Aegean Adventure Cruise Review

One of the great variables of traveling by sailing yacht is the weather, and this cannot be predicted in advance. Overly calm days can frustrate sailors, though the Margarita showed her ability to make the most of breezes that were hard to even feel on our faces. "Good sailing weather" wants some wind, but as a non-sailor, the one day of "good" weather seemed downright wild to me.

Hmm - This Wind is a GoodThing?

For most of the crossing to Kea, we had a good wind and those with delicate stomachs felt its power. What bothered me most was the angle of the boat and the inner certainty that I would flip off of it or that the boat would just turn over. "Remember when George Clooney's boat flipped over in "The Perfect Storm"? That could never happen with the Margarita - she'd right herself." I know Captain Steven was trying to be comforting, but somehow that didn't quite work with me. I gradually got over this mistaken idea, helped along by the amusement of the other experienced passengers as I leaned across the deck table clinging to the opposite edge of it with my fingers. They did not seem overly concerned, and by this point in the trip, I knew they were intelligent, rational people. And none of them were talking about lashing themselves to the mast, which had crossed my mind.

Kea, the Bouncing Island

My first view of Kea was watching it lurch up and down through the porthole - from that point of view, it would earn the name "Kea, the Bouncing Island". But as soon as we rounded the end of the island and headed toward the harbor, the seas calmed and Kea with it. This was smallest harbor yet, with only a few vessels and a handful of shops and cafes.

We arrived early enough to do some serious sightseeing, and I went over to the ancient Minoan town which had been excavated a few years ago around the church of Agia Irini. There seemed to be no way to actually enter the ruins, but I was going along the perimeter fence looking for a gate when two geese inside the area began protesting. Looking up, I saw that there was a tour group exploring the ruins, and I retraced my steps, found the open gate, and begged permission to tag along as they began to explore. One of the original archaeologists who worked on the site, John Overbeck, was visiting Greece and was showing the site to a handful of archaeology students. It was here that dozens of near-life-size clay statues of bare-breasted women - priestesses or goddesses - had been discovered, along with many other artifacts from several thousand years and many distinct layers of history.

Lions, Lines, and Mysteries

The following morning we took a bus up to the top of Kea, passing by the strangely terraced hills which were vaguely ominous - every inch of the land was terraced, as if one plant less would be a terrible tragedy. There is no explanation for the intensity of the terracing technique on Kea, and it's not even clear what was grown on the thousands of ancient terraces. We wandered through the picture-perfect town and onto a stone path which leads to another mystery of Kea - the giant stone lion which has a vaguely sphinx-like smile as it gazes at the opposite side of a canyon. Local legend says the lion was carved there to prevent local nymphs connected to the star Sirius from ravaging the island. Yes, I went "Huh?" too. Our time exploring the church and enjoying the cafes was short as we still had a long stretch of sailing to accomplish before reaching Athens, but we left Kea reluctantly and sailed on to Cape Sounion.