My name is Vaughan, I am a Ferry Spotter

I've got a problem and would need the help of the FSA (Ferry Spotters Anonymous) if it existed, but unfortunately it doesn't. Ferry spotting is not really much of a thing, there is an Instagram handle, tag thing (I don't really do Instagram) which is @ferryspotting but it only has 361 followers. I've just become a bit obsessed, there are so many comings and goings in a place like Paros, at least 10+ in and out every day. They vary from the huge Blue Star ferries carrying several thousand passengers and lots and lots of vehicles down to the small Seajet hydrofoils carrying just a few hundred. We love to see the huge numbers of people getting off and disappearing who knows where, all with their own story.

We're getting to know all of the ferries well, the Blue Star monsters, the Naxos, Delos, Chios and Patmos (however we don't see anything of the Blue Star Myconos), they're all regular visitors to Paros and Naxos, and despite their size are no slouches, thrashing around at 23-24 Knots. Then we have all of the gazelles of the ferry world, the hydrofoils, all the Seajets, Superjet, Superjet 2, Sifnosjet and Androsjet, the Hellenic Seaways monster hydrofoil the Highspeed 4 and many more. All of the Hydrofoils zip about at 38-40 Knots. Hellenic Seaways have their Blue Star equivalents like the Adriadne and then bringing up the rear, lumbering along at 15 knots, is the Hellenic Seaways Artmtemis that we arrived on last Saturday. You wouldn't want to journey more than a couple of hours on the Artemis, although some do, but then the tickets are cheap! I'll bore you with a single ferry piccie, one of our favourites, the Blue Star Chios somehow shoe-horned into the incredibly tight harbour or Katelorizo earlier this year.

So, what feeds my ferry obsession? An app of course, Marine Traffic, it enables me to find and track all of my new ferry friends. This morning, my new ferry friend the cargo RO-RO (roll on, roll off) Kapetan Christos.

In other news, we hired a car yesterday to see the island and guess what we found, yet more beautiful Greek island villages. But I'll leave that for the next blog as I've got to edit the piccies I took and also want to do a bit of research on the history of Paros and the main town Parikia where we're staying. I'll be sure to report anything I find that's interesting.

But for now, must go, despite almost all of the ferries being cancelled today, the Golden Star, Superstar has turned up (not a hydrofoil in these conditions, of course) so I need to find out where it's off to.

Yamass!

PS

Weather update, as forecast it's a bit breezy, earlier today up to force 8 in the Agean and force 9 in the Ionian. From our apartment balcony all is OK, but in the harbour and port it's a bit chaotic, ferries cancelled all over the place, a smaller seajet hydrofoil is parked up and going nowhere and most of the Blue Star monsters in Athens also going nowhere. Oops, off I go again with this ferry obsession. The yachts parked stern to on the outside of the harbour wall must have had a torrid night, there are none left, they all had to leave and anchor off in the bay. I suspect there were anchors dragging, yachts being forced onto the harbour wall, just hope none were damaged and everyone is OK. Once again we're mightly glad we're not on a yacht this week!