Trying to drown Martin (Kos-Symi)

 

11th Sept 2019 (Kos - Symi)

Woke up earlyish on the quay at Kardamaina. We’d delightedly picked up flowy (he goes with the flow) Martin last night, had a beer and a late night Tasty Corner snack before we all crashed. 

The next morning we headed out from the quay early without incident: we’ve been partially avoiding Zac the Port Master - having been here for 4 nights without paying. This isn’t strictly true. I’d given Zac a Rabbitohs NRL ball as a gift when we’d first arrived - I think that’s fair, and hope he agrees.

Our destination today is the calm monastery bay of Panametis on Simi. The sea is smooth, and there’s little wind, so a motoring start to the day. We took hour long shifts to hold the stone cigar ( the signal for Captaincy ). Raised the genoa and plodded along at a sedate 3/4 knots. It’s a hot day, so after a few hours I suggested a swim off the back. We turned the engine off, donned swimmers and all splashed in. Had the lilo in, but all soon realised that the current was a bit strong. Chez and I stayed close to the boat, but Martin, having slapped his head up with sunblock, enjoyed floating on his back and drifting. After 10mins or so, Chez and I went back on board, and Martin continued to drift. Thought he might like the lifebouy, so threw that out with 23m of rope. He kept drifting - added another 20m. He’s a bit of a way out by this stage, but hey - he’s on holiday! 

Is he waving? No he’s giving the one arm up signal for ‘I’m going to drown’ we quickly reversed, frantically managing the rope tethered to the lifebuoy to avoid fouling the prop and killing the brother in law. After a couple of frantic minutes - we happily had him back on board, and only mildly shaken. (This was all on my watch by the way!) 

Very glad we were all soon able to take the mickey - she’s an evil mistress the sea!

Back off on our way - We lost & found the limited wind the day had to offer a couple of times. Making it to Simi in good time, with only a quick donut loop required outside the bay to avoid a ferry before we anchored.

It was good to read back on this same location last year to see how far we’ve come from our awful attempts at anchoring back then.

After setting the anchor and cracking the obligatory shandies and hugs.. 

Martin then surprised us with a nice bottle of Kraken spiced rum. 

I now find us having very early sundowners (not sure of exact time), with shots of Kraken, and some tangerine liquer, the monastery bells are ringing... I’ll call it day there.. start of a great night, and hangovers for the morning!