A leisurely start, we cast off and weighed anchor at 11:50am on the 7th September. Great to have extra crew to help with the lines and anchor.
Nil wind at first so we motored.
At the very start of the journey there is a handy short cut between waypoints 2 and 3 above. It is narrow and shallow so you need to be awake, but beautiful and of course always great to share these moments with close friends. Once we cleared the gap, the wind came up and straight at us so it was a beat all the way to Nisyros.
Greg and I lay out the sunbeds on the trampolines which for me was a first. We were just getting set for a little doze when we noticed that we didn't seem to be going in the right direction??
I went up to the helm to be faced with blank screens and the boat was cruising on manual and being turned by the wind. The girls hadn't noticed so it was a good thing we hadn't dozed off! No rest for the wicked....
We checked all the systems but ended up under the guest bed with that pesky 40amp fuse. Unfortunately, it was not the problem.... right next to it were two relay switches, both making quite a racket and both searing hot. We pulled them out, let them cool and replaced them. Everything came back up but we remained unsettled. Once in port we pulled them out again, cleaned all the contacts and the problem seems to have abated, but will need to be fixed.
Two harbours on Nisyros, this one being Pali and the main ferry harbour, Mandrakion around the corner.
A very safe harbour. We were fortunate that we got there when we did choosing a spot on the mole looking across the water at the town and mountains behind. Beautiful.
No sooner were we set when in they came in droves eventually completely filling the available space and then some.
The port policeman was as efficient and courteous as we've seen in Greece. He asked me to come to his office by 9:00pm which I did and his administration was complete. He wondered why I hadn't filled out a new Crew List in Symi?? "Mate we didn't even see Port Police in Symi." He didn't seem surprised and said I should get it done in Kos, Nisysros was not a port that this could be done.... 22 Euro later, a further 10Euro for the power and water and we were sorted. A good deal really.
This island is famous for this active crater.
Although there were bus loads of tourists, we enjoyed the walk across to the bubbling mud all to ourselves while the hordes were being lectured to up top.The place wreaks of sulfur a bit like Rotarua in NZ but fascinating and a first for Sal and the kids.
They regretted the fact that they had done school work in the morning as this should have been a 'project'....
And at the very top of the island, a church in the most obscure and difficult place to build one.
All over Greece we have found churches in this type of setting leaving not a clue as to who, why or how they were put there.
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