THE GODS MUST BE CRAZY ….

I really thought that by now the Greek Gods would have been on our side and we would be off sailing the great blue yonder.

KRONOS (Cronus) was the King of the Titanes and the god of time

Time constraints meant we decided to register MACSEA on the NZ Shipping Register instead of Australia. This was a very painless 3 days and our original certificate was couriered from Wellington to Athens in a couple of days. Our crew (Kara) had arrived and we were ready to go!

Asclepius, the healing god

A pre-existing medical problem for John (not insurable ) meant we have spent the last 2 weeks negotiating the Greek medical system. We have also been back-pedaling furiously for the same 2 weeks trying NOT to get our cruising permit (Transit log) as then we would have to check out of our marina berth and this would be very inconvenient to say the least. During that time John has installed a new VHF radio which has in-built GPS and AIS – fancy – and also found that our bilge pump was kaput – would not have saved us from sinking should the need arise. A new one was purchased and installed with a float switch which turns it on automatically if water is detected in the bilge. We have a new dinghy and outboard on order. As of yesterday the truck from France is still in Milan waiting to get on the ferry to Greece. Is there a god of ‘deliveries’ we can sacrifice to?

We booked tickets to see an orchestral performance in the  “Odeon of Herodes Atticus”. This a stone theatre located on the southwest slope of the Acropolis of Athens. The building was completed in 161 AD and can seat 5000 on beautiful semi circular grey marble steps. Sting performed a concert there a few weeks ago (no chance to get tickets unfortunately) and the atmosphere must have been electric. Only problem was that it is an open air venue and the night we were due to go the heavens opened (Ye Gods!). The performance was cancelled – not before we had traveled there and got very wet.

DOLOS (Dolus) was the personified spirit (daimon) of trickery, cunning deception, craftiness, treachery and guile.

With Kara and Yasmin we tried again the next week. The gods had other ideas! This time John was pick pocketed on the train on the way to the concert and so we spent the evening at the police station while the girls raced off to the next train station to see if the wallet had been discarded nearby. No such luck but they did find another one. It was stuffed behind the seats and the thief had taken a couple of credit cards plus the cash and abandoned it. A bit of sleuthing on Facebook by Kara and the lucky Bolivian Doctor on holiday was reunited with his wallet the next day at our boat.. We were not so lucky. We immediately cancelled the credit cards and the bank told us that the  thief had attempted to use them to get cash just 6 minutes after we realised the wallet was gone. This is how we figured out he had only gone one train stop. It must have looked a bit ridiculous to see two nicely dressed blonde tourists (Kara and Yasmin) rummaging in the rubbish bins around Syntagma Square. Yasmin is a nurse so luckily always carries gloves!

Yasmin joined us from the UK and was expecting an idyllic two weeks floating around in the clear blue Mediterranean waters  – only to be marooned in a hot noisy marina and rummaging through rubbish bins. Luckily the girls took themselves off to Santorini for a few days R & R and got plenty of Athens sightseeing in as well as some swimming at one of the private beaches to the south of Athens. Unfortunately Yasmin decided to fly home early due to our delays and because our schedule was still uncertain. Kara also deserted us for a few days to spend some time hanging out with the crew from Dragonfly (Privilege 495 catamaran), Jeff, Heidi and Daniela DiFazzio in Antiparos ( Jeff and Heidi were our buddy boat who we met in Panama in 2001 and traveled across the Pacific to Australia with and are like our 2nd family).

Hermes, or Mercury, is the god of communication, transportation, and commerce.

The Gods have finally been appeased. We visited Customs at the port of Piraeus this morning and received our Transit log in the record time of 2 hours. The solicitor with us told us it usually takes 5 or so hours but we were very lucky today. We’ll be leaving tomorrow after checking out and having the Transit Log stamped by the Port Captain here at Alimos Marina. We’ll then sail down to the bottom of mainland Greece to an anchorage called Sounion where we’re meeting up with Dragonfly to spend a night or two catching up – oh, and to retrieve our crew (Kara) if they’ll let her go.