Next morning the weather was back to proper Med stuff. Heat, sun and a gentle breeze greeted us as we opened the hatchway to walk to Aggies for breakfast. Aggies taverna is at the far end of the harbour to the west side and is difficult to find, more or less having to pass through another taverna in order to get to it. It was clean, modern and well laid out with tidy tables and cloth napkins on the waterside decking. They did us a lovely breakfast, I had fresh bread with various jams and marmalades, some of the others had a full cooked breakfast. A short skipper’s briefing followed, that day we were to go to the lovely harbour of Mongonisi at the southern end of Paxos island, only about 10 miles away. With a good weather forecast we could mess about offshore for as long as we wished. Two years ago my wife and I saw dolphins off this coastline so hopes were high. We motored out of Lakka and set sail for the south, on a starboard tack as the wind was still southerly. This took us offshore by a few miles and we had to watch out for a large reef which is midway between Paxos and the port of Parga on the mainland. I like to give these obstructions a very wide berth as although the GPS is accurate to within a few feet, the charts may be up to a mile out in some places. We sailed under full main and Genoa, both are roller reefing with the main furling inside the mast, in a force three for a couple of hours until we had the tiny harbour of Longos on our starboard side at 90ยบ. We could clearly see the tall chimney of the disused soap factory in Longos so tacked through to head slightly to the north of the chimney aiming for the north side of the harbour entrance. This we did because there is a visible reef right in the middle of the fairway centre approach to Longos, and I wanted to go in there for lunch. After another hour or so of very pleasant sailing we entered the north side of the harbour without seeing the reef. We anchored in 6 metres of water some 100 yards offshore near the soap factory. I used to think this disused building was an eyesore, but it has the most beautiful statue of a goddess over the arched entrance to the factory and over the years I have kind of got used to the place. Longos would not be the same to me now without its old factory. We let out about 20 metres of chain and I reversed to make sure the anchor was well in. I set the alarm on the GPS and took a careful transit on the harbour entrance light pole and the last window of the white building opposite. We were toying with the idea of going ashore in the dinghy for lunch so we wanted to make sure Kerkeira was secure. After 20 minutes she hadn’t moved and I was happy to go, which meant blowing up the dinghy. We were still suffering a bit from the day before and we finally decided to have olives, bread, cheese and beer aboard instead, enjoy the view then set off for an early mooring up at Mongonisi. About 20 minutes into the meal, I noticed the soap factory appeared a little smaller than it had been previously, and checking around it was obvious we were dragging our anchor! In fact the echo registered 20 metres at this point so I don’t suppose the anchor was even on the bottom. We quickly got it in ( the 331 and 361’s have electric winches ) and motored forwards to our original spot and re-dropped anchor. This time we let out a bit more chain and it held throughout the 90 minutes we stayed after that. We were so glad we hadn’t gone ashore in the dinghy because the boat would probably have piled up on the reef just off the harbour mouth. If we had noticed it drifting we wouldn’t have caught it in the dinghy, our only hope would have been a rapid hire of one of the many small day boats by the soap factory. Although not religious we sent a silent prayer of thanks and wondered how we could have made such a mistake. We were so shaken we had to open another beer!
Coming out of Longos we passed to the other side of the reef, going between it and some large rocks just off shore. This was where one of our flotilla two years ago had misunderstood the instruction to pass between the reef and the rocks, and had tried to pass between the rocks and the shore instead. He piled up aground and the flotilla rib had to rush out. They towed him off and snorkelled underneath, coming back up to report no damage. A lucky escape.
We had a pleasant and easy sail down the coast of Paxos to Mongonisi. This cute little place consists of a concrete jetty and a taverna at the end of the harbour. A sandy beach in front of the harbour completes the picture. Here, on a warm evening and if there are enough customers, the staff of the family run taverna will put on a display of Greek dancing. Tonight though, we had our beach party on the sand. Attendance is not obligatory, but if you want to go everyone chips in a fiver and Sophie the Hostie makes up a wicked punch and provides various nibbles for all to tuck in. Some flotilla beach parties have a theme, like Hawaiian, or Tarts and Vicars. Not easy when there are shops to access for props but the improvisation can be amazing. This time there was no theme and we all relaxed a bit more, watching people swim in the bay, especially the young ladies who decided to go topless. I declined a swim as it was here that I got stung by a jellyfish the year before, a truly shocking experience. One minute I was happily swimming towards the beach, the next it felt like someone had a laid an electrified red hot poker across my shoulder. The power of the tentacles was such that I was flipped over almost onto my back. I knew what it was straight away and carefully checked that all limbs were working before striking out for the beach again, expecting at any minute to receive another sting. I made it back without incident and we put some anti-histamine cream on the area. Although I don’t react badly to this sort of thing, I still had a red weal across my upper arm that took a few weeks to disappear completely. I warned the other yachts but they didn’t feel inclined to take much notice and several others were stung too. Jellyfish are unusual in this part of the Med though, and none were to be seen this year.
Later, much later, we had a meal at the taverna, but sadly there weren’t enough of us for the family to put on a show of Greek dancing this time. Skipper Jono gave the briefing that evening in order to allow an early departure for those of us who wanted to visit Emerald Bay on Anti-Paxos Island. Anti-Paxos is just south of Paxos and has no harbours with moorings. Overnight anchoring is not permitted in the bays for reasons of conservation and, I guess, a lack of shelter.
Next day we set off in perfect weather conditions at about 0800. We motored the short distance to Emerald Bay and anchored without incident in about 8 metres of crystal clear blue water. It’s not called Emerald Bay for nothing; the colour of the water is stunning. We had breakfast and brother was brave enough for a swim, the water was reported as cold so I declined. A taverna has now been built just beyond the beach, on both of the two bays, which to my mind completely spoils the wild nature of them. After a little while at anchor some of the rest of our flotilla joined us. We relaxed for a couple of hours and then set off for Ligia, a small harbour again with only one taverna, on the mainland. It was a trip of some 15 miles, all done on one tack and with no reefs to watch out for. However, Ligia has a curious entrance and a small harbour, so few yachts and even fewer flotillas visit. In fact, the flotilla skipper is supposed to ring ahead to let the taverna know they are coming in order that supplies may be bought in especially. The entrance is through some rocks to the south. The obvious passage is between the two larger rocks but this results in a grounding, the safe path is to the left of the left hand rock when a sharp left turn takes you into the harbour mouth. Going out was equally odd, turning right close to the harbour wall through the narrow passage between the wall and the left hand rock, which of course is now on your right. Just as we arrived a few hundred yards outside the harbour the GPS lost all satellite reception. I had never seen this happen at sea before. It lasted only a minute or so and then came back on before dropping out again twice more. There was no obvious cause, I looked beyond the harbour for radio masts and the like but there appeared to be nothing. It has to remain a mystery, it didn’t happen again for the rest of the trip.
Tony Bennett
No comments:
Post a Comment