Vlikho Bay

Serafina
Rob & Sarah Bell
Sat 13 Sep 2008 19:57
38:41.29N 20:42.50E

Friday 12th September

Had a very pleasant day remaining in the same bay as yesterday. Sarah could
not help herself from spending a fair amount of the day polishing the chrome
in preparation for the winter, whilst I spent an age writing very few
emails. A combination of an atrophying brain and a computer that spells
better than me, but frequently guesses wrong about what I was trying to say,
results in it taking an age to write some emails as I have to go back and
re-write some sentences! Very tedious.

As predicted, the bay became very popular by day and we were able to sit
back and enjoy some interesting anchoring techniques very few of which you
will find in the books! The most popular one being to select the spot where
they want to stop and then simply letting the anchor and most of the chain
go in one big pile directly under them. This can work for a short while, but
is not too clever when the wind rises and the boat sets off downwind towards
rocks/other boats/out to sea.

Around 4pm the bulk of these boats left and once more were pretty much alone
and although there was a surprising amount of swell coming into the bay, we
were unaffected as we were tucked round the corner.

Another quiet and peaceful night although lively imaginations had both of us
thinking that we were hearing rats falling off our carefully protected
ropes!!

Saturday 13th September

Early start (well 9.00am) to get to the town of Nidri whilst the shops were
still open in the morning. Absolutely no room on the limited quay, so I
dropped Sarah off in the dinghy and then took Serafina off to the island of
Skorpios where I could drift in clean water and run the water maker to top
up the tanks. (This converts sea water into drinking water.) Skorpios is a
private island owned by the Onassis family and back in 1980 we used to see
their yacht (ship) 'Christina' anchored in the little harbour. Not quite as
private these days it seems as I watched trip boats running up the beach and
lots of yachts were anchored right up to the beaches. When Aristotle Onassis
lived here, there was no approaching the island!

Picked up Sarah after two hours (the last half an hour spent sailing slowly
in the gentle breeze) and we motored past Nidri and Tranquil Bay and on into
Ormos Vlikho which is a very large landlocked bay. This was a curious
experience for me as again back in 1980 no yachts ventured into this bay
which was deemed too shallow for anything larger than a dinghy. Either they
have dredged the bar across the entrance or we were too timid (no depth
gauges then) to try. Either way this is a huge anchorage and so we picked a
suitable spot to park and despite the arrival during the rest of the day of
any number of boats including a complete 12 boat flotilla from 'Sailing
Holidays', we had no near neighbours to spoil the solitude. Well I say that,
but as soon as we decided to have our showers off the back deck, things
changed briefly. Sarah was fine and cheerfully bared all for her shower, but
when it came to my turn the wind changed slightly and swung the stern of the
boat round to present me to the couple on the nearest boat! Modesty ensured
that I kept my trunks on until the boat drifted away again, which was just
as well as I had failed to notice another yacht full of Italians who were
looking for a spot to moor, chug up behind us and they then cheerfully
started a conversation with me all about where we had come from. They then
motored on and left me to rinse off!

Sarah dusted off her drawing chalks and easel to do a self portrait.
However, the only suitable mirror is in the forward heads (toilet), so she
crammed herself in there for two and a half hours, emerging with a very
creditable picture.

Nearly a full moon, not a breath of wind and almost total silence apart from
a brief fireworks display.