Daily Archives: June 16, 2013

Literally within seconds of dropping anchor in the crowed fishing boat bay of Votsi and rafting our boat “Sonia” along side our friend’s boat “Deep Blue” there was a crack of thunder, bolts of lightning followed by a deluge like non I’d ever seen. We scrambled to batten the hatches and pull in the towels, laundry, Kindles, and iPads.

Tawny and I donned our suits and headed out into the rain with some soap. It had been several days since we had a shower and the rain was so torrential it took the soap off you before you could lather it. The unexpected hail was exfoliating. The thunder and lightning all around us was a bit disconcerting since we were the highest mast in the bay. But the refreshment of a cool shower was worth it. We caught several buckets of the soft rain water from the boat’s dodger to keep for future bathing. On shore we saw flash flooding with torrents of rain coming down the street by the tavernas and waterfalls forming on the cliffs around us.

We sat below for an hour or two waiting for the storm to pass. Eventually it did and Tom, Clara, Tawny, and I ventured out in the dingy to explore the caves nearby the bay. There are so many caves along the shores of the Sporades that after awhile it was so commonplace I stopped photographing them. Many of these caves had been above waterline at one time and have evidence of human inhabitants that dates back to pre-neolithic times.

We went ashore during a sun-break and walked around the bay scoping out tavernas that we may want visit that night. The air was fresh and clean and the bay looked beautiful.

We zeroed in on a cute little taverna built into the hillside that had a great view. It looked like another mom and pop place because we could see in the windows a baby play pen just off the kitchen. We returned to the boat and waited for them to open (many places don’t open until 6 or 7 pm and people really don’t arrive until 9 or 10pm.

The place turned out to be a mom and pop place but with a young couple, an Italian woman and her Greek boyfriend and their baby girl. Her Italian sister and her Greek boyfriend were also part of the restaurant. It was very chic variation on modern Greek and Italian food. Perhaps one of the best meals we’ll have in Greece. It was certainly the best to date. The seared tuna was a hit as was the garbanzo bean salad, the homemade tagliatelle with shrimp, but the best was the gnoci with browned butter.

Tuesday evening we tried to get into the port of Patiriri on the island of Alonnisos but the port was very full so we had to go to the fisherman’s bay northeast of the main town. Although Barry and Judy were able to find a berth in Patiriri on the quay. The fisherman’s bay turned out to be a very protected bay called Votsi that we liked so much we decided to stay in for 2 nights.

We nestled in between small fishing boats and settled in for happy hour.

During our happy hour a man appeared on the cliff above where we were anchored and hailed us. He motioned to his mouth and pointed behind him. We assumed he may have a food truck or something in the parking area above the cliff from what we could see.

We went ashore (about 10 feet in a dingy) and clambered up the path the fishermen had made along the cliff wall. When we got to the top we saw not a food truck but a brand new restaurant – empty. We were early in the season and we were the only tourists staying in Votsi, so we decided we’d eat there for the night. One of the best meals we had in Greece to date! It was fantastic! Literally a mom and pop restaurant as the only two people there. Very new (kitchen looked like it never had a meal cooked in it, bathroom was perhaps the cleanest bathroom I’ve ever seen!)

It was a great meal and we settled back onto the boats with some difficulty even with a 10 foot water crossing late at night and in the dark.
The wind kicked up and there was considerably thunder and lightning again which provided another wild night of anchor watch started about 4am as the rafted boats began to drag. We came very close to the shore and to another fishing boat but were able to tighten the stern ties to the shore and set the anchor to keep the drift to a minimum.