Tuesday, March 13, 2018
Last night and this morning were full of all kinds of interesting experiences . . . if you enjoy simplicity, then this set of events will not appeal to you.
My last post said that I was anchored outside of Milos, but shortly after that post went up, the weather deteriorated rapidly. Winds topping 35 knots and a steady 30 knots for a good period of time encouraged me to doubt a lot of things. To better understand, I worry a LOT about what happens at the margins. The day to day is pretty easy for most people, but it is at the margins where things change, mistakes happen, where we have to accept and analyze new information. In my experience, most people don’t like that uncertainty. I kind of thrive on it. (and I often pay the price for my ignorance/lack of experience).
As the winds picked up, my anchor seemed to be holding, but I guessed that I was less than 100 feet from shallows that would leave me grounded if my anchor gave way. After much chart examination and patience, I decided to move the boat away from shore. So the engine was started, up came the anchor and I moved a few hundred feet out and dropped anchor again.
With this extra distance, I put out a lot more chain. In good weather, I typically try to put out chain in a 5:1 ratio, but this time I put out chain closer to a 10:1 ratio. What this does is allows the anchor to drag and also reduces ‘up and down’ motion when the hook grabs and stops the boat in the waves.
So I got the anchor out further, with lots of chain and as the winds blew through, the ride was not as wild. Shortly after, I actually fell asleep in the pilothouse berth (where I was going to spend the night on anchor watch). With an anchor alarm set, I was sure to hear it from here and I repeated my procedure in my head a few times if the alarm went off.
In any case, I slept like a baby until 8 am this morning and that is very unusual even in a dark room, I did it in the pilot house with sun streaming in. I must still be jet lagged.
The winds today are supposed to be 15-20 knots again, however they are only about 8 knots, so I decided to try tying up to the docks. All that pulling of the anchor by the boat made sure it was set, and set well. I couldn’t pull it up.
After an hour of moving the boat around, pulling the anchor from all directions with the boat, it finally gave way and came to the service with someone else’s anchor attached. I guess I am not the first one having trouble raising their anchor from this location. Finally I was free. In the process I used all of the battery for my stern thruster and that could make docking more difficult, but the wind was more favourable than yesterday.
I made it to the town docks (which were only a few hundred feet away), and had room to side tie in low winds. I did the whole thing without the thrusters, and am now tied up. I will spend at least the day here, do laundry, get some more groceries perhaps and wait for the winds to die down a bit before moving on.
As I ate some breakfast I looked out the window and the water was shimmering in the morning sunlight (Featured Photo). I can’t really show that with a photo, but it was very impressive. I used the ‘new’ iPhone feature called live mode (which is like a Flixel photo, look it up) and I am also not sure if you can see that photo unless you have an apple device.
Finally I made it onto the bike . . . it wasn’t a long ride, only about 35km, but that included 859m of climbing. My legs felt rested at least. 🙂 The roads here are not great, but the views are spectacular. I don’t usually get to excited about these things, but the blues are unbelievable. (See pics below)
Something else extremely unusual happened to me today. I fell off my bike. The last time I fell off my bike (without interference from someone) was about 11 years ago in Arizona. I am going to blame it on the new cleats on my shoes and the sand that didn’t allow my front tire to grip. Trying to do a U-Turn on sand was the real culprit here, but my ego is feeling a little upset with this event despite no one knowing (except you readers of course) or seeing me. There was no harm done to myself of my trusty bicycle. Just a bruised ego.
Tonight I will walk the streets of Adamas Port, but for now, here are some pretty pictures of Nisos Milos (Milos Island). Looking at these pictures, I am not sure if they do justice to the hues of blue and the contrasts between sea and sky. The colours are truly spectacular and this hasn’t captured them.
This is a panoramic shot with the iPhone. I wish I had a camera that allowed for panoramic photos without digital magic.
The greens are pretty easy to look at too!
Here are some additional photos from the town . . .
The picture above is what I see from the rear cockpit of Home Free. The scenery keeps changing and I like it that way.
I wonder if the citizens of Adamas know something that others don’t? Probably a WWII relic . . . yeah, that’s what it is.
This cat needs some love!