April-May 2022
Chios itself is a relatively big Greek Island. Good thing because we were here for quite a while! It was time to live onboard tied up to the Chios town quay. The port is a stop for big ships, not huge cruise ship size but there were a few big ships that came through. The port has a town quay which makes cruisers very happy. Given this was the pre-cruising season it was very quite and we were quoted a price of just 7eur a day. In the end, after almost a month and a half, we had become locals and good friends with everyone around that our bill was a handshake and smile.
After our first night tied side on at the customs dock we made our way down to the other end of the port and stern tied right beside Peter and Claire from SVDarkIsland. We first met them in the Teos marina where we spent the winter together while I finished work on the boat and they did the same. One of the first things we always did was walk down the street and look at the restaurants and coffee shops. On our first morning, we celebrated making it to Greece by having a nice breakfast by the beach.
Exploring the town
Chios was a fantastic place to be ‘stuck’ for 5 weeks while we waited for our life raft to show up. During that time we got to see a lot of the island and knew many of the streets around town. The girls had a blast with getting around and many visits to the parks.
Doughnuts and Ice cream
This was a regular occurrence! The girls loved getting out, zipping down the street and going for doughnuts or ice cream. It was also great for the grown up kids to relax and have a coffee. The town quay was the perfect distance from the main center of town, not too far that you need to take a taxi, and not too close that it was a short trip.
Neighbours
It was fun to walk of the back of the boat, down the dock and knock knock on a neighbour’s boat. During the time in CHios, SVDarkIsland was there for most of the time we were. There were many trips over to see Peter and Claire. It was usually a goofy time full of laughs.
Super Bowlers!
Not only did we have neighbours nice and close, but right behind us were bars, restaurants, coffee shops AND….a bowling alley. It was the first time the girls got to bowl. There was more than one visit to the bowling alley. It was also the first time Dad had taken kids to a bowling alley. It was a bit funny because it was a 10-pin alley and of course, the balls are BIG. So when we started, I helped India and Nina carry the bowling ball close to the line and push it down the lane. They had kids guards along the sides of the lane which was fantastic for them. It was only about 15 minutes later when the staff came over and pulled out the kids ramp which allowed them to position the ramp, place the ball at the top and let it go. Of course, this made things much better;)
Swell
It wasn’t always smooth in the port. When the wind came from the south, the swells came with it. It was surprising because the swells came in through the opening, went north, bounced off the customs dock and then back to the other end of the port. INDININI was parked right in the corner so it was a convergence of waves. Luckily it only occurred 2 times during the time we spent there. The springs that we had on the mooring lines really helped to manage the abrupt stops that you experience if the springs are not in line.
History
As probably everyone in the world knows, there is a whole heck of a lot of history in Greece. We just got to touch the tip of it during our time cruising around the islands and Chios is where it started.
Everywhere we went the girls got to see history. In addition to that, we visited museums and showed them things from hundreds and thousands of years ago. Now they might not have been able to appreciate being as young as they are but they always seemed excited to see new things and cruise around. This is a short video from a museum within walking distance of where INDININI was moored.
Over all Chios was a wonderful place to be. We waited for Karin to arrive, we got the spray hood of the boat done, we got some motor throttle work done, we got to drive around, walk around, we got to eat food that we had been missing in Turkey and it was the first place we got to experience and enjoy Greek hospitality. Unfortunately, it also had a big airport which is where Sarah flew out to spend summer 2022 back in Hong Kong. She had not been home to see family and friends for nearly 3 years so off she went in the air and off we went on the water.