The Outer Islands

Thursday we left Skopelos heading to the outer islands just to the northeast.  That night we anchored right off a small, uninhabited island and tied 2 stern and 2 bowlines ashore for fears of heavy wind later in the night.  The winds did come, but fortunately we were secure.  The next day we swam over to a shipwreck only partially submerged.  We climbed aboard and explored all throughout the different rooms, finding newspapers from 15 years ago and an old bottle of whiskey.  It was kinda like exploring an abandoned building except everything was tilted at an odd angle and the main compartment of the ship was flooded with water.  There were two other abandoned boats attached to the larger ship that we also climbed through.  One of the students managed to find an old baseball cap in one of the boats, which he now proudly wears.  I swam ashore next, and since I had my sandals on, wanted to try to make it to the top of the island.  There were no trails and maybe 500-600 feet of elevation to climb, but I managed to hop along the rocky parts and avoid most of the prickly bushes and overgrown olive trees.  At the top I had the pleasure of enjoying some incredible views, all to myself.  I climbed along the ridge a little and started back down this time heading more for our boat instead of the beach I had come from.  I hadn’t done my homework (nor brought the proper clothing; swim trunks and sandals don’t offer much in the way of protection from scratching bushes) and basically tried to climb back down through the thickest growth on the entire side of the island.  I was so deep in bush and growth that the sun was almost completely blocked out.  I kept telling myself that after a few more feet the bush would clear and it would be an easier walk back down, but after literally belly crawling (no shirt either) over and under bushes, and thoroughly scraping my entire body I admitted defeat and climbed back out through the bush, to the top and back down the path I had came, which felt like walking on a cloud compared to the forest of sharp things I had just rolled my body through.  The salt water was a good cleanse as I swam back to the ship, and after a good stretching session I felt pretty good, and was proud that I had made it to the top.

Saturday the weather cooperated fantastically and we were able get some great sail training in.  For one of the first times we were able to turn the engines and move under just sail power.  It was great practice for me to trim the sails and help the students tack and jib quickly.  We anchored for lunch and then left for our next destination, about two hours away.  The wind was a little lighter, so we used a little engine with the sails up.  Any disappointed from the light air was made up for when a group of dolphins swam with us for a bit.  I was right up on the bowsprit when 3 dolphins started twisting and turning through the boats wake just below me, I think the first time I have ever seen dolphins while sailing.  Saturday night we anchored in a small bay next to an island with one resident (a monk) and one building (the monastery)

Sunday was our free day, but in the morning all the students and Theo climbed to the top of the island and visited the monastery.  The monk there spoke great English and talked to us for over an hour, an interesting mix of Orthodox history, his own life and a very sad idea of grace and forgiveness.  After the monastery we motored further along the island for a great lunch and some swimming.  Theo took us over to some caves where we were able to swim through an underwater tunnel.  Theo is a former dive instructor and so got in the water with us and showed us where to dive and how far to swim underwater to avoid surfacing too soon.  I had expected a much longer/difficult dive into a marvelous underwater cavern, but basically just had to swim down about 10 feet and 30 forward to get from one side of the cliff to the other.  Still, it was a lot of fun and a good chance for me to practice diving and equalizing, which I currently suck at.  Next we went to some cliffs to climb and jump off of.  Two of the guys jumped from about 50-60ft but my hip surgery (or more likely my dislike of heights) kept me to climbing a little lower down and jumping maybe 15 feet, which hardly qualifies as anything more then jumping off the bowsprit, which I do almost everyday. 

We left again and our currently anchored in a super calm bay with about 3-4 other sailboats.  I took the opportunity for a nice swim and used shampoo and soap for the first time in about 10 days.  Still no real shower for over 2 weeks but it felt good to wash a bit.  I’ve been rocking a pretty sweet Mohawk for about a week now, so I don’t have too much hair to wash, which has kept my overall grossness level to relatively low, and it’s amazing what two small cupfulls of fresh water can do to rinse the saltiness off.  

Peace

-BG

An American, Greek and Russian walk into a monastery…

Wow! Lots to share from the last few days.  It’s Saturday evening as I write this, but have no idea when I’ll have Internet to post.  We are anchored next to a monastery on one of the outer islands just north east of Skopelos.  Today was the first real day of sailing where the wind and weather cooperated.  When we finally turned the engine off and were just under sail power, I couldn’t help but smile.  We did a good bit of training today tacking, jibing and trimming.  My duties are becoming a little more specific, as I pretty much just focus on trimming the headsails and the foresail, and everything related to anchoring.  If something goes wrong, I try to fix it, which so far has mostly involved me running out on the sprit and pulling the jib free from the staysail as we come across upwind (lots of sailing jargon there, basically I walk out on the part of the boat that sticks out in front and pull on some ropes while trying not to fall in, or the latest danger brought to our attention: castration).  The students have done a fantastic job of learning their tasks and becoming fast and exact.  On Monday, the three teams will all switch sail stations so it will be a little bit of a learning curve at first, but we should do fine. 

Backing up a couple of day…. Tuesday afternoon I had free and decided I wanted to hike up to the monastery and check things out.  Being on a boat with 14 other people definitely means solitude is tough to come by so I was excited when I was freed up around 16:30.  I walked out of the harbor and started along the path uphill.  Two little dogs followed me out of the harbor and would be my companions for the duration of my hike.  Every switch back they would run ahead and then wait for me.  They would even come if I whistled, and waited for me outside of the monastery when I made it to the top.  I was a little crunched for time but was pretty committed to making it up to the top, so I paced it out pretty quick.  Fortunately it was cool and there was even a slight rain/mist, so nothing too extreme in the physical exertion category.  When I finally made it the monastery door, I definitely confess I paused for a moment and contemplated the chances of me being stolen by some witches and cooked in a stew.  I was on top of a hill I had just hiked without passing another soul for the past hour, and no one knew where I was.  It was misty and overcast, perfect witch weather.  The monastery looked like an old castle.  The sign on the door said ring once and wait patiently.  I had just hiked for an hour uphill and certainly wasn’t going to stop at the doorstep so I rang the bell, and waited for what felt like an eternity as I replayed all the witch movies I had seen in my head.  Sure enough, an old hobbled nun limped over to open the door, barely up to my waist in her state, with teeth coming out every which way and long whiskers on her face. “Great,” I thought, time to get thrown in a big pot with some frogeyes.  What’s worse was that this witch/nun was offering me some sort of food from a jar.  Fortunately, I was too smart to fall for the "candy from an old person that’s really poison" routine so I politely declined.   If my facetious account of a witch has run too far, I wasn’t in any danger of being tossed in a cauldron, and the old nun who greeted me turned out to be named Miriam, and had lived at the monastery for six years by herself (she did look exactly like a witch though).  Miriam only spoke Greek, but fortunately another man who was visiting the monastery, Thanneus spoke Greek and English.  Thanneus grew up on Skopleos but had since moved to Sciathos and was just visitng.  Thanneus was very friendly and helped translate what Miriam was saying, and asked lots of questions about why an American was visiting a monastery alone at the top of hill on an island in the middle of the Aegean Sea.  The monastery was pretty incredible, an outer wall with rooms for visiting pilgrims to spend the night and inner structure that was the main chapel.  The chapel was ornamented to the extreme, with every surface being carved, painted or plated.  After spending a few minutes marveling in the middle of the chapel, I was startled (more like scared to death) from someone coughing a few feet behind me.  I had walked right passed a pilgrim sitting in the shadows quietly.  Eventually the lady, who happened to be Russian and a Greek Orthodox, told me in broken English that she was visiting for religious purposes.  The two visitors, Miriam and myself managed to talk for a little bit through the translation of Thanneus and the broken English of the Russian - one of the stranger conversations I’ve been a part of.   Thanneus offered me a ride back down to the port, which I happily accepted, since I would have been late for dinner if I had neede to hike back down. 

Wednesday we had free all day, so after breakfast and packing our lunch all the students and I headed into to town with the goal of renting vehicles to explore the island.  I had my eyes set on an ATV or dune buggy, but most of the rental places required an international driver’s license.  After checking about 5-6 places and always being denied for lack of proper paperwork, we went up along the main road a little further to one of the last rental places in the area.  Nikolas’ Rental Shop seemed pretty sketch from the get go, which meant we probably had a good chance of renting our vehicles there. Sure enough after a few minutes, my American driver’s license and a friendship discounted price we tore down the road in two dune buggies and one ATV.  Some of the girls had rented two cars so together with our three vehicles; we made quite the envoy travelling around the island.  Our first stop was the monastery I had hiked the day before.  The ATV made quick work of the rocky switch backs and we all spent a few minutes walking around and greeting Miriam.  Next we travelled along the coast for almost an hour to another beachfront village for lunch. Taking the ATV on the road was fun, but the handling sucked, so I had to take turns pretty slow but I was able to go about 70-75 kph, which was a lot of fun.  After lunch we somehow managed to navigate up into the hills of Skopelos to another old monastery.  After a quick walk around we rotated through the vehicles and I ended up in one of the dune buggies.  Although not as powerful up hill as the ATV, the buggies handled really well and could drift corners like a dream.  We found a big puddle at the bottom of one of the hills and decided it would be fun to go through it.  It was probably only 6-8 inches deep of water but was more then enough to completely soak us and cover us in dirt and mud.  Since we were already filthy at this point we figured we might as well go through the puddle again, and again after that.  We ended up at this cliff with a walking path down to the beach and an off road path to a light house at the very tip of the island.  At this point I was driving a dune buggy, which were “supposed” to stay just on the roads, but figured any path made for vehicles could be a road, so we went tearing down this mud filled bumpy path to the light house.  Between driving right next to a vertical cliff and getting thoroughly soaked several times while drifting around some of the corners, the path was an absolute blast and the views from the lighthouse spectacular.  After a quick swim at the beach to wash off and regroup for our trip back down to the harbor, the guys left on dune buggies and the ATV while the girls took the car to the Mamma Mia church.  I’m sure the church would have been cool, but being able to fully open up the throttle on the way back down without having to wait for anyone else was too much fun.  Later that night we all dressed up a bit and took the vehicles to Theo’s house for a great home made meal.  I was able to sneak out for a bit later for a late night ride back to the coast, but the headlights on the ATV weren’t strong enough for me to be able to drive fast and safe so I headed back to the ship.  That's all for now.  Check out my other post about sailing to the outer islands.  

Keep Well 

-BG

The World Championships of Synchronized Swimming

It’s been well over a week since my last blog post, and I’m not sure when I will have internet to actually post this, but here goes…

I arrived in Volos mid-afternoon last Sunday, meaning I’ve spent over a whole week already living aboard the Encounter.  Leaving Athens, the English level dropped to near zero, so the only way I found the bus station right outside of the city center was to follow someone with a suitcase and hope they were also going to the buses.  I couldn’t understand anything on my bus ticket except that the price matched the price of a bus ticket from Athens to Volos so I just hoped I was heading the right direction.  Sunday and Monday, the crew of the Encounter from the summer, an American couple, helped showed me the ropes so to say (boat humor), and were incredible helpful and encouraging.  I am so thankful that Paul, Mary and Marianna (who is the ships cook and is staying on for our voyage) were able to be there for my transition. 

Tuesday night, the World Championship of Synchronized swimming held their opening ceremonies on the water front just a hundred yards or so from the Encounter.  The athletes lined up along the breakwater, as an old Greek rowing shipped rowed up to them and each rower carried the flag of a participating nation.  Then the athletes marched down the breakwater to stage as fireworks and flaresticks lit up the whole harbor.  It was really fun to watch, even though I barely had any idea what was going on.  The announcer spoke in Greek and then repeated in broken English, but I could make out enough to cheer loudly for the American delegation.

On Wednesday the students arrived throughout the day and we shared our first meal together.  There are 12 students total, 8 girls and 4 boys, with 9 from Canada and 3 from the States.  An interesting mix for sure, but already after a few days everyone feels like family.  My tasks for Wednesday were to show the students to their cabins, give a basic tour of the ship and show everyone how to work the toilets.  I am terrified of the toilets clogging or overflowing since it is my responsible to clean them and unclog what I imagine to be miles of poo clogged toilet pipe – honestly a few mornings I have woken up and the first thing on my mind has been to check the tanks in order to make sure they have enough water so that the toilets can be pump flushed.  Fortunately no problems yet.

Thursday morning we left the port of Volos, as our skipper, Theo, showed me the procedure for raising the anchor.  The Encounter is roughly 65 tons, and the anchor chain has 1 inch thick links, so I was told about 12 different ways in which I could lose fingers, toes, whole limbs, my head etc… I was also enlightened on the multiple ways I could send the anchor, or fore mast boom, or RIB or gaff crashing into the hull and gashing her open.  The stakes are slightly higher on this boat compared to the junkers I am used to sailing at the yacht club.  Most of my free time I have spent visualizing my different tasks and practicing different knots and cleats, or reading old sailing manuals.  In principal and theory I understand everything, it’s just the details of which line goes where, through which block, with what direction cleat and what style knot, which is different for each type of sailboat.  Thursday afternoon we anchored in a small cove and had some free time to swim and lounge around the boat.  Theo, is a big fan of afternoon siestas, so we try to have at least one hour of quiet and calm each day in order to catch up on sleep and refresh from the morning’s activities.  Later that night, I was on watch from midnight to 3am.  The winds had really picked up and were pushing our boat dangerously close to the rocky coast earlier in the night, but fortunately all was calm during my watch and I was able to get some reading in and practice tying knots with my off hand.

Friday we sailed to another small island.  Sailed is probably not the most accurate term, since we were under engine the whole way.  The students practiced raising and lowering the sails but the wind was just not strong enough to sail.  It also rained all day, a trend that continued into Saturday.  Again, we spent the day motoring to our next destination.  When the rain would ease up enough, we would all rush on deck and learn more about how to raise and lower the different sails.  The students have done a great job of picking up a lot of information and technique in just a few days already.  Sailing a boat this size takes an interesting mix of brute strength, finesse, and awareness of about 50 different things at once.  I wished the wind had been more cooperative so that our tacks and jibes could be practiced, but we still have 7 weeks to go.   Our anchorage Saturday afternoon was a small cove on a picturesque uninhabited island.  Although it was raining, we spent the afternoon swimming to shore, and hiking over the island to an old lighthouse in the cliffs.  Pretty incredible stuff.   We all come back and took our first “shower,”  salt water and shampoo and then a ration of 2 small cups of fresh water to rinse.  Honestly, it was incredibly refreshing and I might have actually smelled good after.

Sunday will typically be our day of rest, without any activities, but Theo thought it was best to try to make it to Skopelos island, before a big series of storms was supposed to blow through.  We were all on deck setting sails non-stop from 9am till almost 3:30 when we arrived.  It was definitely tiring but already my body has adjusted well to boat life.  I am bare foot 24/7, and a lot of the time I am out climbing on the bowsprit line or hanging on the rails, so my feet hurt, but atleast I don’t have any sandal tan lines.  Sunday evening we celebrated one of the student’s birthdays with a delicious cake, and then had our first worship service together.  I was able to play guitar and lead (barely) everyone through a few songs.  It might not have sounded the best, but it was authentic.

So that’s it for now.  We are probably going to be in port in Skopelos for a few days.  Theo has his home here and I think we will have some free day(s) to rent motorbikes and explore the island.  Apparently this is where they filmed Momma Mia, so all the girls are excited, but the natural beauty is enough for me to be content.   Hopefully it will stop raining for more than an hour at a time, but until then I’m more then happy to fall asleep to the sounds of the rain on my hatch window as the boat rocks me to sleep.

Keep well

-bg

Athens

Athens

ειά σου! (Hello)

I’m writing from my hostel in Athens, less than a mile from the Acropolis, and minus the blood stains (not my own) on the sheets, I can’t complain about my accommodations.   I arrived in Athens around 3pm local time on Friday and managed to get all my luggage, exchange currency, find the train station, take the correct train to the correct stop and find the right street my hostel was on in about 2 hours.  I left Dulles Thursday night around 8:10pm eastern time after sitting on the tarmac for 3 hours while the plane’s engine was repaired (We were scheduled to leave at 5:40, but sometimes those plane engines just don’t wanna start…) arrived in Geneva, Switzerland around 10am local and fortunately made my next flight into Athens.  So despite the delay everything worked out great.  Flying over the Swiss Alps was incredible.  Mount Blanc literally seemed to pass just a few hundred yards away from the plane.  

Once I got to my hostel and dropped all my bags off, I grabbed a map and a Greek phrase sheet and headed out into the city.  Because of the Olympics here in 2004, English is on all the street signs and it’s pretty easy to find your way around.  The Acropolis is also a great landmark for navigating because you can pretty much see it from anywhere in Athens.  I spent about 3 hours walking around and actually hiked up to the Acropolis but didn’t feel like paying to get in so I just hung out on the rocks outside the gates and enjoyed the awesome city views.  I made my way back to the Monastiriki area and found an outdoor café where I enjoyed some lamb Gyros with Tzattiki sauce – very delicious.  Later that night I met up with one of the students who is going to be sailing with me and went to another outdoor café.  It was great meeting him and some of his friends he was with and I’m really excited to get to know him and all the other students in a few more days.

I made it back to my hostel a little after midnight and was pretty exhausted.  Sadly my brain ignored my body’s tiredness and instead thought it was still on east coast time.  I was finally able to get a few good hours of rest in morning, but hopefully tonight I can reboot into Greek time and get some good sleep. 

This morning (Saturday) I left a little before noon to go explore more of the city.  I stopped by one of the large squares for breakfast, walked over and hiked around in the national gardens and saw the parliament and congressional buildings ( the buildings were empty - not surprising considering Greeks current economic/political woes).  Using my Greek map as a guide I tried to make my way to one of the ancient stadiums, but ended up on a really busy highway and couldn’t find it.  Later, from the top of the acropolis I realized I was right next to it, I just couldn’t see over the trees from the street level.  The Acropolis was next and was pretty easy to get to (just looked up).  Normally I can be leery of some of the tourist spots that everyone goes to around the world but the Acropolis was pretty cool.  It really wasn’t too hard to imagine the same structures being used 2500 years ago, and despite a lot of restoration equipment and scaffolding, the antiquity remained.  It was tough to know what was authentic, what had been restored, and what had been replaced with modern rocks, but from a layperson like myself – it was neat.  The Acropolis also offers 360 panorama views of Athens, all the way to the coast – so now I can say I’ve seen all of Athens in the past 24 hours. 

I spent a few hours being touristy and taking picture of the Parthenon and the other structures that I can’t pronounce and then walked down the south side along the Apostolou Pavlou (the road of Apostle Paul) where Paul spoke at the meeting of the Areopagus and told the Athenians they were ignorant and arrogant for worshipping silly gods because it was trendy (my translation, but check out Acts 17).    I think this is the first time I’ve ever visited a location specifically mentioned in the Bible, and I definitely look forward to seeing more of the places Paul wrote about in the coming months.

Overall Athens has been an awesome city.  Not overly touristy, but very accessible and easy to get around for an American like myself.  I also don’t feel like I’m sticking out being American, mainly because everyone kind of blends into different shades of whiteness.  Minus the language differences everyone is pretty similar.  It’s even tough to spot the tourists from the locals, which is a nice feeling and makes my experience a little more authentic.  Tomorrow I’m up early to navigate the bus system and hopefully make it to the port of Volos by mid-afternoon and move into (or onboard) my new home for the next couple of months.

Go Big Red!

-BG

Look! I can add photos too! Here's me in front of some old stones, also known as the Parthenon.