Back to Dimitiri's domain (Ithaki - Zakynthos)

 

9th Aug 2020 (Ithaki to Zante)

Awoke early in the bay at Vathi. Vathi is home to Ulysses, whose tale of his ten year round trip back here following the Trojan War is told in Homer’s Odyssey. Our own memories of Vathi will be marked by ABBA playing loudly until 4am. ....I’m starting to realise quite how old and grumpy I am; I’m sure there were numerous people out for their holiday who, merrily drunk at a quarter to four, would have loved to hear ‘Waterloo’ played at high volume through large crap distorting speakers one more time, and it may well have been the highlight of their holiday... but for me, laying in bed, trying to sleep, it wasn’t well received.

We both got up, too tired for chatting, went about the pre-departure routine in silence, both being fully aware of what was needed to get underway. Once the anchor was up, I remarked to Chez that we were like Morecambe and Wise in their well rehearsed breakfast sketch. (I’m the tall funny one)

Today we’re heading back to our recently departed ‘home’ of Agios Nikolaos (Dimitri’s domain) on the Northern end of the island of Zante.

For a nice change the wind and quite large surfy swell are behind us today, so we’re able to set the sails in a wing on wing formation (one sail out on each side of the boat). After a lot of tweeking and playing we achieved a nice balanced setup, and happily headed South down the coast of Kefalonia and on towards Zante with only a couple of sail changes along the way. The rolly swell made for another tiring day, and by mid afternoon we were both happy to reach our welcoming destination bay. We set to med moor, stern to the quay, dropped our anchor, when George (one of Dimitri’s sidekicks) waved to us and advised that unprecedented seas meant we would not be able to tie back there, and we should anchor out elsewhere.... oh dear, that’s not ideal. (Later heard from our neighbour that a number of boats had been smashed into the quay by the force of the swell in the middle of the previous night...at around ABBA time)

In the absence of a closely located plan B for the night, we opted to tie back onto the large rock island that Dimitri’s  bay surrounds which should offer us some protection. There was a tight but suitable spot between a small yacht and a fishing boat that we nudged our way back into. After dropping the anchor I swam with chain and rope to shore to secure the windward line to our stern and although the wind wasn’t blowing all that hard at that stage, it was enough to swing the boat away from our original position. This meant Chez had to frantically tie more rope to the one she’d been feeding to me, while I trod water with a heavy chain round my neck (great exercise!). After a little shouting to and fro, and having to add yet another length of rope to the first two, we managed to get the rope(s) long enough for me to chain to a rock. As I’m swimming back, an Italian flagged boat starts backing into the area we’re trying to get into. From the water I shout/gesticulate ‘our anchor is under you, and we’re going there’... they seem to understand, and I return to the boat to take over from a hot red faced Chez who has been winching the wet heavy rope to tighten us back into position. I start cranking away at the winch only to see the Italian Captain once again begin backing into the same spot, I again shout (admittedly at significantly increased volume) the same info as I’d tried to convey before - we’ve dropped our anchor there and that’s where we’re winching ourselves into. The lack of sleep, a long hot day in the sun, and these additional unexpected exertions means we are by now quite frazzled and pretty much dead on our feet. We eventually manage to get the second rope tied onto another rock that should keep us secure. After swimming back to the boat once again, our Italian antagonist, in convoy with another two Italian flagged charter boats finally decides to depart the bay, shouting something less than friendly to me as he does so. Thankfully I’ve watched sufficient Italian gangster movies to reply in kind: 

“Vaffanculo!” 

To which Chez advised ‘that’s really not helping the situation’ - she was of course correct, but it’s always nice to try out new languages you’ve learnt on native speakers....

Once finally tied back - that would usually be the time for a sit down, a cold drink and to let the strain of the day ebb away. Not today. The boat we’d tied up next to keeps coming closer and closer; his anchor chain is loose. With no one visible on board, we again have to sort things out - this involves getting the tender down off deck, and tying it alongside to use as a big fender to stop our two boats banging into each other. I then once more swim to shore, get the windward rope and transfer it to a rock further away from the offending boat. Then lots more winching and anchor chain adjusting until finally we are happy(ish) with how we’re set for the night. The owner appears shortly afterwards (nice guy) - and we agree that the chain can be sorted out in the morning - his plan is to leave at 6am. 

It’s been a long day, I’m writing this at 8:40pm with Chez now asleep next to me....which sounds like an excellent idea - goodnight 

Edit: slept well, the neighbour’s anchor came up without issue.