Chania area

Chania is a great town with very quaint narrow streets and the ever present reminders of the Venetian fortress which once protected the harbour. Much of the fortress walls remain, and many more recent buildings are built into them. We were moored Med-style (i.e. stern-to) at the town quay. It was cheap here – Euro 150 for eight days – but also very noisy, as we had two tavernas within 20m of our stern. These tavernas started playing loud music about 2300hrs, which didn’t stop until 0400hrs. We slept using our engine room ear muffs to keep out most of the noise. The pedestrian traffic was huge after about 1900hrs, and we felt like goldfish in a bowl as passers-by peered down into Envoy, cockpit and salon. We visited the extremely interesting Maritime Museum. They have a large photo of the harbour entrance taken during a storm in 2008 showing 5 metre breaking waves crashing across the entrance. The locals told us such conditions are rare, and only occur in winter (thank goodness).
We hired a rental car for two days and drove into the mountains, and to the south coast. To me the mountain villages are the “real Crete”, and many have changed hardly at all for decades. In many places the roads are too narrow for oncoming cars to pass, and one has to back up. At other times the roads are blocked by herds of goats, and you have to patiently let them pass. Fortunately the traffic is very light, as most people flock to the beaches on the coast.
We visited the German War Cemetry at Maleme. The cemetery is located at the scene of some of the fiercest fighting of the Battle of Crete. This is Hill 107 overlooking the airport, and held by New Zealanders. They were decimating the German paratroopers on the airfield below until German aircraft arrived and wiped out most of the Kiwis. The cemetery is well designed and maintained, containing the remains of 4,460 young German men, disinterred from about 60 graveyards around Crete to be finally laid to rest in one location. It is typical of the generosity of the Cretans, that despite the appalling atrocities of the Germans to civilians during their occupation, they donated the land for the cemetery. The Cretans did of course fight very fiercely, and bravely against the German occupiers, eventually forcing them to retreat to the town of Canea, where they remained until the surrender.
Last Monday our friends Doug & Mary Gooch arrived. Doug & Mary are the parents of one of John’s closest friends – Bevin. We had two great nights in Chania and then left for some cruising. Doug is a bit prone to sea sickness, and was feeling a bit seedy on the first day. I’m not sure how much of that was due to the sea, and how much to the inevitable festivities on arriving aboard Envoy. Mary gave Doug a pill, but he wasn’t getting any better. She then discovered she had given him a pill for diarrhea, not sea sickness! At least our guest head will be getting a rest for a while.
As I type this we’re heading back to Gramvousa. With Doug & Mary we’ll cover several places we’ve already been to, then head to the picturesque harbour of Rethimno, before crossing 75NM north east to Santorini.
Log
Days aboard Envoy this trip: 129
Engine hours and distance this trip: 127hrs, 616NM
Technical: Pleased to say nothing much to report. With Doug being an electrician, boatie and excellent technically we’ve been doing some checks and small maintenance jobs. We’re also checking the Lugger’s charging system (Balmar alternator and regulator), as it seems a bit light on charge voltage – this is work in progress.
Our smaller 2.7m Arimar RIB was in a sad way. The wooden transom had parted from the vinyl, air leaked out of the tubes, and water leaked into the boat. It was going to cost Euro 800 to get repaired, so we decided to buy a new one. Availability is limited here, but we opted for a Portuguese-built Valiant 2.7m rigid hull inflatable. This is now on board and great. It’s useful to have a second, smaller RIB as our 3.7m Nautica RIB with a 25hp Yamaha, weighing about 350kg can only be launched and retrieved from the boat deck in very calm conditions using the boom winch; in the event of an emergency we might not be able to launch it.