Woke to lovely Church bells what a sweet sound to hear in the morning, clearly something we don't have in Turkey. Dressed and breakfast early as we must go to meet the Port Police! We arrive at the office 09.00 am as instructed and meet the team, still dressed in their civilian clothing as they literally walked through the doors. The man is jovial friendly and very helpful, more importantly he stamped the paperwork...Yay! We are now to head back to the harbour masters office for our final stamp into Greece. We appear at 09.30, are met by two different faces from yesterday, just as friendly as the previous day's lady. As we have come from another country, we must pay €15 for the admin fee. Our old Greek transit log, or depka is valid until Sept this year, so don't need to pay for a new one yet. Yippee we are legally in Greece for €15. On some of the Islands the authorities have insisted that the newly published depka are exchanged for the old ones. At a cost of €50, we are not in a rush for that to happen, however, at some point on this journey we know it will happen! Back on board to collect cameras and walking shoes, we are ready to see Kos. First task is to locate the Cosmote Internet shop for a sim card for internet data whilst on the more remote Islands, for 2.2 GB we paid €15 which expires in a month. It is expensive but this company apparently provide the best coverage which will be brilliant. That is the one thing I struggled most with last year while away, being unable to contact family and friends. Now that we are in communication, we can relax. Our plan for the day was to either catch a bus or walk for a while, try and see more of this town, as it is such a good weather day, walk it is. We did walk a few miles trying to find the Cosmote shop, then of course we had to have coffee in the town square, therefore and an hour or so around town has been completed already. Lunch is a gyros from the local eatery, gorgeous filled with pork slices, chips and salad, this garlic sauce or tzasiki filled pitta is perfect €2.50 each!. We head out along the coast north, it has an amazing beach but most of the bars and hotels remain closed, it is only April! For a few hours we take in the scenery, it is quiet and the buildings are in need of some serious refurbishment and care before any tourists arrive. Closer to the town square and seafront work has already begun, the winter clear up has started to take shape. Leaves are swept, trees trimmed, chairs spread out and tables dusted off. Fresh paint smells begin to fill the air, while cushions and fresh new tablecloths are unwrapped for the season ahead. These Greek Islands had a poor tourist year in 2016 due partly to the refugee issues, fortunately the signs are a bit more uplifting for this coming year. At 3pm we are walked out, and in need of a rest, back on board we nap. Kevin tries fishing, within minutes he calls....Get me the ........By the time I work out the end of his sentence, his fish, the biggest one ever, got away, it was a huge bream. I guess I will be cooking again! We ate tea, not fish of course, then wandered out towards the town marina. People line the harbour, fishing rods in hand, women children and men, all striving for that family meal and prized trophy, let's hope they have more luck than us! The evenings are pretty cold, warm coats wrapped around each and every evening walker. The town sparkles with streetlights and illuminated shopfronts, people ooze from their homes into this lively evening. It seems that all townsfolk take to the seafront for their exercise and social life following their working day, it does have a lovely atmosphere. The ferry port becomes a hive of activity, lorries arrive one after another, cars form uniform lines in preparation for this huge ferry's arrival. In the dimming evening light we see a silhouette gradually grow in size, tiny lights begin to glimmer from this huge vessel as it slowly crawls closer on the sea. Soon the outline clearly demonstrates this massive ships size, we watch in awe as it blocks the horizon and fills our vision. Before long it has perfectly aligned itself with this quayside and ropes have been secured, seconds later it's enormous doors have opened like a gaping mouth. Cars stream out, lorries and trucks follow, headlights glare as they flash past our faces, it is hard to imagine this quantity of vehicles can fit into a ferry. Just as quickly, they awaiting vehicles, board this huge vessel, the speed of the changeover from outgoing and incoming is unbelievable. Minutes later this ship sounds three horns to indicate his intentions to reverse, then is gone, slipping into the night to wherever he came from, amazing. We make our way back to Kejstral for bed and a good sleep. We woke again to the church bells. Had breakfast and tidied around. I wanted to see the fortress and call into a market for a few yummy bits before we journey onwards. The island has a 14th century fortress at the entrance to the harbour this construction dating back to 1315 was built by the Knights of Hospilalier. The ruins of a substantial marketplace in the harbour area, was known to be one of the largest in ancient history, became a commercial trading ground for silks and wine due to its close proximity to Egypt. This fantastic structure was demolished during an earthquake many years later. The new municipal market construction built in 1934, stands proudly in the town square opposite a Turkish mosque. Turkish speaking residents continue to live in this now, very Greek town. Now that the fortress and ruins of Kos harbour had been investigated. It is time for us to leave this lovely town and sail the two hours across to Pserimos Island Having stowed our belongings and tidied we pulled up anchor ready to go, we motor past the ferry port out to the north coast of Kos, then west to our new anchorage. Pserimos Island is only 10 n.m away, we manage to put out our sails capturing some of that lovely breeze, until we round the headland. At this point the wind is coming onto our stern, in this direction, our genoa receives no wind at all as it is virtually shielded by our mainsail. Our genoa is pulled in, but the wind continues to cause problems, in dropping to only 4 knots, we might as well be stationery. Both sails now tightly wrapped again, we motor the rest of this journey. Pserimos is tiny, very quaint and not a lot to see, but it is lovely quiet and perfect for anchorage. We pull into the empty bay where the harbour wall sits snugly on our left and a jetty on our right. Two small fishing boats tied onto the harbour are having their daily clean, seaweed, bits of debris and an occasional starfish are tossed back into this little bay. Very few buildings look inhabited shutters tightly closed from their winter season, presumably most residents occupy this town from spring until autumn, then head to the larger Islands for the wet windy period. Supplies must be hard to replenish over winter therefore sustaining this town is pretty difficult when the ferries only restart in May. Our anchor is dropped in a small cove to the right, but the swell seemed to be coming directly towards us, we therefore bring Kejstral across towards the harbour for a more settled evening
The wind is a very slight 5-6 knots, but the swell keeps up its force until we settled into bed much later that evening. For the remainder of the day, we read, write, eat and relax, tomorrow we should do a little exploring before moving onwards.
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Sailing Kejstral AdventuresRetired and following our dream of sailing around the world Archives
April 2019
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