Gunboats and Another Culture

Admiral Maria cooking onboard Aspen at sea

Leaving Crete in 30 knots of wind and some nasty seas.  Maria has the windblown look it seems.

"Israeli Navy this is the sailing vessel Aspen".  "ASPEN from Pine, Colorado in the USA!  We are not armed..."    

Israeli Navy gunboat who just wanted to ask us a few important questions before we got any closer!

Our marina in Israel.  We can't read the flag either.

Captain Steve bringing Aspen into Israel

Admiral Maria on watch, sailing from Crete to Israel

Welcome to Israel!

 A typical beach next to our marina in Israel.  Tel Aviv is about 6 miles down the coast from here.  Maria is happy to be here!

A heavily armed Israeli gunboat circled Aspen, 6 miles off the coast of Israel, as Captain Steve worked the VHF radio answering their questions:

Where did you come from?

Where are you going?

Do you have weapons onboard?

Why are you coming to Israel?

Israel???  What is that, you might ask?

Well, our EU visa was about to expire and we had to leave Crete and the rest of the EU.  We could not return to Turkey because they won’t let us into the country just yet either.  Another visa problem.  These visa issues are really nasty in this part of the world!

We had to go to a non-EU country so that eliminated nearly every country that borders the Mediterranean Sea, except those in northern Africa and the Middle East. 

Our options were limited to Egypt where they are rioting in the streets and fighting for control of the government, Syria but that is a no-brainer with the revolution, Lebanon but they don’t like sailboats in their country and then there is Israel where we heard they have a McDonalds and air conditioning. 

When I mentioned to Maria that we could sail to Israel, Admiral Maria said, “but isn’t it dangerous in Israel and aren’t they shooting missiles and isn’t there talk about Iran doing something bad to Israel?”

These thoughts flashed through my mind as Maria took pictures of the metal gray military gunboat with the big guns motoring just off Aspen’s stern.

How bad could it be, I told Maria when we were sitting in our comfortable slip in Crete.  We have to go somewhere and can’t just hide among the Greek islands until Turkey lets us back in.

With Maria kind of convinced, it took us 4 days to sail from Crete to our position 6 miles off the town of Herzliya, Israel, answering these questions just after sunrise.  We were very tired and running low on fuel besides just wanting to get into the marina and have a Big Mac in an air conditioned restaurant.

The gunboat probably didn’t want to hear Captain Steve’s reasoning but they eventually said that “they are letting us go” and powered away out to sea.  They advised us to check in with Border Control when we got to the marina.

No problem, SIR, Captain Steve calmly replied.

An hour later we found the entrance to Herzliya Marina, the largest marina in Israel.  An Israel gunboat was tied up to the dock and we were told to tie up opposite them.

As soon as we flung our lines to the waiting people on the dock a security person from the gunboat asked Maria to please get off the boat and for Captain Steve to accompany him as he thoroughly searched Aspen.  He found things we forgot we even had in some of the lockers but eventually he gave up trying to find whatever he was searching for and said we were ok and now needed to answer some questions from another security person standing on the dock as he took our passports away for a “routine check”, he said.

The security person on the dock asked general questions like why did we come to Israel?  Did we plan to come to Israel?  What do we want to do in Israel?  Do we know anyone in Israel?

It seems we answered the questions to his satisfaction and then our passports reappeared.  The security man took the passports and looked at all the stamps, that was a big problem.

“Oman?”, he questioned us.  Why were you in Oman?  Did you make any friends in Oman?  What other Arab countries did you visit?  Were you in Indonesia?

We were truthful and said yes, we had been to several Arab countries but that we are really ok and had not made any friends but only were tourists sailing around. 

The toughest question was “why were we in Oman for over 3 months and never made any friends there?”  We told him about our Indian Ocean crossing and attack story and their tone changed instantly.  We are certain they knew of the piracy incident and why we were stuck in Oman afterwards.

The interview ended abruptly and the security man said that we were free to go to passport control, fill out some forms and check into the marina.  Welcome to Israel and enjoy our stay!!!

Sail on, sail on and sail safe Aspen…

Tales from Euro Land

German WWII cemetery on Crete.  Not many German cemeteries exist but this is a big one

 Another view of the German WWII cemetery looking out into the Aegean Sea

Agios Nikolaos, Crete, Greece - where Aspen is

These are the ruins of a Minoan Palace on Crete.  It was very hot out too!

The ruins are in pretty bad condition for being over 2,000 years old!

Minoan vase at the palace.  That held a lot of wine!

The countryside behind the Minoan Palace on Crete

 This is our dock where Aspen lives on Crete.  The water is cool but the air temperature is over 100 degrees every day!

We are still getting used to the culture here in Euro Land.  It is so different than what we are used to.

We had talked before about siesta time in the afternoons here in Greece.  The stores close from 1 pm until 6 pm so if you need anything you have to wait for them to re-open after 6 pm.  That is unless you want to eat at a café or bar because those are always open.  However, if you want to eat lunch you will be one of the few people who actually EAT lunch.  Most Euros just snack all day and drink.  Their big meal starts at about 9 or 10 pm, when we are ready for bed.

Smoking is very common here.  There is a law in Greece that enclosed places must be smoke free (No Smoking) but they get around the law by making sure all of the doors and windows are open all the time at every restaurant, bar and café.  That way there are no enclosed places and everyone can smoke everywhere.

That is also part of the reason the use of air conditioning is very limited in the EU.  They all want to smoke and they seem to like the heat too.  It can be 100 degrees outside and we can’t find an air-conditioned place to have lunch!  We are dying while the Euros sit and drink, smoke, visit with friends and sweat outside all day long.

Here in the marina we have a lot of interesting things happening as well.  The shower, one of our necessities in this heat, is a curious thing.  We have a dedicated building with shower rooms that are secured with a combination lock on the entry door so that only we boating people are allowed inside.  Once we are inside the building there is one door that leads to a set of 4 shower rooms for the women while another door leads to a set of 4 shower rooms for the guys.  Yesterday a man and woman entered the shower building right in front of me.  The guy turned left to go through the women’s shower door with the woman following him.  Thinking that this guy didn’t see the obvious picture of a woman on the door I said excuse me and pointed to the women’s sign on the door.  The guy looked at the sign, shrugged his shoulders and acted like he didn’t care.  I used my best expression of ‘what can’t you understand?’ while gesturing to the sign.  The guy didn’t say anything, turned and proceeded into the women’s shower.  Come to find out, he was French, so I guess they don’t understand signs?

Then there are the Dutch.  As I just explained we have showers in the marina but the Dutch like to shower off the back of their boats in the marina, in full view of everyone, instead of going to the shower building.  Luckily they prefer to wear their underwear while they shower so that is a good thing.

Finally we have the British.  We have had several British boats tied on either side of Aspen as well as on the other side of the dock behind us.  They usually tell us good morning each day and then we become invisible for the rest of the time.  Yes, we are flying our USA flag prominently on the stern of Aspen so maybe that is an issue for them? 

We think the Brits don’t want to associated too much with us because #1, we are Americans and there was that war thing in 1776 where we defeated them and still celebrate the momentous occasion every 4^th of July and #2, Captain Steve is related to Oliver Cromwell who abolished (I’m using a kind word here) the British royal family in the 1600’s in jolly old England.

There are a lot of British x-pats living here on Crete and they have their own grocery stores (called British Food Shops), full English breakfast at every restaurant (this includes bangers, pork and beans, poached eggs, corned beef hash and tea) with prices in British pounds!  Remember the Brits don’t use the Euro currency because the Queen didn’t want to lose half of her money by converting to another currency so they still use the Pound even though they are part of the EU, well at least kinda part of the EU.

So every day something unique and exciting happens.  That is what is so amazing about sailing among different cultures and peoples!

Sail on, sail on and sail safe Aspen…

Farmer’s Almanac

Captain Steve needs something to keep him cool!

GALE heading our way, just as the Coptic Calendar predicted!!!

Keith Richards rocking out (or maybe just someone who looks like him!)

Painted streets in Matala

The Lion Fountain (from the Romans) in Heraklion, Crete

Greek church

Lots of Greek churches are here for some reason!

The ruins at Knossos with the famous horns in the center

This is the throne room at Knossos.  The bench on the right against the wall is where the king sat.

More of the Knossos ruins with the countryside in the background.

Riding an ATV with sandals is not always good.  They can fall off!

A nice saying at the Bohemian beach at Matala

The carved remains of a tree in Matala near the beach.

Port, fort and harbor in Crete

We live by the weather on Aspen.  Calms, gentle breezes and big storms guide our lives.  If only there was a Farmer’s Almanac to predict our weather here in the Mediterranean like it predicts the weather back home.

But wait.  We have what is called the Coptic Calendar, handed down thru the ages since 451 AD by a group known as the Copts who are descendants from the ancient Egyptians.  This weather calendar, written in stone, predicts gales, storms and other nasty weather for the Med.  Sure, these weather predictions were chiseled over 1500 years ago but maybe, just maybe they are accurate?

This coming Monday, the ancient calendar predicts, there will be a mid-summer gale all around us.  A gale with over 35 knots of wind will blow for 2 days, say the Copts.  The storm is called the Black Wind.

So I look at my high-tech weather charts: Monday, July 16^th, nothing, nothing at all is forecast.  Ah ha!  So much for the ancients Captain Steve foolishly laughs.

Tuesday morning at 2 AM my intellectually advanced weather chart suddenly changes color to red and then a deep dark foreboding red color.  Gale!!!

A gale will hit us in this part of the Mediterranean just as the Coptic Calendar predicted, only 12 hours late.  That is pretty good for a calendar that was made in 451 AD!  And the weather forecasters in the US can’t even predict the weather for tomorrow.  When in doubt, look to the ancients!

We have been busy here in Crete, or so it seems.  Summer is here with 106 degree days and constant dry, cloudless skies.  We are baking!

There is everything from Keith Richards (with his back to the camera in the black t-shirt, or maybe his look-alike) and the hippie beach at Matala where Joni Mitchell hung out in the 70’s and wrote the song Carey.  The place and beach is still very laid back and has a nice hippie feel to it with the streets painted with colorful peace signs and things like that.

Another town called Malia is jam packed with young tourists who just don’t seem to sleep.  It is one enormous party town and the town has a McDonalds – that is the reason we decided to go there, of course.  One trip to the McDonalds was enough for us though since we haven’t seen the age of 18-25 for quite a few years!

Touring around the island we have seen more ancient ruins.  Knossos, the ancient Minoan palace, is the main attraction on Crete.  Thousands of people visit the partially restored site every day to ogle at the crumbling walls and what used to be palace.  But the Minoan civilization was a pinnacle in Greek history and its’ time was cut short by the evil volcanic eruption on neighboring Santorini.  As we said before, the power of Santorini’s eruption in 1600 BC caused the demise of an entire civilization.  That’s pretty impressive!

We’ve traveled to the south coast of Crete too (we are on the north coast with Aspen).  Desolate, arid and stark are good words for this southern coast.  Cresting the central mountain range that divides Crete into north and south we saw in the distance the deep blue Mediterranean Sea.  Only 5,000 feet nearly straight down the road switch-backed below us.  It was quite a ride down with occasional castles and deep gorges on either side of us.

At the base of the steep mountains are the beaches, small pieces of paradise for those who make the trip.  The climate is wonderful – no clouds, a gentle breeze every day and warm/hot temperatures with low humidity.  Perfect sun baking weather!

This south side of Crete was also where the major battles of WWII took place with the Germans fighting the Greeks, Brits, Australians and New Zealand forces for control of the island.  Germany easily won and took possession of Crete, the most important strategic island in the Mediterranean.  There are monuments all over Crete marking the valiant yet unsuccessful effort to defend Crete and defeat the Germans during the war.  One poignant monument was filled with the sun-bleached skulls of soldiers who became symbols for those pitched battles.

On a related note, it seems that Turkey is about ready to send a strong message (!) to Syria at the exact place we visited in April, Sanliurfa.  You might remember the nice picture of me pointing to the Syrian flag – that won’t be possible any more!

Sail on, sail on and sail safe Aspen…

Crete!

Welcome to Crete!

Captain Steve standing on the rim of a small caldera in Agios, Nikolaos, Crete that is supposed to be where Athena would bathe in the deep waters (213 feet deep!).

Maria high above the town and caldera of Agios Nikolaos, Crete

Yes, we found one!  It is in a town about 30 minutes from where we are.  

The local geology (nice conglomerate!)

Agios Nikolaos Marina where Aspen is.

A nice beach on Crete!

Another nice beach with some limestone outcrop in the distance.

The caves behind the beach are where the Romans once lived in about 500 AD.

Admiral Maria making the leap from the dock to Aspen.  She hasn't missed yet!

The setting for the town of Agios Nikolaos and Athena's bath

We are tied up in the marina at Agios Nikolaos Marina in Crete, enjoying the cloudless, warm and breezy days.  The temperature climbs into the high 80’s to low 90’s every day and then cools down to around 77 degrees at night with no humidity.  This is a really arid and stark place but very enjoyable. 

We are lucky to have the cool nights because our air conditioning doesn’t work here because of the difference in power that we can get.  In Euro Land they use 220 volts and 50 Hz which is a LOT different than what we use back in the USA.  Because of that difference we still have power for our battery charger because it can use Euro power so everything else on Aspen works just fine.  Whew!

Greece is a land of so many contrasts.  As you know, they had the recent elections and 51% of the people decided to stay in Euro Land.  A lot of people decided not to vote because they knew the election was corrupt anyway, that is what they told us.  But at least there are no riots here in Crete and the people seem to like the tourist revenue.  We feel very welcome.

Crete became part of Greece only recently, in 1917 after Turkey lost control of it during WWI.  Yet this is purely Greek here with very little remaining of the Ottoman Empire.

The working hours in Greece are a mystery to us.  It seems that a worker might work 3 days a week, if that much.  They close all businesses at 1:30 pm and might re-open at 6 pm most days.  Some businesses just decide not to open in the evening at all.  Then everyone takes Wednesday afternoons off and Sunday all day of course.  So maybe 3 days of work is a stretch but it sounds good.  This work schedule doesn’t include all of the holidays and the fact that the country closes down for the entire month of August.  No wonder the country has financial problems!

The beaches are really nice and very busy.  We heard that in the US they were showing empty Greek beaches on the TV news lately.  Maybe the beaches are empty at 5 am but Steve sees people sunning themselves and even swimming at 6:00 am when he is running!  Everyone loves a good beach day here, even the locals it seems.

Greece doesn’t celebrate my birthday on the 4^th of July for some strange reason.  But at least 1 hotel remembered and had a small fireworks display that we could see from Aspen.  That was nice of them!

This morning at 2:48 AM we had a nice 4.8 earthquake that was just to the southeast of Crete.  We didn’t feel a thing onboard Aspen and nothing seemed out of place in the town when we walked around today.  They are used to earthquakes here – if you remember the giant earthquake and eruption on the nearby island of Santorini?  That big one wiped out the Minoan civilization that existed on Crete in about 1600 BC.  That must have been a memorable event!

Sail on, sail on and sail safe Aspen…

More of Greece!

 Our trusty ATV in Mykonos.  That is the main port in the background.

 Captain Steve at the top of Delos, standing where Apollo stood.

That is one big Apollo torso on Delos!

Maria enjoying a relaxing day at Paradise Beach on Mykonos.  

The lions of Delos with ruins as far as the eye can see.

More ruins are behind us on Delos.

The marina at Mykonos.  Aspen is on the back left with the other sailboats.  Too bad they don't have electricity, water, bathrooms or any other conveniences in the marina!

Mykonos!  Yes, where Aristotle Onassis and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis played and partied day and night with the rich and famous from all over the globe.  Today, Mykonos has lost the number 1 ranking to Ibiza so it is only number 2 in the world as the most famous place to party.

So we fit right in – yea right!  Unfortunately the parties don’t begin until 2 AM and Captain Steve gets up to run before daylight so we could have gone to the festivities but decided not to.

Our first day on the island we rented a motor scooter but the roads are so steep and narrow that Maria would have had to walk up the steeper hills while Captain Steve struggled to ride up them.  The scooter was traded in rather quickly for an ATV with much more power.

The beaches are spectacular and there are chairs and umbrellas on every square inch of them.  You rent your piece of sand for the day at prices that are actually cheaper than in the Caribbean. 

Then you eat at the restaurants and have gyro sandwiches and your choice of refreshments.  The sandwiches cost $3 but the drinks cost $13.  Hmmmm.

At around 4 pm each day the music starts and people exit the water to dance.  This is the early party that ends around 7 PM.  Everyone rests and eats dinner until 2 AM when they return to their favorite dance spot and parties while watching the sun come up.

This cycle is repeated day after day throughout the summer.  We wondered how anyone gets any work done?  Well, for the most part, they don’t.  There are so many days off and delayed openings of stores that it boggles your mind.  Of course the grocery stores, restaurants, bars and tourist places are always open so that keeps everyone mostly happy.

Our ATV worked great, helping us explore the popular and remote beaches on Mykonos.  Maria didn’t have to walk once, although one road was so steep that the ATV nearly didn’t make it.  In the end we persevered and had a great time.

From Mykonos we took a 20-minute ride on a tourist ferry that visits the legendary island of Delos.

Delos: the island where Apollo was born.  This is the pinnacle of Greek mythology – visiting the birthplace of Apollo.  The island is barren and windswept today with monuments to Apollo everywhere on the blindingly white island.  The island is so white because of all the marble that was used for the monuments to honor Apollo.  There is no shade so you must be prepared for the high intensity light and heat.

The ruins are extensive and you could wander for hours among them.  This island was so special to the Greeks that no one was permitted to die on the island way back then.  Special people like priests did live on the island but if any of them fell ill they would immediately be taken off the island so that they could die on the adjacent island.  Delos was that sacred!

The winds turned more in our favor so we pointed Aspen south to Naxos, some 25 miles away from Mykonos.

Naxos is a large island where crops are actually grown, instead of just encouraging the beautiful people and jet setters!  However there are tourist shops, great restaurants and white sandy beaches to explore from our berth in a nice sheltered marina.  We finally were able to tie up in a marina and get water and electricity, something that we have not had for 10 days.

Of course we have battery power on Aspen and water but to be plugged in with unlimited power and water was a true luxury for us!

The winds increased significantly but their direction was very favorable for us so we set sail to yet other distant Greek island.

Ios is another windswept hunk of rock with very little in the way of vegetation.  However the beaches are nice and the water is clear and swimmable, even though the water temperature is better for polar bears than humans!

Our stay at Ios did not last long as the remnants of the demonic island Santorini, or as the Greeks call it, Thira, next appeared before us between the waves.  Santonini: killer of the Minoan Civilization and destroyer of Atlantis.

Santorini is an active volcano that last erupted in 1956.  But that burp was hardly anything compared with what happened in the ancient past.  When Santorini blew apart in 1500 BC it erupted with a force much more powerful than even that of Krakatoa in Indonesia, which changed the climate on Earth for an entire year.  Santorini not only changed the climate but it changed civilization as it once was.

And what of the mythical Atlantis?  What is left of Atlantis is sitting somewhere beneath the sea and the cause of even its’ destruction is thought to be from Santorini.  Civilizations ended, monumental cities vanished and the Earth changed - all because of this volcano.

In awe once again, we sailed directly through the caldera of the demon (isn’t that dramatic?).  Santorini didn’t scare us but brought thoughts of how powerful nature always is.  The water in the caldera is full of sulphur and other nasty chemicals so we did not stay long.  Under full sail Aspen ghosted across the huge abyss and existed on the far side of what was once the top of the volcano.  Whew!!!  Let’s get out of here!

Crete lies on the horizon.

Sail on, sail on and sail safe Aspen…

Greece!

 

Steering Aspen into the harbor at Kos, Greece

Maria standing beneath the tree of Hippocrates on Kos - the spot where modern day western medicine first began. Hippocrates lectured beneath this tree to his students about using scientific methods to treat people.

An Italian WWII prison on Leros.  Maria looks a bit apprehensive?

Tunnels that the Italians built on Leros during WWII.  They are everywhere on the island.

The cloudless, well almost, Greek sky above the deep blue Aegean Sea and the island of Leros.

 

Captain Steve trying to navigate on land again at Leros

Greek Orthodox Church out on a small island in Leros.  Let's hope the tide doesn't come in quickly!

The azure blue waters of the Aegean Sea with a typical windmill and an anchored sailboat.

Ikaria, Greece with Aspen the only sailboat in the small harbor.

Maria is mesmerized by the sight of Ikaria falling with his melted wings. 

A closeup of Ikaria falling from the sky

Patmos - Where the St. John, the disciple of Jesus, lived in exile for 5 years and wrote the final chapter of the Bible.

 A typical dock where we secure Aspen.  This one is at Patmos.  You can see Aspen toward the far end with the only US flag flying.

Maria walking in the steps of the pilgrims to the Cave of the Apocalypse.

Captain Steve standing where St. John laid his head (the lowest silver round frame behind the railing) and he is touching the hand hold that St. John used to raise himself up from his bed every day.

The Holy Trinity according to St. John.  Maria is touching the exact spot where God spoke to St. John and gave him the words to the last chapter in the Bible - Revelation (The Apocalypse).

The Story:

 

There are so many Greek Islands that it is difficult to decide where to visit first.  So we let the wind help us decide.  That simplifies things a little bit and Aspen likes to be pampered too!

We crossed from Turkey to Kos, Greece and checked into the European Union (affectionately known as the EU – the same organization that Greece wants to leave, along with the currency of the Euro).  Anyway, Kos is a tourist island with a marina that is a nice place to be in order to explore the island.

Maria got her hair done so that made her very happy.  They have hair stylists from Paris in Kos and she really liked their work.

Two days after stopping in Kos the marina told us that we could not stay any longer because all of the charter boats were due to come back so we would have to go.  Oh well.

Next stop was Leros, where the Italians took over the island, and Greece, during WWII, and built all of the buildings that we see today on Leros.  There are military ruins everywhere because Leros was Italy’s biggest port in Greece during the big war.  There is still a forbidden area across the bay from the tiny marina that the Greek Navy still uses.  We tried to get in but they said NO.  So instead we visited an Italian prison that is in ruins and several bunkers, gun emplacements on high points on the island and tunnels.

Leros isn’t a very big island so the locals have a bad case of island fever.  They constantly drive up and down the street behind our boat that is tied to the main concrete wall in the town of Lakki.  The main street is about 1 mile long and they drive from one end to another all day and most of the night on their scooters that don’t have mufflers.  At least they keep themselves entertained!

We had south winds so our next stop was Patmos.  Now this island was really amazing.  Heathen Steve was educated once again when we read that the Romans exiled St. John (yes, THE St. John, the closest friend of Jesus) to the island and he lived in a cave known as the Cave of the Apocalypse.  This was where St. John wrote the final chapter of the Bible, Revelation (or as it is also known, the Apocalypse).

We were able to visit the actual Cave of the Apocalypse and as usual we arrived early before the throngs arrived.  There was a donkey path from the main town where Aspen was docked, that wound up and up into the steep mountains.  This is the same path that the pilgrims walk when they visit the cave.

Ascending over 1,000 feet we arrived outside of the church that has been built around the cave.  We paid $2.50 to visit the cave and preceded to the steps that led down, down, down until we stood outside the entrance to the Cave of the Apocalypse.  The inscription above the entrance read, “As dreadful as this place is it is nevertheless the house of God and this the Gate of Heaven”.

Ummm, that put us in the right frame of mind with something that was written nearly 2,000 years ago!

I don’t intend to belabor this visit BUT, I have to explain that inside the cave where John wrote the Apocalypse there are three cracks on the low cave ceiling that we could barely stand under.  These 3 cracks joined together at a single point where we put our hand.  St. John said that this juncture was the Holy Trinity and at this exact spot God spoke to him through this Holy Trinity and gave him the words to the final chapter of the Bible.

We never expected that Greece is as biblical as it is but this was a fantastic visit to the Cave of the Apocalypse and as astounding as it gets.

Oh yes, the restaurants and little shops on Patmos were a lot better than those on Leros!

Again the winds were blowing lightly from the south so we pushed further north and arrived at Ikaria.  Do you remember where this island got its’ name? 

Obviously, it was the Greek legend of Ikaria!  The legend was that Ikaria crafted a set of wings from feathers and wax in order to escape Crete.  Unfortunately Ikaria strapped on the wings and flew a little too high and close to the sun where his wings of wax melted.  And you can guess where he landed – right on the island of Ikaria of course.  They have a nice statue honoring this legend at the entrance to the small harbor.

Aspen was the only sailboat in the harbor because very few sailboats stop here.  Ikaria is not a very touristy island and it is much too steep to grown any crops.  But it was a nice stop for us and gave Aspen a great wind angle to our next island, Mykonos.

Mykonos, the party, party, party island that Onassis, Jackie O and the jet-set crowd made famous!  Stay tuned for this one!

Sail on, sail on and sail safe Aspen…