But first, breakfast.
The regular place (Heavens) was closed for for some odd reason.
We hit a cafe on the city square in Chora, very close to our room.
Soulatso Cafe was the only place open in the are at 8:30 in the morning.
Breakfast special...
Coffee or tea, a waffle, fruit, Greek yogurt, and honey.
It was the best damn waffle I've ever had.
Afterward I went to a dive shop in Agrios Prokopis and rented snorkel gear...
It was bit awkward...
They wanted a picture ID to secure the rental. Maria from Studios Maria had my passport as security, and Nikos at the scooter rental had my Fl drivers license, so all I had to give them was my Fla Concealed Carry Permit.
The proprietor of the dive shop looked at it, figured out what it was, then looked at me like I'd handed him a snake.
He photocopied it and handed it back, then rushed me out the door, perhaps expecting a hail of gunfire if he didn't conclude the transaction quickly.
Dumbass.
We headed up to Ambram...
Remember this place?
Well... Today the water had a little chop, and there was a small squall hanging offshore that held off coming in to run us off the beach until 2:00.
I did a little liveblogging after I snorkeled around the rocks...
I mentioned in that post about the relative dearth of shells and fish.
I had noticed the same thing in Crete back in 2004.
Sherman, set the Wayback, June 2004.
In Crete they have an excuse for the waters being devoid of fish... The overfish the hell out of the place.
And not just with nets.
In Paleochora I came across two old guys that didn't have ten fingers between them.
They were sitting in the back of a fishing boat, with a box with 4 home-made pipebombs.
(I guess that, as a rule, all pipebombs are home made. I've never seen a store called "Pipebombs-R-Us".
Although it is possible that there might be a site on the internet for such things, but I'm not doing a Google search on "Where to buy pipebombs." I have a feeling that would definitely get my IP address and cell phone put on a list in a large non-descript building in Langley VA. But I digress...)
I asked my bartender friend Manolo in Paleochora about the fishermen with missing digits and the bombs.
"That is the easy way to fish." he told me.
Apparently, they got tired of hauling their nets out to a likely spot and spending the day dropping them in the water then dragging them back in the boat and only getting 5 or 6 fish. Instead they go up into the mountains in Crete and find old cached munitions from WWII. They take apart old artillery shells and mortars and use the propellant and charges to make the bombs for concussion fishing.
This is, as we say in the bidness is A Stupid Thing To Do.
Taking apart 50 year old explosives, for any reason, falls into the same catagory.
(Just as an additional aside, concussion fishing was legal in the US until 1985.)
More fishing with bombs, or in this case, a rocket-propelled grenade.
Rocket-propelled grenade Fishing
Ok... Back to Naxos.
The water is not completely dead. There are lots of tropicals and a good number of invertebrates. The soft corals are prolific on any stable rocks, and there are plenty of sea urchins.
But no shells that I could find... No snails, no clams.
It was odd.
I went back to the beach to sit in the sun and dry off and as I sat there I had a visit from the mayor of Ambram.
This dog came over and sat down and looked at me like I owed her money.
When no cash or treats were forthcoming she took off to look for campaign contributions elsewhere... She walked up to everyone on the back, checking for handouts.
Liquid sunshine a-comin'!
Around 2pm the rain decided to come ashore so we packed up and headed for the inn/restaurant on the beach for a little lunch. The restaurant had some decidedly disturbing artwork out on the dining deck...
How'd you like to have your lunch while being watched by this...thing?
Lunch was awesome, as were all our meals...
We headed back to Naxos Chora after the rain passed - we were heading to Athens the next day on the 12:00 ferry.
TBG- ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE
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