Our second stop over in Greece, Paxos, turned out a little different than expected. Instead of a calm, quiet anchorage we ended up with very little sleep.
We anchored in the channel going into Paxos and tied to the shore, as there was not a lot of swinging room. once secured, we took the dingy to our favorite restaurant for dinner. Just when we finished our meal the wind picked up and became quite strong. I always am a little uneasy in a situation like that, so I left Joanne with Frea and Herman in the restaurant and went back to the boat to check things out. Good thing I did, because the wind was very strong in the channel (some reported 7 Beaufort) and the anchor had started to drag. Le reve was very close to the rocks. I untied the stern line and lifted anchor, but now where to go? As I mentioned it was very crowded. There was an other large luxury yacht that also was anchored out and had to move. They had docked on a commercial dock which usually is off limits to pleasure boats. I took Le reve close to it, and asked for permission to come along side. Permission was not granted until after I begged, and pleaded and finally they said OK. After I picked up the rest of the crew from shore, we settled in and went to bed. Conditions got worse, and Le reve was rolling, and pitching like never before. Everyone was up including the crew of the luxury yacht. Between our bumpers and those of the luxury yacht everything was OK, except that the bumpers between the boats made an awful sound. The crew on the big boat wanted me to leave, but I was not going to go anywhere under those conditions. Finally they told me they were leaving and started there engines. We had no choice, either get dragged to sea along side of a big boat, or untie. Under the circumstances, I thought the later was the best thing to do.
Once we were untied and the large luxury yacht had taken off, we proceeded to tie up in their place. It continued to blow for an other 1 1/2 hour and than the storm receded. Exhausted we went to bed and slept till about 6 in the morning when we heard a knocking on the side of the boat. There were lots of people on the shore, waiting to board a ferry which was coming in any minute. We quickly untied and went to our previous anchorage which was an OK place to anchor as the storm had all but passed.
The morning after the storm.
We anchored in the channel going into Paxos and tied to the shore, as there was not a lot of swinging room. once secured, we took the dingy to our favorite restaurant for dinner. Just when we finished our meal the wind picked up and became quite strong. I always am a little uneasy in a situation like that, so I left Joanne with Frea and Herman in the restaurant and went back to the boat to check things out. Good thing I did, because the wind was very strong in the channel (some reported 7 Beaufort) and the anchor had started to drag. Le reve was very close to the rocks. I untied the stern line and lifted anchor, but now where to go? As I mentioned it was very crowded. There was an other large luxury yacht that also was anchored out and had to move. They had docked on a commercial dock which usually is off limits to pleasure boats. I took Le reve close to it, and asked for permission to come along side. Permission was not granted until after I begged, and pleaded and finally they said OK. After I picked up the rest of the crew from shore, we settled in and went to bed. Conditions got worse, and Le reve was rolling, and pitching like never before. Everyone was up including the crew of the luxury yacht. Between our bumpers and those of the luxury yacht everything was OK, except that the bumpers between the boats made an awful sound. The crew on the big boat wanted me to leave, but I was not going to go anywhere under those conditions. Finally they told me they were leaving and started there engines. We had no choice, either get dragged to sea along side of a big boat, or untie. Under the circumstances, I thought the later was the best thing to do.
Once we were untied and the large luxury yacht had taken off, we proceeded to tie up in their place. It continued to blow for an other 1 1/2 hour and than the storm receded. Exhausted we went to bed and slept till about 6 in the morning when we heard a knocking on the side of the boat. There were lots of people on the shore, waiting to board a ferry which was coming in any minute. We quickly untied and went to our previous anchorage which was an OK place to anchor as the storm had all but passed.
The morning after the storm.
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