Meltemi (Paros)


 

5th Sept 2020 (Paros)

We’re currently cowering on anchor on the island of Paros, next to the far from unpleasant town of Parikia (see pre-blow pic). Why cowering? 

The Meltemi wind that funnels down from Istanbul has apparently not finished for the season, and is having a last blow or two to show us yachties who’s boss. 

The anchorage has about 30 to 40 boats in - well packed, and in the last 24 hours we’ve seen a couple of these boat’s anchors drag.. most notably the boat directly to windward (in front) of us last night at 3am.. 

No bellowing required from me, as he managed to reset his hook quite quickly, more by luck than judgement I suspect.

To give an idea of what being on the boat during a Meltemi blow feels like, imagine you lived in a very small house that usually rocks you gently to sleep... well now imagine that same house violently shaking, screaming and groaning at you all night and threatening to kill you if you step outside. At the same time, randomly any of forty other small houses are also all groaning and screaming at their occupants and might run at your house and do it some serious damage at any moment ... it’s not the best analogy, but that provides a rough idea. 

More, and increased wind forecast for tonight, so will probably take turns on deck to keep any eye on things... I can’t say one sleeps while the other watches, as I can’t see either of us getting much sleep.

Ho hum.... 


Edit (2days later) : Storms pass - that’s what they do. Winds have subsided for now, both got a good nights rest last night, and are off to George’s 61st birthday dinner tonight on his boat across the bay. 



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

My heart lies waiting over the foam... (New Caledonia - Australia)

Image
Day 1. 10 Oct '23 Like two excited children on Christmas Day morning, we jumped from our bed as the sun came up. There’s an unfamiliar tingle fluttering in my stomach.. an air of anticipation.. What’s the reason for all this excitement? Has Santa been? Did it snow? No… Better than that: We’re going to Australia! We’d prepped the boat yesterday, checked out and provisioned. All that was needed to do this morning was slip the dock lines and glide out of the marina. This was a task made significantly easier as a couple of days ago Capt. Chez had decided to turn the boat around to be facing bow out. We’re away from the marina before 6am and on our way to Bundaberg. Within the first ten minutes, we had a visit from two dolphins - surely a good omen for our last passage (… again I must stress: I’m not one for omens and portents… I do however seem to keep mentioning them. Funny that). The dolphins sedately circled the boat then headed on their merry way. We made our way through the pass
Read more

Your happiness is our goal (Tahiti)

Image
  26 June 2023 (Tahiti) Having left Rangiroa yesterday morning, this morning finds us over half way towards Tahiti. We’ve sailed throughout at 5knots + in a large beamy swell that has made life interesting, and walking around hard. It’s been a good sail, despite us both having moments of partially rounding up overnight. Usual tale of fishing: tangled line, stolen lures and swearing, further details of which I will not bore you with. The next day that turned around, after an uneventful rolly day on the water, at sunset I hooked a small yellowfin tuna. Just dished up dinner, so that can wait til tomorrow in Tahiti to feed us. At time of writing (7pm) the island of Tahiti is visible as a glow in front, but still some 30 odd miles away. We’ll be arriving after dark, and probably after the moon has set into Venus Bay (of Captain Cook fame… and subsequently learned also of Robert Louis Stephenson and William Bligh fame! - all apparently fond of topless Tahitian woman… what’s not to like??!).
Read more

Nice times (Lady Musgrave Island)

Image
A mere 10 hours after leaving Bundaberg, we arrive into the turquoise waters of the anchorage at Lady Musgrave Island. It’s all but empty - just us and one other monohull. We take a mooring buoy at the first attempt, a cause for celebration - well, a good excuse for me to have one of those Wayfarer tropical pale ales I’ve previously mentioned. The wind is sufficiently strong to keep the tripper boat away from the island. This gives us the place to ourselves for for our first explore. Very reminiscent of the Tuomotos. Lots of birds - and an underlying whiff of guano hangs around the interior. We wander through the undergrowth to the beach on the other side where a large group of black tipped reef sharks are gliding around in the shallows - a great sight… at least from the beach it is! Spent another day there, joined by the tripper boats. We ventured ashore again after they left mid afternoon and walked around the whole island - seeing lots of turtles sculling along the shoreline. The wi
Read more