while listening to the river animals. Portaging around a small dam, scouting it out and having dogs chase me. Deciding to just go a little further and not camp at the outskirts of town only to be welcomed by the local paddling club and given a room to stay in. Mid 30 mile days followed by a 50 mile day only to think the next would be a rest day ending as one of the longest. Finding a Marina by accident with camping only to be give a bed in the tour boat by the captain after a night of a few beers talking with Internet translation The next morning given gifts of a Thermos, tea, cookies, toilet paper and water. Arriving near Budapest and other kayakers coming up to me saying they have read my blog. Singing endlessly to myself on the river while locals stair at me. Finding way to keep going all day on my boat maybe stopping to stretch my legs once or twice. Sailing a bit too which I am excited for in Greece. Packing up the boat on the bank of the river in Budapest tourist district while preforming perfect packing I have perfected. Wondering the streets of Budapest with my boat for hours literally stopping only when people offer to buy me beer when they hear my story, then having to pee on the streets like any other person would do. Over spending my on my normal budget in a 3 star hotel when giving up looking for a hostel at almost 11PM. Enjoying the hotel while taking just a little extra from the breakfast buffet in the morning for my pockets and lunch.
Now in a Hostel annoyed by the party seen a little in shock of my alternative travel mode compared to the norm. Raining in Budapest, I have interest to walk the streets but not really. I have spent too many long days in the rain this last couple weeks. The streets are full of tourist. It is Easter weekend but still Budapest is super modern western. Starbuck type coffee shops, subway everywhere, the nicest Mcdonalds I have ever seen. Kind of put it into realm of southern Thailand is where I can relate. Southern thailand as in tourist and more of them than locals it seems. Tomorrow I go to Thessaloniki Greece on the train. I have scouted my route to the train station for my oversized lugage. One conection in Belgrade, Serbia but other that that smooth sailing as far as can ever be seen. Ideas of spending a night there then a ferry to the island of Chico. Who knows though. Just bought a nice bottle of wine to enjoy and look forward to a nice relaxing evening.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
