Our June 15th trip to Naxos,
was uneventful, about 17 nm long, and took about 3 hours. We anchored to the North of the ferry dock, and per the sailing guide, made sure the anchor was holding.
Per the GRIB forecast, we have strong winds building for the next few days so even though we dropped anchor in just 4 meters of water, I let out about 40 meters of chain and then some 10-12 more meters after attaching the snubber line.
Per radar, GPS, and the naked eye, my CPA to the South ferry dock was no less than 30 meters, and to the NW rock wall, no less than 80 meters. IF the wind, which is predicted to be from the North (or so) actually came in from the south, I would spin into the swim area to the east, but the size of the waves would probably make it hazardous to use. I also MIGHT go aground as the water was posted on the charts as being 1-2 meters in depth, but the PROBABILITY of the wind shift was quite low given the forecast and my experience.
Th first night at anchor we stayed on board, just in case I screwed something up.
The next day, we lowered the tender into the water and headed ashore in the evening. We walked around, found the Municipality Port building, and observed what looked like a marina south and east of the ferry dock. As it was late, we left the arrangements needed to come to the "city wall" until the next day.
Back on board, I noted a catamaran anchored ahead of me, toward the swim area, and as best as I could tell, he was anchored over my anchor. I thought that was foolish but hell. I am usually the most cautious boater around for stuff like this.
The weather the next day did NOT disappoint in so far as being faithful to the forecast, but we were riding very well, so in the afternoon, we went ashore again. We found the Municipality Port building closed and so on a lark, we thought to check out the "marina," making bets as to how much per day "they" wanted.
Much to our surprise it was the Municipality Port Marina, and the fee for LeeZe was €21/day, water and electricity included. Talking to the Harbor master we come to learn that if we can tell him the day before, he said just "come on in!" between 10-11 the next morning.
Seemed simple, and when things seem simple, Murphy is lurking just to make it not so.
So, on 21 June, in the afternoon, we talk to the Harbormaster and tell him that we would like to come in, and that we are the blue and white trawler at anchor. He gets so excited that I think he peed in his pants. He saw the boat, wondered about it, and now is excited to see it in person. Zehra and I both think that he will give us a good spot.
But before 21 Jun comes, 18 and 19 June have to come and go, and on 18 June, another catamaran had moored in front of us the previous night. (It was not there when I did my anchor check at 0030, and it was there at 0830.) He stays 18th and on the 19th, wants to depart. The wind is blowing probably over 20 knots and from the North, and I am to the south of him.
Most if not all production sailing catamarans in the 40-50' range appear to me to be underpowered because the size of the room for the engine is small. I have talked with many cat owners and nearly all have between 55-70 hp engines, spinning small props that usually collapse when not in use. In addition, to minimize overall weight, they usually have a small, toyish-like anchor with thin chain, and not much of thin chain either.
So on 19 Jun, this guy is getting underway and he is struggling against the wind to motor forward to retrieve his anchor. I have no clue he is leaving as we are eating breakfast on the aft deck. But after hearing some yelling and screaming, I investigate and determine he is yelling at me, waving his arms and flapping his jaw, and with the wind noise, I am clueless of what he wants.
So I go and get my handheld radio, and waive it at him, which as far as I could tell, only made him more anxious, more irritable and more demonstrative. I still could not make out what he needed so eventually, he went below and call me on channel 16 yelling at me to put out more chain as he is caught on my chain. I ask him to shift to another channel but he yells at me again and then comes topside.
Now, I am topside, at my anchor, and my bare foot is resting lightly on the snubber of the chain. If he his trying to raise his anchor, I would feel something, but I do not.
I am not the one to try to have a conversation against the wind, so I waive to my radio and act as if I am taking into it. To say the least, I can see his frustration grow.
He goes below, and then comes back topside. I hear a female voice on the radio "hello, my husband needs you to loosen you anchor chain." I answer her, asking of she could switch to channel 72, and she says "I do not know how to do that."
So, I tell her that I do not believe that your anchor is tangled with my anchor. She insists her husband believes it. So I ask her to have him raise as high as possible and see what is fouling his anchor.
She says "please hold on" comes topside and says something to her husband. He did NOT seem to take it well and goes below to yell at me again to drop more chain.
I try to tell him that I have a lot of chain out, and a long snubber, and if he is caught between my boat and the snubber, he should be able to pick up my chain. He says he cannot pick up his anchor at all.
I suggest to him that he just be caught on a rock or something else. I also suggest he get into the water and check. I also said that if after all that he needs my assistance, I will be monitoring channel 72.
I then go into the pilot house and behind the sunshades, observe. He comes up not happy, tries to retrieve his anchor, motors around trying to get it free, and probably does this a few more times as I go about my business.
About an hour later, I see that he is no longer in front of me, so I assume he was able to get the anchor free and motor away.
So, 19 June is my birthday, and we had planned to go ashore to celebrate, but the weather made it not conducive, so we stayed aboard.
21 Jun is a nice day so I done mask and fins and follow my chain to the anchor. I see that the anchor is dug in quite deep but that the trip line is intact. As I am swimming back, a glint catches my eye and turns out it is a spade anchor, trapped under a concrete block, with a short amount of chain and the rode cut.
It was not hard to retrieve this 10-12 kg spade anchor, and my guess is that the catamaran cut his rode and left. The spade anchor itself looked like a cheaply made Far East design and so I gave it to the Harbormaster to do with it whatever his wished.
So, now it is 22 June, underway at 0940 and come into the marina at 1005, dead slow speed. What our experience is we see a guy waving to us, yelling at us, flapping is arms or some other type of movement trying to get our attention. Using binoculars, Zehra sees no one. Since this is a very tight place, I slowly turn around and leave, anchor just outside, and call the harbormaster on the cell phone. He asked me why I did not come in? I said I did not see him and have no clue where I am to go! He says "come fully in and I have a place for you."
So, up anchor, leave it at the water's edge, and slowly come in, realizing I am going to the turning basin where the room for error is measured in meters. Meanwhile, he is telling Zehra on the phone for me to keep coming and after entering this basin, we see him.
Zehra hangs up and I am in disbelief. The place he wants me at is, well IMHO, just not doable. I do NOT believe I have the skill set to get LeeZe med-moored into such a spot without hitting another boat. Zehra is of the same opinion, but the harbor master is ABSOLUTELY insistent that I can make it.
Thank God there is no wind, so I collect my wits and tell Zehra that I have to drop my anchor opposite the spot, right on top of that ferry boat over there. Zehra bless her soul starts to freak out but I promise her I will not hit it. (I have no clue if I can keep this promise!) As we slowllllllllllllllyyyyyyyyy approach this ferry boat a guy appears on it and motions me to get closer, Zehra says to drop anchor but this guy says come closer.
He tells me to drop anchor when his hands are on my bow pulpit, preventing me from hitting him.
I drop and slowly go astern, letting out chain as I slowing make my way back into a spot I am convinced that I will not get into without hitting something.
However, as I start going back, about 50 meters away from the dock, LeeZe responds like the queen that she is, and slowly slides to port as we approach, and then Zehra has a line over.
We are in, with 70 meters of chain out, and we got in without hitting anything! We look at each other in sheer disbelief, and then we crack smiles.
We stay in this marina until 29 June, when we depart for Paros. The departure was just a stressful because my bow was right atop the ferry boat to get my anchor up, and then I had to back just enough not to strike any of the other boats around me while turning in such a tight circle praying for no wind gust or personal fuck up. But we do get out of there in one piece.
Th trip is mostly uneventful as the waves were small and the wind was building. Little did we know that this was a very ominous sign.
We did not get out of Paros until 25 July. From the image above, the ferries come in to the west of the wall. LeeZe was moored to the outer part of the wall with 105 meters of chain out as that is where visiting yachts are normally put. Electricity and water are available via prepaid tokens. The shore power pods are on the inner side of the wall so your utility lines need protection because cars, scooters, fuel trucks, and grocery carts all run over them.
When the ferries come in, they create a swell that EASILY rolls LeeZe 9+ degrees, at times. If the ferry is a heavy single hull ship, and if the wind is blowing harder than normal, the ferry comes in at a higher than "normal" speed and this creates an even larger swell. On July 4, there were very high winds at the wall which lasted for 4+ days. This was repeated on July 18 for 3 days. LeeZe's motion during these high wind days was terrible to endure and quite violent at times. During the first wind storm, I did not leave LeeZe at all. I had taken in all lines less one and slacken that line somewhat so I was 5-6 meters off the wall, There were times when conditions were such that Zehra could get off safely, and she took full advantage of these times. As the wind died down, I put more and more lines on until at the end, I was tied like I was at the beginning.
This port has lots of charter boats come in on Fridays and Saturdays, and the Port Captain, Yanis, could not care less about your ship safety if it means that the charter boat cannot come in. This is a first for me and no amount of discussion with him or his boss could change their minds. This was evident when a charter cat came along side to starboard and I had extra lines out at the stern in an attempt to limit the amount of movement. The female Captain immediately started complaining that one of my lines were damaging the rub rail on her boat and eventually, we had to change data because she was going to submit an insurance claim. She took no action to protect her boat from my line. (Normally, and in all other cases, the boat arriving takes action to minimize the contact of lines from the boat already there.) In fact, her arrival day had weather that was 15-25 knots blowing and after mooring, the problem got worse throughout the afternoon and evening. Per her mate, their anchor was not holding well, causing the cat to get closer to the wall than what I use to seeing. The next morning, with winds even higher that the day before, she gets underway to reset her anchor (took her 45 minutes to do because the cat is under powered and the winds were above 20+ knots) and it turned out, the anchor did not set again. But by this time, she was within hours of departing with her new charter guests and took no additional action.
Knowing that we did not get along, somehow, the following week, she managed to find herself mooring next to me again. This time, as I was taking in some bow lines, she ordered my line cut in the presence of the Port Captain because she had no patience to wait for me to clear the line. That was the last straw. Taking pictures, and making a deck log entry, I went to the Port Police to file an official complaint. As usual, they did not seem to care, until I started to ask them for their names, and the spelling of their names. They wanted to know why I wanted this info, and I said when I make my formal written complaint to your government via the American Embassy in Athens, I will need to name the people I spoke with.
NOW that got their attention! Within 15 minutes, we had reached a financial settlement that will allow me to replace that line once I am back in Turkey.
Anyway, this Meltemi wind this season is worse than normal, both in speed and duration, than in past years.
But there does come a break and on 25 July, we are off to Ornos Bay on the southern side of Mykonos Island and anchor.
That is all for now folks!
If you have any questions, please ask.
Lee and Zehra
MV LeeZe
http://whereisleeze.blogspot.com
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