Oinoussa

Serafina
Rob & Sarah Bell
Sat 30 May 2009 18:29
38:30.8N 26:13.0E

Saturday 30th May
Took quite a while to get the anchor up today as the chain was covered in a
gooey weedy slime, which took an age to clean off as we raised it. Then at a
crucial moment the wonderful spray nozzle fitting (that I found in the UK
last winter) on the deck hose came off and sank into the murky depths!

Not a breath of wind today - all day, so we motored all the way to Oinoussa
Island and after visiting a number of bays and inlets (sadly many had fish
farms anchored in them, which does not add to the ambience!) we went into
Mandraki harbour and moored stern too, just in front of some yachts that
were alongside the quay.

We were joined later by a bright yellow Swiss owned yacht (Ovni 45) that
moored next to us and in the early evening we were serenaded by the owner
who was a very accomplished acoustic guitarist.

Exploring the bays and islands on the way in had been interesting as they
have not been charted correctly on the electronic chart, so as we edged our
way around the submerged rocks, the Chart Plotter had us placed firmly
elsewhere on dry land!

Flags:
It's hard not to be impressed by the Turks love for their national flag
which you see flying absolutely everywhere. Every fishing boat, regardless
of size flies one and not just a scruffy old one! Buildings fly them and
many of the places we have visited have unbelievably tall flag staffs flying
huge flags that can be seen from miles away. We feel rather ashamed of our
small nylon Turkish courtesy flag (bought in Greece) and have hunted for
something better, but despite all these flags on show, we have not found
anywhere to buy one yet!

An anomaly that confused us was the number of boats flying the American
stars and stripes. Strangely most of them seemed to be from Wilmington or
Delaware and we have now had it explained to us. It is all part of a tax
dodge here in Turkey and the boats are bought in Bulgaria, registered in USA
and sold 'luxury tax' free to Turks. One clue was that the home port is
often misspelt which seems to amuse real Americans, and the second was that
the American flag on the stern is usually very small and the Turkish
courtesy flag is large and bright!