We start out quite early, away by 7:30am. Richard doesn’t think there will be any wind, so initially
he doesn’t bother to put up the main.
However, as we get out of the harbour there is a bit of a breeze, so we
decide to put it up. However, that
turns into quite a performance. The wind starts to blow in every direction and I literally am
steering the boat in circles to try to keep her into the wind so Richard can
pull up the main. That too is
getting to be a pain. The main
just won’t go up pulling from the cockpit and Richard now habitually has to go
forward to pull it up! The problem
lies with the gizmo in the mast that allows you to insert the sliders that
attach the mainsail to the mast – it has a spring that is too weak. We are going to have to get something
done about that.
Anyway the main goes up and for a while we have a nice breeze. It is blowing 13 – 17 knots on the beam
and we are going nicely. But of
course it doesn’t last. After
about an hour or maybe 90 minutes, the wind just dies and we are motoring
again. The wind picks up every now
and again and helps keep the speed up, but mainly it is a passage motoring, yet
again. The problem is that we have
41 miles to go and we have to keep our speed up if we are to arrive at a
reasonable time. But despite the
lack of wind we make good progress and get to Rhodes Town around 3pm. We thought we would have to go into the
new marina, but when we phone up the agent he says he has a berth for us in the
old town, Mandraki Harbour. This
could be a mixed blessing. The harbour
has a combination of laid lines and moorings where you have to anchor. The pilot book says that fouled anchors
are the norm here. We hope we can
go on a laid line and avoid that, but no.
We get directed to a place where there should be a line, but it is being
used by the boat next door. So we
have to put the anchor out. We
manage that and Richard reverses well into a very tight space. However, who knows what we have put our
anchor down on. Only time will
tell.
By the time we get in it is very hot. The temperature in the boat is 32C. So we decide that the best thing to do
is clean the boat. We have water
here and the boat is filthy.
Besides we are getting company soon. So we put on bathing suits and wash the boat down. It is cooling and the boat doesn’t look
at all bad.
After that we decide to go into town and have a little look around. Regrettably the tourist office closed
at 2pm today and doesn’t open until Monday. We are uncertain how long we will be here. It all depends on Colin and his crew
and what they want to do. Richard
actually finds a Starbucks, so we sit there using their internet and get in
touch with Colin. He and the
family will come over at lunchtime tomorrow and we can discuss what to do
then. The weather forecast is for
very hot weather up to 31C.
Being in the old harbour is a mixed blessing. The position is spectacular. We are right next to one of the ancient forts. The old town is just behind us. On the other hand it is very crowded
and we are under the flight path for the airport so planes are constantly
flying over us. We shall see how
we get on here. We will want to go
to other bays to anchor, but we will need to use Rhodes Town as a base to get
water, electricity and provisions.
The other problem is that we have absolutely no idea how much this is
all costing us. The expense is not
the only worry. If it is dear (and
we know the new marina will be charging 51 euros a night plus electricity and
water – almost Solent prices after we have become used to paying 5 euros a
night, if anything) the problem is how to pay for it, if they are still not
taking credit cards. We were
hoping the agent was coming to our boat this evening to tell us all these
things, but he hasn’t turned up.
Hope to catch up with him tomorrow.
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