Kolokitha
30 November 2011
Life here in Spinalonga is continuing pretty much the same way it did last year! We're getting a few jobs done, going for walks and having lots of dinners out with friends.
Our new solar panel finally arrived after lots of problems with arranging for it to be delivered to us here. It's now fitted but the regulator is also broken so we've got to wait for another one before we get the full benefit of the sun. The wind is still blowing though so we're getting enough power from the wind generator to keep us going. The weather has perked up a bit, the sun is shining most days but it's still colder and windier than expected. Hopefully December will be a better month. Andy has adjusted our battery connection cables so that they are all the same size and length, apparently that can have an effect on how they perform as they are connected in series to make one big 24 volt battery.
We've had a short visit to the marina in Agios Nikolaos to see who was there that we know from last year, there were a few boats that we recognised but most people were out on an organised walk. We'll try to catch up with them next time we go in.
Walking around Elounda there are loads of new signs for the filmset for the TV series 'The Island'. We saw the filmset last year when we were here, unfortunately the signs are a little late as it has not been maintained and is fast falling into disrepair - a sign of the times here? We went to a new Ouzeri with our friends Steve, Anne and Chris the other night and had a lovely meal starting with lots of different meze dishes, we'll definitely go again.
Our only other walk so far has been over Kolokitha to the beach on the other side. Kolokitha is the island that forms the east side of the lagoon that we are anchored in. The beach was deserted with lovely soft fine sand. Apparently, in the summer it is very crowded and dirty as it is used for barbecues for the tripper boats taking people to Spinalonga island, so we definitely saw it at the right time.
We're planning a trip up to the Lasithi Plateau next week and we're hoping that we might be able to have a night away in Rethimno if the weather stays good.
There are loads of crows around at the moment, they have a habit of perching on our mast at 6am and crowing loudly until we go out, armed with catapult and cat biscuits and try to shoot them! Getting bird s**t off the deck is a nightmare and they've already broken our wind hawk (direction indicator) by sitting on it. They also wake the cats up so we get no peace from then on, we'll be glad when they migrate.