We made it to the pilot station 15 minutes behind my planned time which was not too bad as we left nearly an hour late from Santorini. The people of Katakolon are working very hard to make their port a major tourist destination. The whole port is being revamped and spruced up with two new docks and a Marina. Today the pilot was very proud to announce he had been installing three yellow buoys that indicate the shallow patches near the marina side. After advising me it was better not to go on the wrong side of these buoys, we happily sailed into port.

During last call I had inspected the newest dock in the port, which consists of three platforms with gaps in between (they did not have enough money to make the whole pier straight) as they wanted me to start docking there. This pier makes it possible for the ship to almost dock with the bow in the local Taverna’s and it cuts the walking time down with about 10 minutes compared to the other dock. So the port authorities were very happy when I told them that I would be delighted to dock there.

By 08.30 the ship was safely alongside, 30 minutes before scheduled arrival time and we were looking at a beautiful day in Katakolon with temperatures in the high seventies (Fahrenheit) or mid twenties (Celsius) The one thing that was noticeable was the strong smell of rotten eggs around the ship, and for a moment I thought that I had docked right on top of the local sewage drain. However it turned out that we were smelling sulpher. The whole area is volcanic (Remember; yesterday we were inside the Santorini volcano all day) and in Katakolon harbor sulpheric gas escapes from the rocky bottom and rises to the surface. If you stand on the dock and look into the water, you can see little gas bubbles slowly drifting up to the surface and releasing this “rotten egg” smell.

The other ship in port was the Costa Mediterannea, which arrived at noon time and left again at 18.00 hrs. When cruise ships are making short stops it is always amazing to see how orchestrated a cruise call becomes. Five minutes after the ship was docked, 3000 people start to march into the little town. Approx. 800 veered off in the direction of the tour buses and the rest flooded the Taverna’s and the little shops. About 2 hours before departure the tend was reversed with everybody starting to march back and the 800 on tour coming back in the buses just before sailing time. Within a period of 5 to 6 hours 3000 people have visited a little town and then leave again without a trace. The Costa ship must have been in a hurry as the pilot requested for us to wait so that the CM could sail first. As you can see being a pilot in Katakolon is a one’ mans job. (And with his nephew driving the pilot boat, it is also a one family affair)

We were waiting for lost luggage anyway. This luggage had never made it to the ship in Venice, was to be forwarded to Piraeus and then got stuck there in some sort of un-explained confusion. Then finally some bright spark remembered that there was a regular bus service to Katakolon and decided to put the luggage on the bus. For this particular part of luggage it almost took 8 days to make it to the ship. Sometimes it seems to be easier to get a piece of luggage from Vancouver to Moscow, than to get it from Italy to Greece. But in the end we had a happy pilot who did not get screamed at by an Italian captain and a happy guest on board who finally got her formal wear.

We pulled out shortly after 6 pm. and after rounding Ak Katakolo (the cape after which Katakolon is named) we headed in a North Westerly direction for our next port of call Koper, the day after tomorrow.