Bit of a muddle

Serafina
Rob & Sarah Bell
Mon 10 Aug 2009 07:52
Sunday 9th August

Another idle day as we enjoy the peace and comparative solitude of this nice
bay.

Sarah was commenting to David on Souris Rose how very quiet it was here,
when around the corner came a posse of Turkish gullets, seriously overloaded
with passengers and playing VERY loud music from speakers carefully
positioned to better broadcast the sound to their neighbours. These boats
seem to make a daily visit here and it is more about provocation than
anything else. They swing round the bay upsetting as many people as they can
before speeding on their way. They cannot land of course as we are in
Greece, so little real purpose is served by all this.

Yesterday I had a frustrating 'deck chair' half an hour during which I
simply had to replace the various covers onto the forepeak bed mattresses.
It was remarkable how many mistakes I could make during this exercise and I
have no idea how many times each cover was put on, changed, reversed,
swapped etc. before I finished. Sarah meanwhile was cooking dinner for our
guests that evening and seemed oblivious to the flapping and complaining
that was happening just by her. (Equally she offered no helpful advice
either!) [Rob does not mention that the covers came off as the deck hose
had chosen to perish and split along its length this morning, spraying
saltwater all over the foredeck which was conveniently scooped up by the
windshute and deposited on the beds below! And I cannot be held responsible
if he has not had enough practise at bed-making - or perhaps I can! But I
will admit it is one of those jobs when you do remember which way round the
covers go after you have made the first mistake.]

Joined in the bay by an Italian yacht who served as a further reminder as to
how important maintenance and inspection is. They have lost their mast, the
stump of which is sticking out of the deck still. They have lashed a
spinnaker pole to it, so that they have something to hang their sun awning
on and seem to be carrying on with their holiday anyway, sans sails.

Invited onto Lady Coppelia (55' Daglass Motor Yacht) for 'Sundowners' at
5.30 pm last night and were joined there by David and Jill from Souris Rose.
The protocol of these events always seems a bit vague as we are never quite
sure when a 'sundowner' finishes. Anyway we weaved our way home in the
dinghy sometime much later, but could not help noticing that it was in fact
still light!

Final entertainment was provided by a German charter yacht that had several
attempts at anchoring, but despite all the room managed to end up just a few
yards from us, which was bound to end in tears when the wind changed
direction. We advised them of this and they promptly tried elsewhere and
then gave up and motored off into the sunset. One hour later they were back
trying again and finally got settled. Like most of these boaters, they do
not let out much chain for some reason, which leaves them likely to drag if
the wind gets up and they also will not swing in as big an arc as other
boats and that leads to contact when there is a wind shift.