I + 5 : Crossing over to Crete

Cooler winds replaced yesterday's hot and humid air. The hills of Kasos and Armathia, the island we anchored for the night, are wrapped in fog. The sun will eventually burn through it in. The scene is quite poetic though. Breakfast could not be better.

Sunrise over the Island of Armathia at 06.20 am when we enjoy our first Coffee.

Today we will cross over to Crete, home to Europe's oldest civilisation. The distance is a good 30 miles. We should arrive in about 4 hours. Captain Sinan wants to sail as much as possible. The wind speed is at level 3 - 4, waves are few. We should be alright.

Our Plan for today is to Sail from Kasos to Sitia in Crete and tomorrow to Agios Nikolaos.

The crossing made me wonder how a Greek trireme would have done it. Their sustainable average travel speed was 5 miles per hour, as the sea trials with the Olympias, the trireme replica, confirmed. But rowing for full 6 hours was a stretch. The crew would be exhausted and in need of a good night's rest on land. I guess they used their sails instead - when ever possible for long distances.

Reaching Crete's Most Eastern Tip

Rowing long distances had another downside: logistics. A rower needs about 6'000 calories per day. This is a lot to eat for an individual - about 1 kilo of bread, 0.75 kg of meat (fatty meat is best) and 0.5 kg of vegetables. Add 3 litres of water (Romans preferred their vinaigry wine) for each. If you have a boat of 170 rowers and 50 additional staff you need every day 180 kilo of flour, 1 fully grown pig (300kg live weight minus 40% of skin, bones, hoves etc) and 110 kilos of veggies. For a 30 days trip, the crew of a trireme would consume 5.5 tons of flour, 30 live pigs and 3.3 tons of greens. In short, they would eat any port empty. Clearly not a viable solution! The sails must have been used frequently.

Sailing along Crete's northern Coast to Sitia, our destination

Leaving the Bay where we had our first lunch in Crete - not a single soul around

Arriving at the Port of Sitia - the Venetian Castle is visible on the right - Grey Square Block

Tomorrow we will imerse ourselves in Minoan Culture. There is an important site near Sitia but it is unfortunately closed. New excavations started last year. Nobody knows when the site, an ancient Minoan Palace, will open again. We compensate tonight with a Cretan dinner in Sitia.