Mandraki, Nisos Idhra 37:21.2N 23:29.1E

Ticketeeboo
Sue & Alan
Mon 28 Sep 2015 16:08
A very pleasant bay, save for the charter yachts, which can be a PITA. When we first arrived the bay was almost empty except for one yacht left unattended in middle of the bay preventing others from mooring with long-lines ashore. Havind dealt with this little problem we've been happily placed on 90m chain and 30m long-lines all afternoon. The water is lovely and clear and we have almost 0.5m clearance between our keel and dirt. We ain't going anywhere and we're snug. Since arriving we've helped a few yachts, one picked-up a fishermans anchor and needed releasing from their difficulty and the others seemed to think they could row-ashore with their long-lines pulling their yacht against all the elements. Fun to watch until it becomes sad. Most recently, the helmsman on one flippin' big charter yacht said "We'll try and not hit you" at which me thinks "That ain't good enough" and Sue comes to the bow ordering them not to touch our yacht! (They did come bit too close and only started putting fenders out when it could have been too late). All good fun at which I decide to take to our RIB and give them direct instructions, which included dropping their hook further away and fastening their long-line elsewhere (when they implied they were gong to double-up on ours). There are just to numerous charter yachts in these parts so we're looking forward to being elsewhere again soon.
Mandraki itself is just lovely. The depths change quickly and long-lines are a must. As end of evening draws near it's calm, clean and protected and we might even stay here for 2 nights. We almost have our own swimming pool and made good use of it this afternoon.