Moving woes

I have been in my home town for over two weeks, packing and trying to organize transport of my things from the apartment. Not easy. So far, my best option involves delivering two large duffle bags to a big city bus station in the middle of the night.

I might as well take them myself on the plane or pay extra for a courier. 

However,  they are too heavy for me to transfer from plane to bus to ferry.  On the other hand, the diver who is watching Eidos, has agreed to let me use his address for delivery by courier. This makes sense, as I will need him to give me a ride to the boat upon my return. 

The bigger bag, 24kg, 80x60x50cm is now ready for pick up by DHL courier. 

The smaller one, I will take with me, since I already paid for hold baggage, and the carry on fits inside it. I will just have to somehow muscle it to Poros. 

Meanwhile, I had been also hoping to visit Warsaw for an outdoor Chopin concert in Łazienki park, but unfortunately the weather will not cooperate - it will rain on that Sunday.

Meanwhile, I am trying to find interesting things to do in Cieszyn.

Luckily, my sister found a concert of Chopin's music at the Culture centre and another one a week later at the theatre. 

In between, I spent some quiet time in the Peace Park and of course at several of the cafés. 

Cieszyn, my home town.

Last winter, I stayed in an apartment in this beautiful building on the central square in Cieszyn. I thought that it would be my new home.

Then in April, I went back to Greece to pick up my possessions and prepare Eidos to be sold. But as soon as I arrived, Greece, the sea  the sun and of course Eidos once again had me in their grip. A difficult decision when one gets older and no longer able to manage a boat alone. But, I don't think it is the right time for me yet. So I decided to stay on board one more summer and to give up my apartment. One summer at a time and one winter at a time - that is my new plan.

Although, I like the location of my apartment and the fact that it has an elevator but the windows do not open and it is very hot in summer. So I decided to give it up and focus on making Eidos more comfortable.

Safe on a mooring buoy

After leaving Eidos safe on a mooring buoy, I catch a ride to shore with Noulis, the diver who looks after it. 

And then by Aero 1 Highspeed ferry to Piraeus.

It's time to head back to my home town in Poland.

Sahara sand in Greece.

Yesterday and today we have the sky, the land, and all the boats covered in reddish sand that has blown over from the Sahara desert. 

It's not even the sand you find on a beach, that could easily be swept off, but fine powder that sticks to everything and coats all the surfaces of the boat. 

I can taste it in my mouth and it invades my nose. It even blocks out the sun.

The reddish powder is a permanent occurance over northern Africa but with southerly winds it spreads all the way as far as Poland on occassion. It is supposed to move east by tomorrow afternoon but will leave Eidos in a serious need of a wash.

Meanwhile, Poros is preparing for a catamaran boatshow this weekend do the crew have lots of washing to do as well. 

Safe travels, Roane!

Roane, instead of taking the bus to Athens, found a ride with Paskal who needed crew on his sailboat.

They should arrive in Zeus Marina in the early afternoon.

Not much wind today, so motoring. 

Bye, Roane. It was very nice to have met you and thank you for all your help! And for a lovely sketch of Eidos, plus a note. Hope to see you back in Greece soon.

Calm seas.

They caught up with a French training vessel, Belem, that will carry the Olympic flame from Piraeus to Marseille.

Roane spent her last afternoon in Greece exploring Athens.

Meanwhile, I moved Eidos to a mooring in Navy Bay. Another busy day in paradise.

Sunday in Poros

The sound of the church bells woke me up, so off to the bakery for a milo pita and machiatto.

Crew is sleeping in.

Roane will be leaving tomorrow, so she is packing today and hoping for a ride to Piraeus on board another sailboat. The dinghy has been patched as well as possible (thank you, Roane) and back on deck. Meanwhile, I washed the decks.

All ready to move Eidos on a buoy.

Roane went for one more swim before leaving and then an evening walk.

Gale force winds.

We had force 9 winds this morning but much better to be in the harbour than at sea. Even in the bay, we had good sized waves with white caps. I heard that some ferry sailings were cancelled.

A bit of damage to Eidos from hitting the pontoon - the teak trim ripped off. But having big fenders helped. We also had help from the crew of a neighbour's boat. They loaned us two fenders and helped when one of the shrouds came out of the fitting. Also, we threw the fortress anchor out to keep us away from the pontoon. Unfortunately,  a shackle on the anchor chain snapped and I had to call a diver to find the anchor. 

It is now early afternoon and the wind is finally dying so after a short walk, the crew and skipper can rest. 

Life aboard Eidos

We begin our day at sunrise with coffee and breakfast in the cockpit. A bit of housework follows.

Major job - the dinghy sprung a leak. I go shopping for glue and Gorilla tape, while Roane works online.

After lunch, it's cards and strawberries and then more work patching the dinghy.

And then the skipper makes gavros marinados for supper.

Gale force winds, rain and thunderstorm predicted for tonight and tomorrow, so we batten down the hatches and tie down everything on deck.

Splashdown!

Lift off!

On the trailer to the dock.

Back in the air.

And in the water.

The mechanic had to come again because there was some electrical problem and the engine didn't want to start.

Crew on the wheel heading to Poros harbour.

Skipper takes over to manouver in the harbour and to dock.

And on the pontoon.

Second day prep for launch.

Now that the hull is nicely painted, we can no longer use the galley for washing dishes. So we have to use a bucket.

The next job is to clean out the bilge. Roane to the rescue, while I antfoul the second coat.

The bilge is as clean as possible.

Roane finished the painting while I prepared the fenders and mooring lines for tomorrow. 

All together, we used 7 litres (or is it kilos? At 40€/per) of antifouling paint.

The annode for the prop shaft finally arrived and has been installed. 

Eidos ready for launching.