“Turn left!”
I acknowledged the instruction by sculling my hands in the water and angling myself 90° to the left. I continued forward and in a few moments I saw it: the wreckage of a World War II plane sunk 12 m below the surface. I was snorkeling in the Aegean off a poorly known island whose name I’ve already forgotten, and we’d found an airplane. How cool is this ?
As you may recall, I found myself on a private charter sailboat in the Greek islands. On paper, this sounds like a fantasy. After all, who would think to do something like that? On the other hand, this is not what I signed up for. I was expecting to be with a group of people. Chatting during the day, exploring new islands in towns in the afternoon, and drinking in the evening. Instead, it was me and my captain, a 41-year-old Greek man named Ilias. A very nice guy, to be sure, but he brought a different vibe to the boat than a group of strangers would. As I would learn, this is not a bad thing.
After briefly getting acquainted, Ilias showed me my cabin. Ultimately, I probably could have picked any cabin on the boat, but he went ahead and gave me the one closest to the bow. It has the advantage of being right along the center line of the boat, so while it will rock from side to side, it doesn’t go up and down as much as the cabins on the sides. After showing me all the safety equipment and walking through the details of the boat, we sat down to what was really important: the itinerary.
I know what the original itinerary was, but I told him that, since I’m the only passenger, I wouldn’t mind making some changes. Not because I know better, but because the destinations on the itinerary were probably designed to handle larger groups or to cater to tourists who are looking for touristy things. I told Ilias that I was interested in seeing some of the lesser known sights and to see the things that he liked or wanted to show off. I can sign up for this trip again in the future and do the standard itinerary. This was an opportunity to see parts of Greece through the eyes of a local. He started sketching out some ideas, some of which lined up with the original itinerary and some of which did not. I agreed with everything he proposed, mainly because he’s the guide and what do I know?
I was still very nervous about this entire proposition, but I was constantly reminding myself of the uniqueness of this opportunity and trying to look at it not as a failed group trip but rather as a private charter.
I woke up on the first morning on the boat, still in the dock in Eos. We had slept on the boat last night with the plan of setting sail early-ish the next morning. Because of the thin mattress, mediocre pillow, and very minor seed sickness, I slept poorly, resulting in me being awake at 6:00 a.m., something that I don’t often do and something that I never happily do. Despite the early hour, a part of me spoke up and reminded me that this was a unique opportunity that I could and should take advantage of. Sunrise over the Aegean had the potential to be amazing. I quickly cleaned up and got dressed and headed topside. To my dismay, the sky was fairly cloudy so no sunrise was visible. Had I thought about it, I would have realized that, since I watched sunset last night, that hang that we were on the west side of the island and we were facing west, so we couldn’t have seen the sunrise anyway, but my 6:00 a.m. brain is not nearly as functional as I would like it to be. But, since I was up, I hung out.
I looked around the marina and saw no movement save a few flags flapping in the minimal breeze and a few stray cats wandering the dock. The only sound I heard was the waves lapping against the side of the boat. For a city boy like myself, this was pretty magical. But for a city boy like myself, I need more stimulation. I need noise, I need activity, I need something. I took a deep breath and told myself to relax and to be in the moment. I continued watching the day get slowly brighter and brighter, as the marina woke up.
Over the course of the next 2 hours, more and more activity arose on the boats around me and on the land behind me. Eventually Ilias came up topside and we chatted briefly. He went ashore and came back a short while later with a half empty iced coffee and a much bigger smile on his face. While I, myself, am not part of the caffeine addict club, I know enough people who are to understand that particular vice. I grinned at him and went back to watching everything around me .
Around 8:45, he started the engines, giving them some time to warm up. Shortly before 9:00, he started untime the morning lines and at 9:00 almost on the dot, we started motoring out of the marina. We pulled in the fenders as he slowly accelerated to the top speed of seven knots. Which, for those of you who don’t do sailing math, is about 7 miles an hour. That was the top speed of the boat when using the motor. This being a 56-ft sailboat, I expected to be able to go faster as we exited the marina. Unfortunately, the winds were minimal enough that sailing did not become an option either now or later in the day. But being on a boat is joy enough, even if the sails aren’t up.
We motored for about 3 hours to the previously unnamed cove. We dropped anchor surprisingly close to the wreck. Ileos claimed that he’d never been able to find it before and he appeared to be genuinely surprised when we found it, but given how close to the wreckage we parked, I’m tempted to call bullshit. The water was chilly enough for me to regret getting in, but by the time I realized that it was that cold, it was too late. I was already committed and fully submerged, so I soldiered on. (I was in the water, so does that mean I navy’d on?). I started swimming in the direction that I thought the wreckage was until Ilias corrected my course.
The wreckage itself was very cool. I tried to submerge to see it, but my ears refused to pop, so I didn’t get anywhere near close enough to get a better view. But the fish continued around me without a care in the world and I kept my movements to a minimum so as to not disturb them more than necessary.
After 20 minutes or so, I hauled myself out of the water and found a sunny spot on the deck to sun dry. Ilias joined me and we chatted about the wreckage, about the cove, and about the weather. He had been concerned that recent storms would have dredged up some sand to hide the wreckage, again lending some credence to my theory that he knew exactly where it was. A short time later, the other intrepid boat showed up. Ilias and the other captain exchanged greetings and elios told him where to park in order to get to the wreckage. Once the captains finished all their logistical conversations, I hollered at the other boat and chatted with the folks that I met at the cafe yesterday. Most of them jumped in and dog-paddled over to the wreckage, hanging out in that area admiring what they could see. When a third boat showed up and parked right by us, we decided it was time to go.
We engaged the engine, waved goodbye to the other group, and slowly started to motor away.
Next stop, Iraklia, an island so small that the biggest town only has 70 full-time residents. This was going to be interesting.
