Thursday 6^th August – Varko Bay, Greece (Something fishy)

38:45.933N 20:48.340E

Despite the strong winds of the afternoon we had a surprisingly quiet night at anchor, apart from a short blow in the early hours, and slept quite well.  This morning the wind and the sea were still and we had a lovely view from the cockpit of the nearby beach and mountains in the distance, and pretty much the first thing I did was go in for a swim.

The clear waters here mean the sea bed looks deceptively close despite us being in 5-6m of water.  Richard decided it was time to check the calibration on the depth gauge and so he got out the lead line and plumbed the depths around the boat.  We are pleased to report that the depth gauge is working well – under-reading slightly by about 10cm.

Over the past couple of days we have noticed a fishy smell emanating from the dinghy; we have been considering whether it could be where we had transported fish from the supermarket or maybe fish remains in a rubbish bin taken ashore.  Anyway Richard decided to rinse the dinghy out in the hope that the smell would go away. 

Having started washing the dinghy down, he discovered the fetid remains of a small fish under the inflatable floor; the poor thing must have leapt into the dinghy at some point or been dropped in by a seagull; by now it was all bone and fish paste – totally yuk.  He had to deflate the floor of the dinghy, scrub everything out and then re-inflate it – finishing by rinsing the mooring lines.  We are hoping that everything is smelling a bit fresher next time we use the dinghy.

Today has been hot and sunny; I have caught up on some book.  Mid afternoon the wind filled in and it has been quite gusty but this evening it seems to have settled.  Late afternoon we ran the engine to recharge the batteries and run the watermaker, and Enya’s Swedish friends arrived from Nidri. 

This evening we have enjoyed a quiet dinner on board, watching the anchorage fill up with various late arrivals.  It was nice to see the friendly Swiss boat arrive who we keep bumping into on our travels.  It was less nice to see the two charter boats from Port Vathi arrive at sunset – in particular the one I chewed out – luckily he is at the other end of the bay; we will be pleased when his holiday is over!

Tonight a full moon has risen over the mountains in a clear sky – fabulous J