36:27.05N 28:13.61E

We left around 08:30 since it was light and a few waves began to enter the cove causing some rolling, not bad but enough to make sleeping later not the greatest.  Watched a fisherman retrieve his long net across the bay, for once we did not anchor on it!  Winds were less and the seas looked calmer as we left.  Rhodes is almost due east but we needed to keep a little south to avoid crossing into Turkish waters.

Trip was not too bad overall.  Seas were much calmer and the winds small and on the nose so no sailing.  I played with the autopilot controls some more and got it working without communicating with the dead GPS.  Now at least I could point the boat, set the autopilot and sit back.  Some of the other instruments came to life and then dropped off again.  SO the charts, handheld Garmin GPS, and iPhone (with GPS locating turned on) set our way.  Now the speed log began working and I could better judge time to Rhodes.

As we approached Rhodes the weather turned worse and we got some rain, nothing that bad.  Set the radar for rain tracking and saw that we should have a gap when we get to Rhodes.  Looking back at Tilos it was getting some rain so it was good timing the night we spent there.  The radio kept talking about gale force winds but not clear where and when since the English with a heavy Greek accent was very hard to understand.

We left at 08:30 and now we were approaching the “marina” at 15:00 after 46 miles.  Rhodes is on the very northern tip of the island and has been in use as a harbor for centuries.  There has been some improvements but for some reason things haven’t improved that much.  Thursday is a Greek holiday, so with a four day weekend the marina staff left early for the day.  Not an issue since we have an agent who met us at the marina.  There are few to none mooring lines so and anchor is used to secure the bow while the stern is tied to the quay.  We had a spot reserved between two idle charter boats, good location.  Able to drop 55 meters of rode in 6 meters of water.  Mud bottom and good holding.  Got berthed with no issues.  The gap in the rain was perfectly timed, winds dropped to less than 10 knots.

During the night the gale force predictions came true and the winds were from the northeast.  This caused the waves to bounce around the marina entrance and enter creating some rocking and rolling.  I got up during the night and adjusted the lines and improved the jerking and yanking we were getting.  Pat slept through all this!

More on Rhodes in the next note.