Captain Albert Schoonderbeek
It was busy during the night when sailed around the south point of the Peloponnesus. I counted 75 ships on the radar at one given time in a radius of 24 miles. They all behaved as they should but we had a little excitement when 3 miles ahead of us a little German coaster suddenly flipped on all his red lights. Five seconds later a very German accent came on the VHF announcing that he was not under command (e.g. could not control his ship) as there was air in the fuel lines to the main engine. Main engines do not like that very much so his engine had stopped operating. While they were solving that issue, the little coaster was drifting help less right in the middle of the shipping lane.
We had been in the process of overtaking that ship and to avoid any problems and excitement on his side we changed course a bit more to starboard and over took him at a safe distance. Shortly after our passing the red lights went out and we saw him making speed again. Once through the channel we made a wide turn to the North, a very wide turn to stay away from all the south coming traffic and then headed towards Navplion.
This town is located at the top end of Argolikos Kolpos or the bay of Argolikos. Argolis is the county or area where Navplion is located. Just to the north at the other side of the mountain is Corinth with the Corinth Canal. Unfortunately the canal is not wide enough for the Prinsendam otherwise we could have gone around the north side instead of the South side of the Peloponnesus. Apart from a few fishermen the bay was empty and without delay we dropped the hook as close as we could to the breakwater of Navplion. I wanted to go closer, but there was the proverbial fishing buoy right on the anchor spot. As you never know what is exactly hooked up to the end, and you do not want to foul the anchor, I had to stay a bit further out. By 9 am. A fishing boat came out to check if his buoy was still there and after a bit of argument between the occupants it was decided to remove the buoy with its cage located at the other end of the line. It seemed that we were not trusted to leave the buoy alone.
It was a nearly wind still day with not a cloud in the sky so it became rather warm around noon time. In a way that is as it should be as you do not think about Greece as a country where it rains and people wear thick coats all day long. It can be chilly in the winter in certain places but Navplion is a sea-summer resort and today it was living up to its reputation.
The main reason for our call here is for the visits to ancient towns/ruins of Mycenae and Tirinthia. Apart from these ancient kingdoms there is a lot of later history to be viewed as well with numerous fortresses and castles dotting the hill tops. It eluded us on the bridge a little bit why they would want to fight over those dusty hills, but as this part of the island gives access to the rest, when you come from the North East (where now the Corinth Canal is located) there might be some strategic reasons for it. The Turks, in the day of the Ottoman Empire, have also been quite active here and thus there is a lot of history to peruse.
When we sailed away on departure we could see that Navplion is a sea side resort, as the whole coast to the south of the town was one big camping site. From Navplion we sailed on a south westerly course towards Santorini where we will arrive early in the morning.
The weather looks good again, with sunshine and high temperatures but I am not so happy as a warship has taken the only anchorage in the crater of Santorini and thus I will have to be on the bridge all day, maneuvering the ship while we drift off the town of Thira.
To access Captain Albert’s historical writings on Holland America Line as well as photos and additional information about Prinsendam and his sailing schedule, click here.
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