Have you ever been woken up to the touch of the cool summer breeze hitting the deck of your sailboat? Have you ever woken up to the warm, Greek sun rays hitting your face at six in the morning?
Currently Im in Greece; country number six of my twenty-country adventure around Europe. To this date I have met so many interesting locals. Frankly I didn't know who to start off writing this blog about. I could of easily talked about the time I lost my wallet or recently the time I lost a bet and now I have to get a tattoo in Budapest, but I guess that will be another story to tell.
For the Aussies and myself, our time in Greece began with an epic three day sailing adventure around the Greek Islands of Mourtos, Corfu and Plataria. Sailing the most beautiful islands of Greece, you basically do the usual; drink, tan, and use a giant rope swing to propel yourself into the open waters.
My decision to sleep on the deck of the boat was solely mine and my own. I made this decision primarily because it was very hot down below deck but also because I wanted to sleep under the stars and breathe in the fresh air. I usually don't get this option in New York.
So lets get on with this story, the story of the "Greek Fisherman."
After a long night of drinking and shooting pictures around the island I was woken up at six in the morning to the cool summer breeze and the warm Greek sun rays hitting my face. As the sun rose like the great phoenix from its ashes, I saw a fishing boat in the distance coming into the port to dock. It was miles away yet clearly I could have guessed it was a fishing boat by all the seagulls surrounding it, like if it were Potus and they were its secret service.
With my curiosity rising as to whats been caught I stood up and walked over to the boat. No high hopes or anything, just curious Piotr back at it again.
The boat smelled like fish, what a surprise, right? But just what I have suspected, an organized chaotic scene surrounding the boat. Boat is docked; fish are being unloaded, small trucks are coming in and out and stray cats are sitting at the dock just staring at the fish waiting for a fisherman to make a mistake and drop one off for them. Its all seemingly coordinated though no single individual was responsible for the whole operation. Just like the the 2016 presidential race. (no offense but its a shit show at this point)
One truck, two truck, three truck, I truck, you truck. One pulls up to the boat and a single file line of men pass cases of fish till the truck is full. That truck then departs and another vendor pulls up. This keeps going until the boat is empty. The trucks then head out to either to the mainland or Corfu delis and restaurants. Believe me when I tell you, you will never have fresher fish like these anywhere else. Ive been to a restaurant and had the catch of the day and it was just phenomenal.
After standing around and taking a few pictures of the boat, I was approached by one of the local fisherman. This was my fist encounter with a Greek local so I didn't know what to expect, but it turns out the the Greek people are bloody nice. I was honestly expecting rudeness and them just telling me to go away, but it was quite the opposite.
The fisherman's name was Peter. I'll call him Greek Pete from now on since Im Polish Piotr. So like the curious guy I am I start asking questions like whats been caught or just in general the whole process of their job, how do they do it?
Well, their work starts at seven in the afternoon. At seven in the afternoon they sail out into the open waters and fish all night until half past six in the morning when they get back to port. After that they have to unload and clean the deck. Their shifts span from twelve to fourteen hours daily. So for those who are complaining about their shitty eight hour shifts, sitting on their butts in an air-conditioned office building, you clearly haven't experienced the lives of others in the world and you've never experienced hard labor.
The region that they fish primarily consists of sardines and koyo (similar to sardines, please don't butcher me for the spelling, it just sounds like this word.) I was told it wasn't a bad night at all. The night went well but it could have been better. The weather conditions on the other hand were perfect. Just a tad chilly.
So just a few things I learned about Greek Pete. Greek Pete likes to travel. He actually worked for Royal Cruises before being a self employed fisherman in Greece. He's been to New York. He loves Boston and Massachusetts. He fucking loves New York unlike me. Sorry, but not sorry. Im just a little bit tired of the crazy city. But lets get back to him. While working for Royal Cruises he would head out mainly to Canada and Alaska. And last but not least, he hates Los Angeles and San Francisco. Oh and he has family in New York. Thats all I know about Greek Pete. All in all seemed like a nice guy to me. He liked to talk a lot.
As we're standing in front of the boat I noticed there are dozens of cats at the port. And I mean a dozen of stray cats. One runs across the port with the catch of the day, sardines. We both laughed and others joined us. Finally I got to see a different side of them, not just the hard labor working guy, tired out of his mind, just trying to get through the day and go to sleep kinda guy.
After the little session of laughter and jokes, Greek Pete gets back to telling me the story of their daily lives. It turns out they've been on the open waters working for the past twenty-three days, straight on twelve hour shifts. That night a full moon was going to appear so this was their last day working before a well deserved five day break. And lets be honest here, if I'd been working twelve hour shifts for twenty-three days straight, including Saturdays and Sundays, I would be burned out laying on the floor for the next five days so a big hand goes to these guys. Their sleep schedule is unlike ours. Typically when they're finished with cleanup they sleep from eleven in the morning till five in the afternoon. And then they have about two hours of the day for their families and personal life and once again they're back on the boats.
As Greek Pete said, "The job has to get done, 365 days a year, no sick days," "you fish you make money, you don't fish you don't make money." You cannot get clearer then that.
After speaking with Greek Pete for about an hour, I had been invited to board the ship and take a few photos for the guys on deck cleaning the boat. I was also able to meet the man, the legend himself; The Grandfather. The man who started it all and was the first owner of the boat. After all this was a family run business. The name of the boat is "ΠΑΝΑΓΙΩ ΤΗΣ" (PanaGio-Tis) (Panayotis) (Possible meaning may be for the mother of Jesus "Mary.") It had truly been an honor to talk with these guys, to learn about their lives and to spread their story forward. I would love to write more but a little mystery and imagination never hurts. Thank you all for reading.
-Piotr Kuzniar