Meet the Ship

 Oct 9

 

It’s a very stormy afternoon as I write. There is lightning and thunder, the wind is howling, and the rain is coming down in sheets. I’m in the tiny cabin that will be our bedroom on the ship Panagiota for the next week. When we open the door, a spout of water pours in. We’ve been given a towel to sop it up.

I just looked at Nafplio weather, which we just left behind, and it’s sunny there, with temps in the high 20s. Here in Corfu, quite a different scene. It’s an effort to be optimistic for the week ahead. This stormy state apparently will last three days. 

We had a very pleasant morning, breakfasting outside as always, and wandering the port and the old town on a cloudy but warm day. It’s muggy here, the kind of air that gives your skin a sweaty sheen without having to work for it. 

This is just to be sure people understand the glam photo I posted yesterday. Here's us at breakfast, followed by ChatGPT's "improvement." 

Stemmed glasses, gold sandals, Chanel bag, boobs. Social ideals, yeah?

We caught a cab out to the Marina Gouvia to board our ship. In the cab, the storm began. On the walk down the long pier to the good ship Panagiota, we got soaked. I have a raincoat, but it’s not as rainproof as it used to be. Sigh. My umbrella flipped inside out more than once.

Ya gotta laugh at the absurdity of it all

We were the first guests to arrive, just at 2 pm, when we were first allowed to check in. Another soaking wet guest-to-be showed up to check that this was the right boat, then left to round up her 9 or 10 friends that were waiting in a bar on shore. They haven’t arrived yet, I don’t think, some three hours later. Can’t say I blame them. 

Frances, Giota (one of our guides), and self. Note horizontal flying hair.

Frances has named their room “The Cupboard.” It’s identical to ours. Was it Harry Potter who slept in a cupboard under the stairs? I bet his cupboard was dry, and he didn’t have to share it. Lucky guy, really.

We have figured out that two of us can stand at the same time, but not move, in the 1m x 2m floor space. We've figured out how to stash our stuff so that even one of us could move. This is the smallest berth I’ve had on such a boat, now my third time on a boat-and-bike trip. The little river barge was cavernous by comparison. Our beds are bunks, the bottom being a totally unnecessary double, and a narrow single above. There is no ladder; it’s a stretch to get up there, which will be Carol’s challenge, because I’m up in the night and she usually is not. 

Room to move

As Carol puts it, this room would be okay for a couple, who could sleep on the bottom and stash their stuff up top; she says the top is too high for a short person to get to, but headroom up there is too short for a tall person. Headroom is short on the bottom too. I’ve lost count how many times I’ve whacked my head. 

I want to know what kind of lens they used for the photos of this boat.

Our room has one socket for plugging in anything, such as chargers. While Carol only needs to charge her phone (and her watch once a week), I have a a laptop, a phone, an Apple watch, sleep earbuds, and hearing aids; we will also have to charge our bike batteries every day. I have a multi-port charger, so one socket is enough for my devices. But there is no place to set down said devices anywhere near the socket. I’m sure we’ll figure out something.

For a while the toilet didn’t flush. They fixed it. And the sink stopper wouldn’t come unstopped, and they fixed it. The light in the bathroom stopped working, but they fixed it. 

What I would love more than anything right now is to be soaking in a warm bath in my own home. Instead, I hear the drinking has started in the galley. I guess I’ll go and meet some people.