It is a recurring dilemma since we are ‘on the road’: “should I stay or should I go?” The first year and a half of our trip it is all pretty clear: weather permitting, we will go simply because we are on our way to Greece. After our arrival here we keep on going for a while: first to a safe winter harbour, then searching for a new boat, delivering our old boat at the storage etc. Now finally, we no longer have a destination, so we are free to choose: stay or go. And that sometimes proves to be a rather difficult decision.
In the port of Trizonia you can see the two extreme effects of our dilemma all around you. On the one hand you have the ‘long-stay peeps’, the often part-time liveaboards, who only leave their place when they bring their boat back to winter storage at the end of the season and fly themselves to their homes elsewhere in the world. On the other hand you have the ‘passers-by’, who presumably want to sail through the Corinth Canal from the Ionian to the Aegean Sea or vice versa. They arrive late in the afternoon and leave early next morning. Sometimes they are rental boats, sometimes they are boats of people who spend a few weeks a year on vacation and sometimes it is a mega yacht that is brought to its destination by a professional crew. All of these crews don’t see much more of this beautiful island than the taverns at the harbour. We are somewhere in between: we don’t go that fast with our Southern Cross ‘Coco’, but we don’t stay that long either.
So many different worlds in one port, that sometimes clashes. A few days ago a few mega yachts parked on the other side of our jetty. As soon as one of those yachts fully opens his music installation, our French ‘long-stay’ neighbor immediately steps out of his boat and completely freaks out to people of the mega yacht. Of course all of this in French. The music is turned off immediately. A few more people are involved, including a French-speaking Greek. After a brief and intense turmoil, the music doesn’t start again. Everyone is happy, because now we can have a good nights sleep later on.
Trizonia has many arguments in it for wanting to stay. It is a beautiful, car-free island with lots of opportunities for walking and swimming. You can anchor well, but of course we moor in the well-protected, free harbour with water taps. There is a mini market and there are various taverns. If you are looking for more facilities, just take the small ferry to the mainland nearby. Every few days we get some groceries from a small supermarket and a real bakery over there.
On the other hand, there is always that tickle of wanting to discover something new, of the grass on the other side of the fence that always seems greener, of wanting to be on the road sailing over endless seas where nothing reminds you of the bustle of the harbour, following a dream of idyllic anchor bays, picturesque villages and undiscovered pearls.
We often receive help with our dilemma. The weather is too bad to go or too good to go. For example, our first week the weather was a bit cloudy with a thunderstorm now and then so we could hike nicely all day, because the temperature is tempered and the sun does not burn on our heads. And then all over I get sick with a serious infection in my leg. Sailing is suddenly no longer an option, because I am not mobile anymore. It has been over a week now and is seriously testing my patience.
But the dilemma has been resolved again for a while again. I admit, there are worse dilemmas in life, but we are bothered by it: should we stay or should we go? Today we stay!
The adventures of Captain Jack 