There's an eerie stillness broken only by little lapping waves tickling the pebbly beach of Poros. A man dives from the high rock and splashes close to me like a large fish doing a back flip.
At 2pm the Levante ferry arrives from Kilini, all blue and yellow.
Two men at swim, two younger men diving from the rock, two more men swimming round each other like friendly sharks.
Two teenage Greek boys sit at the shore's edge throwing tiny, gritty stones at the rock face. Wet, shiny black hair, slim, cunning face, the other, paunchy, paler, following, always following, never the leader, bad mouthing 'μαλακες' at many thoughts and people who enter their heads. Conversations of little intelligence or meaning but conversations nevertheless, better than staring in solitary at screens, exaggerating their thumbs.
Two Greek ladies with wide brimmed hats also deep in conversation.
The yachts are anchoring offshore. Sounds carry across water.
Poros may not be top of the list of places to visit in Kefalonia but it has not been spoilt. If you seek unspoilt you accept the boarded up shops, cafes, hotels and still see there is something about its geographical position, its wide open promenade, a cinematic stretch of blues blurring into white sails. A sense of being apart from the rest of the island but at the same time linked to the mainland across the channel. It has endured two years of lockdown but the one way street out of the town is busy with a chemist, bookshop, supermarket and wine merchant. A working port that has fallen on hard times, hoping for recovery.
