We
stayed in Naxos yesterday. There
was no reason to rush off. We have
two weeks to get back to Leros.
The day was lovely and sunny. We spent the morning looking at the
town. We walked up to the castle
and went into one of the Venetian houses that is part of the castle (it is a
museum). The archaeological museum
was closed, it being a Sunday.
We
stopped for an iced coffee and use
of free WIFI at a very nice café that seemed to be a meeting place for all the locals. With the coffee they gave us each a
good sized slice of cake and iced water.
After that we really didn’t need any lunch.
So
we returned to the boat. As it is
hot Richard decides that we should go to the beach. We walk around the harbour towards the beach and we see that
the marina are moving our boat over to the berth next in, the boat that was
there having left. We have put all
our fenders out on the port side on the assumption that they would put another
boat back in the place of the one that has left. But as they have now moved us over we suspect they will put
something on our starboard side where we now have no fenders. So Richard went back to the boat to
sort out the fenders and the lines (I don’t think the marina have tied them
well enough to support the passerelle).
Finally
we get to the beach and stay there for most of the afternoon. We had to pay for sun beds, but it is a
nice sandy beach. The only problem
is that the water is shallow for yards off the shore, so you have to walk a way
to get a swim.
When
we get back to the boat, sure enough they have put a boat outside us. The pontoon has completely filled up
and then some again. The boat next
to us and the one across from it are charter boats (we are seeing a lot of them
this trip and very few owner boats).
Not only that but they seem to be together with another boat down the
pontoon and they are all gay men.
It seems to be a gay flotilla.
We
wash the boat. It is still filthy
from Mykonos. Everything is
covered in black dust. It is even
inside so I must get down to doing a clean of the interior, but when?
This
morning, after the gay flotilla left we made our way out to go to Paros. We had decided to go to the Naoussa. The problem is that the pilot book (and
Jonnie) says that the marina there is very badly designed and when there is any
wind a swell comes in and makes the place not only uncomfortable, but
dangerous. Richard is relying on
the weather forecast which seems to show it will be quite calm today, but the
wind will get up tomorrow. We then
plan to move to anchorages which are more sheltered.
We
put up the sails as we leave the harbour.
At first there is not much wind, but it soon builds up to a very nice
force 4. The only problem is that
we are sailing upwind just as close to the wind as we can go. We have a headland to get around and it
is just too close to the wind to get past. We try a couple of tacks, but we still can’t make it. So in the end we had to put on the
engine, which is really frustrating when you have a decent sailing wind for a
change.
Also
the fact that we are now motoring into a force four means that the sea is lumpy
and uncomfortable. I begin to feel
lousy, but I don’t want to take a pill when we will turn away from the wind
very shortly. Finally we do and we
have about an hour of a really nice sail.
Richard has chosen an “inside” passage, which I find a bit disconcerting
because there are rocks all around and you can’t really see the way through. It looks a lot like Brittany! But we make it to Naoussa. We go to a sheltered part of the bay
and take down the sails and put out the fenders and lines to moor. We then moved towards the marina, when
the fun begins.
We
spot a lady on the quayside and she is gesticulating and shouting to us and we
assume she wants us to moor up where she is standing. So we try to make our way there. The wind is now blowing 17 knots and it is not easy to manoeuver. Not only that, but as we approach our
dinghy gets caught up in a large motor yacht's forward line. We are stuck. There is nothing to be done but to let the dinghy go and
hope we can get back later to collect it.
If we don’t we will bash into the motor yacht.
As
all this is happening we finally realise that the lady is telling us we cannot
moor where we were going because there will be a big wind and a swell in and
these berths will be untenable.
She wants us to go to the other side of the marina where there is one
berth left. As we start to go two
crew from the motor yacht come out in their rib and retrieve our dinghy and tie
it back on. They also come with us
to the other berth to help us in.
Would you believe it, the damned dinghy gets caught a second time on the
bow line of the yacht we are supposed to be mooring next to. Not only that but the guys in the rib
have attached the bow line before we get in place and Richard can’t reverse the
boat any nearer the quay! We have
never had such a bad time mooring up.
But eventually we are installed.
We are told that this is a safe berth and even in a swell, we should
have no problem (even if it is a bit uncomfortable). We are also advised that the wind will stay up for two days
and we shouldn’t leave tomorrow, but stay. So we will do that.
We are after all not in any hurry,
We
were going to go explore the town but then things go a bit crazy. The harbour master does not want any
boats to moor on one side of the marina in the belief that there will be a
dangerous swell there. She turns
two boats away, but later at least 6 or 7 charter boats come in one after
another and refuse to take any notice of being told to go away. One actually tries to moor up next to
us where there is no mooring line and it is a very small space. This boat is 45ft so we are getting agitated. Not only that but in trying to approach
this non- mooring space he gets his rudder caught up on our bow line! Finally most of these boats just moor
up on the other side despite the instructions not to. They also make a mess of it to the extent that one hits the
quay very hard with his stern. He
has not sunk yet! So we have had
an afternoon’s amusement at the expense of other boats and finally no one has
tried again to pull in next to us.
With
being a bit more relaxed that the boat is safe we make our way into the
town. It is very jolly. Lots of little alleys with bars,
restaurants and shops. We have an
ice cream at a posh bakery and enquire about hiring a car for tomorrow. When the sun goes down it starts to get
quite cool, so we return to the boat to get some warmer clothes on before going
out for a nice fish dinner.
The
boat is rocking around a bit, but not badly. I’m not sure these high winds and swell have hit us yet.
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