Notice the Solar Panels!New Rhodes Harbor, Greece The weather was good from Magisti to the Isle of Rhodes and we arrived in the afternoon at New Rhodes Harbor. Marina “Berths” where you pull up to a dock and jump off are not the norm here. The marinas have a main dock or a cement quay and the method is to back-up to them and use lines from both sides of the stern to tie up. Sometimes you have to drop your anchor first and then back-up or pickup a mooring or tie off the stern first and pickup a lazy line that is led from the stern to a mooring block forward. Each of these methods would work for us except for one little problem. Ashika doesn't backup in a straight line. She has a long full keel and if there is any current or light breeze she, well.. goes with the flow. We skipped the main harbor and went into the New Rhodes Marina where we had requested a side tie. The guys on the dock had other plans and using hand and arm signals, instructed us to back into a narrow slot between two very nice fin keeled boats (equipped with bow thrusters for precise steerage). There was no time or hand signals (besides a rude one finger salute) to discuss at distance the reasons this was not going to go well and Dois is always a good sport so we started the procedure with hope that things would not disintegrate into chaos. Chaos ensued. After the shouting and a narrow escape, their hand signals directed us to a side tie. Although this set-up was a quick and simple landing, we would not be free to live a life of leisure quite yet. The main reason we wanted a marina berth was to run Dois up the mast to replace our wind vane instrument. He also needed to work on the instrument wiring and did not want to do that while at anchor. Dois set everything up so that I could run him up the 45' to the top using our anchor windlass. Regrettably, I couldn't get him any further than about 6'. The windlass would just not hoist the captain any further. He spent the next 4 days with windlass dismantle and reassembly, re-wiring and all around head scratching until the 4th day when we woke up to no Skipper on board. Skipper was thrilled to be there. “Meeeeeoooowww” translated into “land ho”! Although he is a traveling boat cat and you would think Adventure is his middle name, his demeanor on land is more the scaredy cat. He rarely jumped to shore, so we were fairly confidant in his home steadfastness, but there were moments of doubt. I had checked on him a little after midnight and he was on the cabin top watching the bugs swarm the lights on dock. By sunrise the next morning he was gone and likely spent hours in the water by then, but we didnt know that yet. We walked the dock calling him, then walked a widening circle around the marina and surrounds. No Skip. We went back to the boat hoping he had found his way back, but no such luck. Those of you who are regulars to the blog know this isn't the first time he's gone swimming. Unfortunately its really hard to keep a cat on board. We are pretty sure something spooked him, perhaps he ran and he missed the boat, so to speak. He swam a long way to get to the buoy and missed our overboard lines. Dois went to the marina office with Skipper's photo. Skipper bites Dois on a regular basis and it is a testament to Dois's character that he hasn't tossed Skipper overboard by now. But he persists. I love this man. "LAURI LAURI, bring a towel, Skipper is under the dock!" He told me that the Master of the Harbor pulled our cat off a buoy that was lodged under a yacht swim step and put him on the dock. Skip took off running and just like the first time; went to ground. The cement dock has tunnels incorporated to house wires and water pipes and his rescuer said Skip went into one of them. I used my phone to take photos in the tunnels and there he was. Dis-oriented, wet and shaking, Skip had lost his meow. He was left with a bird like chirp and was in full-on survival mode. He was traumatized to the point that I dont think he recognized either one of us. He was lodged behind wires and pipe and wouldn't come out. Dois brought treats to lure him out. Although he came closer, he was dazed and we couldn't pull him out, he would start to scamper back under when we tried. Dois had an idea and came back from boat with Skipper's best buddy “Cotton Kitty”. Skipper came out for his kitty. We moved out of the marina to the anchorage just to the south of it so we wouldn't worry about Skipper jumping ship. We also needed to figure out what we were going to do about our anchor windlass. I had met a guy who owned an Auto Repair shop down the road and he had a small stock of boat parts. Dois called him and he had a used windlass relay that we paid full price for. Dois spent another day re-wiring the windlass with the new-to-us part and lo and behold it worked although with a new-to-us noise. But life on a boat has hard choices and we'll take it. On the 26th, PredictWind showed a weather window still available for crossing to Crete. If we didn't make this one though, we could get stuck here for another 10 days or more. Officialdom being what it is, couldn't get it our check-out done until the following Monday, the 29th and then we needed to go to the main port to pay for our September cruising fee the following day. Finally we left the following morning. We now had about 24 hours to cross before heavier winds were forecast. But this forecast only left us with the southerly path to Crete. We believe we will be able correct our course to a more northerly one as we go. Next stop; the Isle of Crete, Greece. .ecaePImportant Note from the CaptainDear Friends, Family and Patrons, We are beginning the 6th year of our circumnavigation and after a 2 year Covid19 lockdown in Indonesia and the last year of extreme travel to get to the Mediterranean, we find we could use a little help with updating our slightly worn floating home. As we are planning Atlantic crossing in December 2022, it has become painfully obvious we needed to start a fundraiser to get Ashika into a safe condition for this ambitious journey. We have a goal of $4000 to get her back in shape for this leg into Caribbean waters. In an effort to support your generosity, we will regularly share our plans and progress. If you have been following our travels and want to help, or just want to send a bit of love, any help on our journey ahead would be enormously gratefully appreciated. Thank you, Lauri and Dois Brock Peace Please note the link button will take you to "SEALION MARINE", my paypal account for business that used to be stateside. If you got that far, another enormous THANK YOU! Ashika Fund Raiser Goal: $4000
Your support is greatly appreciated!
1 Comment
Tina
1/6/2023 10:05:18 pm
Love this Castle... Happy New Year to you two as well. !!! Graet Pictures and Sjipper is a hoot... lol Love you !!!
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