The Skipper was excited about revisiting Gaios on the island of Paxos. Around 40 years ago he spent an enjoyable holiday sailing Wayfarer dinghies around the islands of Paxos and Anti-Paxos its smaller sibling. We knew it was likely to be busy so motored across to arrive around 11.00 as last night’s yachts headed for the exit. We were able to choose a spot near to the southern entry to the harbour and moored back to the quay with around 45 meters of anchor out across the harbour. Much of the afternoon was then spend watching as other boats came in and squeezed themselves into tighter and tighter spots as space became scarce. Despite our neighbour laying his chain across ours everyone got settled for the night and as he planned to leave the next morning there wasn’t a problem.
The quay at Gaios before the afternoon rush
As it was Carolyn’s birthday Mitch treated us to a meal at ‘Genesis’ taverna at the far southern end of the bay which was very good with very pleasant Greek wine. This part of the town was not developed when Chris last visited but the northern end and the square were very similar and he was able to pick out the place they stayed and the bar they frequented. The evening ended with a Metaxa in that bar and Chris was able to find the patron who had been there on his last visit having run the place for 48 years!
Cafe stop on the quay at Gaios (the waters arrived, now wheres the beer?)
We wandered around the town the next morning and Carolyn was able to find a Greek style white cotton top for her birthday. We did bits of shopping and managed to find the place to dump the rubbish. Another cruiser had told Chris it was out past the two supermarkets then turn right so off he went with two bags, one trash, the other re-cycling which we knew was hopeful as most places have only one large bin. At the right turn there were actually three choices so having tried the most obvious one and been waved back to another by a Greek on a motorbike, he walked 200m round the corner to then see a sign saying ‘Your rubbish on right’ which is only visible when you are on top of it. It’s even less helpful really as he eventually found the skips straight on from there. This time there were about 9 skips labelled for general rubbish, cardboard, glass etc but as usual they were all filled with general trash. That afternoon we also had decorated boats cruising up and down the harbour sounding loud hooters with a just married Greek bride reveling in the attention. You see all sides of the community when out cruising!
We had thought of going off somewhere for a walk but settled for staying on board and Chris was going to write the blog. It’s a good thing we did. Around 13.00hrs there was space for three mono-hulls to our port side. Initially Chris went out on the quay to take the lines of an Australian single hander who was trying to berth in the far space. He lost control and reversed away dragging his anchor right across our chain and lifting our anchor to the surface. This tangle took about an hour to sort out with the help of the New Zealand boat next door. All this time we had to run our engines to keep Splice off the quay until eventually our anchor was redropped, we still had about 34 meters out and it seemed to be holding so we finally settled down to lunch at 14.00hrs.
As we were eating, a 43ft Moorings power cat with a crew of Swiss guys tried to come in next to us. The initial mooring went fairly well other than they laid their chain across ours, again no problem as we were both going to leave the next morning. Then however, they kept pulling in their anchor chain, Chris pointed out to the crew that he would simply tangle both anchors and if it wasn’t holding they should try again. They kept pulling it in until it was clear by the vibration they had our chain caught too. They then left the berth at speed dragging our anchor and chain with them. At one point our anchor chain was horizontal above the sea surface as this guy almost managed to drive our chain around his propellers. Chris was on the bow screaming at him to cut the engines and his ‘propeller miming’ eventually got the message through. Another 40 minutes of untangling with help from the Antipodean crews around us before he is back in his berth. Of course our anchor is now only a few feet from the bow so we now have to go out and re-anchor. By this time the afternoon breeze is in full swing and a lovely crosswind is adding to the fun. The first attempt went OK other than the anchor didn’t bite for some reason (only about the second time ever the Rocna has failed to dig in) so we had to do it all again. The second attempt dug the anchor but in trying to keep away from other chains its angle to the curving quay didn’t support us that well against the cross-wind. It took another 30 minutes of rigging lines before the skipper was happy that we were safe for the night.
There were a few ‘early beers’ that evening as stress levels were induced to return to normal. Our most manic afternoon since we left the UK five summers ago. At least those around were helpful, thanks to the other crews no major damage was sustained (except perhaps to the skippers blood pressure) Even the old Greek guy who had been sitting on the steps each day watching the world go by got up to pull lines, we went to say thank you in our basic Greek afterwards and Carolyn got her photo taken with him.
Carolyn gets her (Greek)man
Gaios is a lovely place and still has much of the charm of 40 years ago but it is very busy and a tight harbour with lots of inexperienced charter boats. If we visit again we will anchor outside or maybe try securing back to the side of the island to port as you enter the northern channel, there are a few hopefully quieter spaces there.
Main Photo: The birthday girl