Greek island of Meganisi and the secrets of sailing

The expanses of the Ionian Sea swallowed a series of little ships that passed through the Lefkad Canal. Winds cleared in the open, and sails yearned for freedom appeared on the whitened little boats in the distance. It was time for us to master yachting science.

“Put the fore-staysail”, - probably the command should have sounded like that, and with a passing glance at the running rigging, cam stoppers and geek shoulder straps, we had to rush to raise the sails and pull the halyards and sheets.

After the procedure, the skipper would evaluate the direction of the “witches” and give the team a bottle of good ale or rum in the port.

After that, I would write something heroic in my naval journal, such as the following:

The “Europe” ship, going right up, brought and put the marseille on the banner; but when the “Eustache” following him began to push, the “Europe” had to give way to it, filled the marseille and went ahead of the extreme, windward enemy ship; then he he turned on another tack, went down and, taking a place behind Rostislav, entered again into the hottest battle. " From "Marine Leisure" V. Dahl.

However, it is easy to guess that in fact everything looked different.

From the sea jargon, we only knew the command “half a half” and “whistle everyone upstairs”, and therefore our captain did not even bother to complicate our lives. We had enough stories when the newly minted captain decided to demonstrate his knowledge on an inexperienced team, a lot of emotions and little result. You can shout the name of the sails for a long time, puff out your cheeks and gaze sternly at the horizon, only the sails will hang weakly in the wind, and the captain and crew will furiously incinerate each other with glances from misunderstanding. There are ropes and sails. Show what and where to pull. I must say that our captain instructed us briefly and intelligibly. Now we are sailing!

It is surprising, of course, that during the time of navigation a whole separate language was born. A kind of universal marine language, the words of which are borrowed from sailors from around the world. It is the most international language. After all, sailors most often communicated with each other in ports of different countries of the world.

Sails set and, surprisingly, "witches" show the right direction of the yacht. In the photo above, the "witches" just hang down, the wind is not caught. The art of catching the wind is worthy of a separate discussion. Some have a sense of smell and feel it; they know how and where to catch it. Meanwhile, the sails are filled with wind and the yacht is tilting, gaining speed. Inadvertently left in the company's cabin, the bottle rolls from side to side, and the spoons clink in the drawers. Sailing is another entertainment. The surface of the stove is attached in such a way that teapots and pans should not fly off with the appearance of a roll, but follow the principle of a hammock gyroscope, remaining horizontally relative to the surface of the earth.

Our next stop is Meganisi Island.

Look, what is it? In the distance, a billionaire’s gift looms overboard. One could say Russian private property in the territorial waters of Greece. Forget about diamonds and golden loaves. Caring fathers give their children islands. Before we had time to move away from the island of Corfu, where the Ukrainian politician’s yacht anchored, we again met the traces acquired by overwork - the island of Scorpios.

And before that, Onassis owned the island. Here he celebrated a wedding with Jacqueline Kennedy, here he is also buried, giving rise to rumors of evil rock pursuing the Kennedy clan.

A bit of Wikipedia for the curious:

Scorpios (Greek: Σκορπιός) is an island in the Ionian Sea off the west coast of Greece, near the city of Nydri. One of the few private islands.

It is an elongated island with a length of about a kilometer. The island has three residential buildings, a helipad and a marina.

In 1962, the island acquired Aristotle Onassis for 3.5 million drams (as of 2013 - less than half a million rubles). In 1968, the billionaire celebrated a wedding on the island with Jacqueline Kennedy, widow of US President John F. Kennedy. After the death of Aristotle Onassis in 1975, his body was buried on the island. His daughter Christina (mother of the granddaughter of Athena, who until recently belonged to the island) and the tragically dead son Alexander also lie here. The maintenance of the island takes about 1.5 million euros per year.

In April 2013, a company operating in the interests of Ekaterina Rybolovleva (daughter of Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev) entered into a 99-year lease for a group of islands off the western coast of Greece, including Scorpios. Rybolovlev paid $ 126 million for the island.

Stop counting other people's money. Here it is, the island of Meganisi, again the fishing village of Vathy.

Well, how much do you need for happiness? A couple of shops, a church, a bakery and a butcher's shop.

Of course, the coastal restaurant and the prices there, I must say, are not for fishermen at all. But the shower seems to be free, well, the toilet is for sure.

Looking through this photo, I noticed a speck on the monitor and wiped it. Do you have one too? At first I thought that the bird fell into the frame, but then the thought arose about flying fish, but most likely it is a swallow. We never saw flying fish.

On the island you can rent a moped for 20 euros, which is what my son took advantage of. He drove around the island, but fell on the gerbil, everything worked out, except for a couple of scratches on his hands, but on a gas tank and 200 euro deposit.

The next morning, we decided not to go far, just walked around the island and stood in a pretty bay.