Eskifoca - (Didn't he play on the wing for All Blacks?)

Serafina
Rob & Sarah Bell
Thu 28 May 2009 17:26
38:40.5N 26:44.8E

Thursday 28th May
An almost perfect day in the end!

Another quite windy night led to a breezy start to the day and with 15 to 20
knot gusts blowing already and no access to a forecast, we elected to stay
put for another day rather than risk going to Eskifoca, which according to
the pilot book is unlikely to have space on the quay and the various
anchorages are fairly suspect.

Got some jobs done and noticed around midday that the wind had eased
noticeably and so we changed our minds about leaving and raised the anchor.
This was not such a quick job after all as the sea bed here is thick mud
which took a bit of cleaning off the anchor!

Motored out into the bay where we were met by 20 knots of wind just off the
starboard bow, so we quickly raised the sails and were soon flying along at
7 - 8 knots. It was as soon as we got up to 7+ knots that we were joined by
a pod of 5 dolphins who played with us for over 20 minutes. These dolphins
were remarkable because of their size, as they were much bigger than most we
have seen. Anyway, this was the most action we have seen from any dolphins
since we were back in the Atlantic, with pairs seeming to swim parallel to
the bow, surface for a breath and then dive and turn through 90 degrees to
rush just under our bow and sweep out on the far side before repeating this.
No leaping out of the water today, but they did seem a bit big for that!

Shortly after they left us (the wind was dropping so we were slowing down)
our log showed us completing 6,000 miles since we sailed out of Sweden in
July 2007 and there can have been few more enjoyable few hours sailing that
the last three.

Approached Eskifoca through a group of very dramatic islands and as
predicted there was no space on the town quay although the owner of a large
modern trip boat did invite us to moor alongside him. We declined as it was
a lea shore situation and not very safe at all, so we motored out of the
little natural harbour and into the next bay where we anchored close to a
Dutch boat about 100 metres off the beach. Seems a nice spot and since we
have now seen a weather forecast we should have a quieter night.

Photos: Sorry that we have not updated these recently, but we have not been
able to get Wi-Fi. There are quite a few that will be added soon at
http://www.rhbell.com