In Dry Dock

Twice a year my son-in-law pulls his taxi boat, 'Socrates', out of the water for a scrub and polish.

February this year was not the best time to start scraping and painting.  There was just too much rain, the wood was too wet and there was no sun to dry the paint.

Taxi boat Socrates

However, the boat was pulled up onto dry land, all the 'barnacles' were scraped off the hull, minor alterations in design and technical stuff were all accomplished.   It was the worst of a greek winter, blustery, snow flutters, rain and just a little sunshine.  

Inspection from Kyriakos,

Captain of the Good Ship Socrates

Serious discussions took place

Pride of the fleet

Taxi boat Socrates

Freshly painted, gleaming in the sun

A photo of the Socrates a few years ago

Captain Kyriakos gets ready to heave-ho

A line of fishing boats and water taxis

Sailing along the harbour into the main town.

 Socrates ferries passengers from the mainland town of Galatas to the island of Poros.  The crossing takes a few minutes and costs 1euro. The strait is only  250 metres.  My grandchildren have swim across.

There are water taxis 24 hours, though after midnight on a winters night there will only be one on duty.  If you're on Poros wanting to go to the mainland and  the boat is across the waters you whistle him over.  

On Poros island are all the banks, the post office and government offices for a dozen or so villages in the area.  The villagers come in by bus or car and cross over to do their business and cross back when they've finished,  Many people live on the mainland and work on the island so there is a constant stream of people being ferried to and fro. A water taxi leaves every 20 minutes from both sides.

There are more than a dozen boats and the owners work long hours to make a living.  The most lucrative hours are on a Friday and Saturday night when the younger generation from outlying villages cross over to Poros to have a 'wild'  night out in the bars and cafeterias.  After midnight the tickets are double the price.

So you can see that the island of Poros is never really cut off from the rest of Greece. It is rare that high winds and rough seas stop the water taxis and the car ferry from sailing. 

We have the peace and safety of island life but are close enough to big city amenities when we need them