KOS

Well the journey continues. We made it to Kos marina where we made arrangements to fix the windlass. It was going to take a few days to get the parts so we put in at a marina which is fairly close to downtown.

Kos is most famous for Hypocrites, its native son. We saw the tree where he gave his lectures & took the mandatory pictures. (The photo on the side is Sheila standing beside the tree)

It was good to take a break but were concerned because we were to meet Russ June 1 and it was at least 2 good days of sailing to get to him. He unfortunately had to cancel his trip so that relieved the pressure. All in all that was good because we didn’t get the part replaced until Thursday and were in Kos seven days all in.

Theo got into a nice routine of going on his own to the local café where he’d play on his ipad until we showed up…quite some time later. We’d join him for breakfast and coffee.

We had a few treks into Kos town itself, found a nice butcher near the marina, and rented a car one day so we could go a bit further afield. It is a bit tough when waiting on repairs as they have typically been promised “the next day” and then we are left waiting so we end up making plans later in the day.

On car rental day we decided to go to Therma beach where there is a natural spring that feeds a pool beside the sea. It’s kind of like going to Banff hotsprings except that there is no development around it. You have to walk down a gravel road, pass along the stone beach, and you will find the pool full of tourists. It was pretty cool being in a pool of water separated by the sea from rocks while the waves crashed over the crest. The cool factor was offset a bit by the sulfur smell (well OK you have to expect that), the many tourists there with you, and a pervert on the beach not that far away. After the plunge in the pool, a swim in the sea was required to rinse off sulfur and salt up.

We left Therma beach and then drove into the mountains where we had one of the best meals of the trip. There is a village people visit to see the sun set over Turkey so we went to what appeared to be among the nicest restaurants and had a table with a commanding view over the island. Better than the view was the food. Locally sourced and delectably prepared. I enjoyed baby goat (the kids were appalled) and Sheila had wild boar. 

Margaret’s chicken was also very nice and Theo had naturally aspirated chicken fingers. OK they pretty much looked like all other chicken fingers but I had to say something. Paired with local wine from Kos the meal combined with the view was spectacular. All agreed it was worth the drive up switchback roads to get there.

The next day Margaret suggested a side trip to go GoKarting. We visited a local somewhat rundown establishment. I can promise there is very little regulation on Go Karts on Kos. The carts had no regulators and went like stink. The tires were in terrible condition – completely bald. We steered through a combination of brakes and throttle. Applying the brakes you could get a bit of fishtail. Similarly, you could jam the throttle and wheel spin would fish tail the car. The track was really nothing but hairpins so we had lots of fun drifting and spinning. We completely spun out a few times and they don’t really help you so we just got out of the car and pushed back onto the track. I was pretty sure we’d end up in the hospital as part of the excursion but we managed to keep it together and had a lot of crazy fun. 

From Kos it is on to Leros.

Kevin