Ship’s Rations

The forecast was amazing. For an area where the prevailing wind is north-westerly, or at least somewhere in the top bit of the compass, we had a forecast of southerlies for days ahead. This was just what we needed as our original plan was to island hop northwards. We'd even thought about going up the Turkish coast and then drifting back down the Greek islands, but research into anchorages that far north in Türkiye wasn't very encouraging. 

Our friends Tony and Lynn were joining us for the first couple of weeks. This meant that we had a lot of extra help to get the various bits of boat together: both sails; Bimini; spray-hood; solar panels, and so on. Tony even shimmied up the mast and replaced our Windex, another casualty of the awful storm in Leros on Christmas morning. Apparently solar panels were flying across the marina, boat covers were shredded, and one boat had 26 dinks and holes from hailstones. Missy Bear had three, which we will get repaired over the summer. We've seen a video of the rain and flash floods, it looked awful. 

With the boys occupied, First Mate and Lynn could turn their attention to another important boat job: victualling. We didn't have much in the way of store cupboard staples, I prefer not to leave anything attractive to pests over the winter. A British couple found nine rats on board their catamaran when they came back after last winter [DN – They had left the boat in the water].

It's always difficult to plan a decent store cupboard, and balance that with fresh vegetables and fruit. How much fresh-stuff depends on whether you moor on a quay or anchor in the middle of nowhere: do you go ashore to eat; are there shops, even just a mini mart? And of course, everything is dependent upon the weather anyway. The best laid plans of rats and men...

 Basics for four people (three meals a day, plus snacks etc.) soon adds up in quantity. How much fresh milk shall we get? Should we get some long-life, and do you prefer full-fat or semi-skimmed? The fridge has to cope with drinks (water, wine, beer) as well as stuff you'd normally keep refrigerated (cold meats, mayo and so on), and out here I also refrigerate tomatoes, onions etc, as they keep better. Then you don't want to buy lettuce, because you'd use too much water washing it.

One of the reasons I hated Covid lockdowns so much, was that I don't like to plan meals, I like to see what I feel like on the day and maybe do a little shopping. Richard and I lived apart for so much of our working lives, that I never planned meals in the week. Working in Docklands was absolute heaven as it housed the flagship, food-hall supremo, Waitrose store. Desk to foodie heaven in under ten minutes, and no need to go outside in inclement weather.

Staples include strong Italian coffee

But here in the Aegean, there is no sign of a Waitrose. I did a rough calculation on how many evenings it would be before we were on a quay and could shop? I reckoned about 3-4, so we catered accordingly. Yoghurt, breakfast cereal, long life orange juice (OJ) etc.

And coffee!! Those who know me well will be aware of my espresso habit, so finding a place that sells decent coffee is a must. Tea bags for everyone else for the rest of the day. And so on. 

How many beers to stock?

Some things you just want to stock up on. Beers, water, pasta, jars of pesto for emergencies. Paper towel. Loo roll. You can never have enough loo roll. Poo bags, because of course, in Greece, used loo paper goes in the little bin, rather than being flushed out through the plumbing.

As a quick [DN - albeit horrid] aside, when we were on the quay in Myrina on Lemnos, we were parked up next to an Italian boat. Richard was in the cockpit when a large mass of brown came slithering out of their waste, together with loo paper. Skipper told them off, and they said they forgot as it was their habit…! A few minutes later, the mullet had eaten all of it, paper included. Yuk! 

We managed very well. And it was only a few days before we'd reached the harbour of Marmaro, on the northern coast of Chios. It has an excellent supermarket, just a few minutes uphill walk out of town. It was very easy to drag my granny-trolley up there and back.

Richard hates my granny trolley. We bought it in Sardinia, and I'd just got it on board when the man on the next boat looked at it, asked me where we'd got it, and offered to buy it. I had to wrestle it back from Skipper, who was already passing it over.

We were able to top up a few things in Myrina, on our furthest island Lemnos, before heading back. But a few nights at anchor soon depletes provisions. We were now on the island of Lesbos, at the entrance of a large bay with a supermarket at the top 8NM away. But there were no provisions in the remote hamlet where we were anchored. We did wonder whether we should motor Missy Bear up to the top of the bay, anchor, go ashore in the dinghy and shop, then come back down. But in the end, we decided the 16-mile round trip to the shop was half the distance to the next island of Chios, so we stayed put. 

Missy Bear anchored somewhere that definitely has no shops

We are now back in Marmaro, on the town quay. There is that good supermarket up the road. And we have power and water. If only there were a laundry here, but that's another story…