36:27.04N 28:14.12E
Muskrat
Chris and Alison
Wed 27 Apr 2022 20:18
25/04/22 Rhodes Marina. Full service Marina We left Panormitis Bay at 0850 motor sailing with just the main set. The wind was directly behind us with a bit of a swell so we kept the engine on. The mainsail did help us to maintain a speed of about 7knts. The 25 mile passage was uneventful. Typical though, as soon as we rounded the headland on the approach to Rhodes Marina the wind filled in gusting 20knts just as we were about to furl the mainsail. We called up Rhodes Marina to ask if we could come in and they said we could. No nice man in a rib here. Instead he arrived on the pontoon on a motor bike to direct us in using the radio. The wind was very gusty, even in the harbour, and Chris had to park Muskrat without the support of a rib to give us a nudge in the right direction (remember Muskrat is a devil to get to go backwards). He managed it though and were soon tide up with two lazy bow lines and the stern lines to keep us nice and straight. We had some lunch and then decided to go for a walk and recce around the town. That ended up to be quite an afternoon/early evening visit, walking around the old town, visiting the Castle of the Grand Master and walking around the narrow streets. We were completely mosaic out by the time we were finished, no wonder we couldn’t see any mosaic floors in Kos, they are all here, taken from Kos by the Italians to furnish the Grand Castle. 26/04/22 Spent the day doing touristy things. Visiting the archaeological museum that was full of pottery and artefacts from 4000BC, then the Knights Hospital with even more mosaic floors. We tried to visit the art exhibition but it was closed again, as was Panagia Tou Kastrou church, so we planned to see them the next day. 27/04/22 We decided to try to clear out today rather than wait until tomorrow when we had to leave the marina. We visited a very pleasant Port Police woman in the Marina, but she said we needed to go to customs and immigration that was located in the commercial harbour. We suspected as much and so off we went to see what was in store. We had read so many bad reports about Rhodes customs and immigration that it was a lovely surprise to be welcomed with polite, efficient officials and we even shared a joke with the customs officer. The formalities were done in less than half an hour, then back to the Port Police woman who signed our papers and we were free to go to Turkey. In the afternoon we tried to visit the art exhibition and Panagia Tou Kastrou church that had been closed yesterday, but we were too late, the church closed at 1530 and the art exhibition did not appear to be open at all.  Back in Rhodes. I last visited here about 47 years ago in the good ship SS Uganda with the GNTC (Girls Nautical Training Corps)   The Knights Hospital  On of the many mosaic floors taken from Kos by the Italians. |