Boat trips, bouzouki and low flying octopus!!

So, summer is most definitely upon us, the beaches are busy, the tavernas have queues at the door (if they had doors that is!), the buses are running and the sun is shining.  Contrary to popular belief and told by the BBC and the tabloid press, the whole of Greece has not ground to a halt.  Unfortunately there have been cancellations at a few of the hotels and guest houses by those lily livered individuals who obviously take everything they read as gospel...but hey never mind, they can stick to Spain.

It was my birthday mid June and I had a lovely evening out with some friends.  Paul bought me a gorgeous ring that I had spotted in a rather fancy jewellers in the Old Village and an equally lovely handbag that I had spotted in a boutique next door to our apartment.  He takes hints very well does my man! 


My birthday presents from Paul

Birthday with friends

The next couple of weeks passed by with plenty of visits to the further away beaches courtesy of Karen who had lent us the car.  However this week the activity picked up a pace.  Tuesday we were invited on a boat trip which was intended to visit the island of Skantzoura about 2 hours away.  The requisite permits had been granted by the Port Police but just as we had set off from the harbour, the captain received a call on the radio saying he no longer had permission to visit and any attempt to do so would result in a hefty fine!  There appeared to be no explanation when we asked the captain why they had changed their minds, although he did have a mini rant in greek of which the only word I picked up was 'Malaka' (W****** in English!!)
Everyone was slightly disappointed but we still ended up having a lovely day. There was a fully stocked cool box with soft drinks, beer and wine which somehow I ended up being in charge of....can't think how that happened!  Captain Dimitri took us to some lovely bays and then announced we were going looking for sea urchins for lunch!  He dutifully took us to another lovely swim stop and then the hunt was on.  He put on his gloves, fetched his net and came back with loads of urchins.

The sea urchin haul

 As he was swimming back around the boat, something flew through the air and landed on and around Karen's leg....she didn't bat an eyelid, even though what he had just thrown was an octopus!!!  She unravelled it from her ankle and there were various shrieks from the younger members of the group!  Once we'd all taken some photo's it was agreed that the best place for it was back in the ocean, so it  got thrown back in and made it's feeling known about it's mini excursion by puffing lots of black ink as it went back to deeper water.

Karen and her new friend!

The octopuses viewpoint!

 

Most of us tucked into the sea urchins once they had been prepared ...... really creamy and gorgeous fresh from the sea. A couple of us even tried Fusca (I think) which looked like an oyster except it was bright yellow.

Sea Urchins for lunch!

Captain Dimitri preparing the urchins

Greek oysters!

The afternoon passed by with plenty of wine, more swimming and plenty of chatter and laughter. We got back to shore around 5pm and I went for a little lie down......and woke up at 8.30..hey ho!

The following evening was Music Night and we were treated to some guitar by Chester, bouzouki by Pete, ukulele from Anthony and even an organ played by Nigel.  Unfortunately the wine flowed far too well and we ended up drinking a litre of wine each before being invited back to Lesley's house for a night cap...mistake.  A couple of whiskys later I was holding Paul up to get back to the apartment.  This was easier said than done as his legs didn't appear to belong to the rest of him and there were some rather precipitous steps to navigate!  We made it back safely, in the end and staggered off to bed.  We did make a couple of attempts to get up the next morning....I eventually made it at 11.30 and Paul at 1pm!  It didn't last long though and I think he was back in bed by 3.....we have now spent the last couple of days drying out before we do it all again on Tuesday :)

From far left, Anthony, Chester, Pete & Nigel at the back