Oh, the turtles! Caretta caretta, the loggerhead sea turtle, lives in the waters of Argostoli. There is a lagoon that boats can’t get into which gives them privacy, but they also swim in the anchorage of the main port. Though they are not aggressive, they can be if startled, so we opted not to swim while in town. It was fun to watch them popping up near the boat, and they would almost swarm the walls of town when the fishermen returned with their catch.
Argostoli is a fun little town, and we stayed longer than expected. Aside from needing to do laundry and provision, there was a procession of visitors. Pookie and Heath popped through again on their way to Sicily. Karin and Holger came in with the family. And George, who we met last year in Albania and later cruised with in Montenegro, finally caught up with us.
I even celebrated my birthday in town. The past two years we spent swimming in or climbing volcanos. Though we weren’t near a volcano this year, we did walk out to the sinkholes of Argostoli. The split in the karst rock created sinkholes which allow sea water to flow in at a rate of up to 3 meters/second. (A water wheel for sea mills is still in place which took advantage of this natural phenomena to power a power plant and ice station before WWII.) The water crosses the entire width of the island, mixing with fresh water that drains from the mountains, to form brackish water that emerges 15 kilometers down stream in the town of Sami. Tests were done and pigment was dropped in the sinkholes, emerging in Sami 15 days later.
Overall, a nice relaxing stay.
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