Squall!

Monday just before lunch Mike headed to land to grab a cab and get a fuse in Aegina Town.  I stayed with the boat, expecting him to be gone for most of the afternoon.  He returned two short hours later bearing gyros from Pita Tom.  Yay!

I was soon extra happy about his prompt return when the wind, rain, and lightning started.  The anchor alarm started beeping and Mike realized we were dragging, so here was my first trial by fire–moving the boat during a squall.  It was very wet and windy, but not cold, and I was too busy to be scared.  Of course I tried to do everything too quickly and made some errors…  Took the snub off the anchor and tossed it on the deck only to have it get caught up with the chain and wrapped around the windless.  Argh!  Mike battled the wind to head forward and unjam the works.  Consider that lesson learned.  Lots of screaming at each other (not in anger, bien sur) and we got the anchor up and moved north of the dock hoping the cliff would shelter us a bit, but the swell was bigger than by the beach so we headed back to where we had been and dropped the anchor again.  I must say I surprised myself–if you’d asked me in advance how I would react in a situation like that, tears would have immediately come to mind.  Famous last words.

By the time we were re-situated things were starting to let up, though we saw lightning  for a while after as the squall moved south.  Once the sun set we saw a ship on the horizon that was completely covered in red lights, like hundreds of them.  Does anyone know what this means?  I can find lots of info about one or two red lights (dangerous cargo?) but nothing about an entire ship.

We have a few issues to resolve, like the aforementioned alternator problem, so after a call to Lucas, the mechanic at Planaco, we decided to head back to Aegina Town to get things shipshape.  A quick visit from the fuel truck in Agia Marina and we headed back to the west side of the island

Here was the next test, our first anchoring in the harbour.  We did a quick anchor south of the port to get the dinghy moved from the back of the boat onto the deck, and then on into the harbour.  Parking (parking? doesn’t sound very nautical) wasn’t seamless, but also wasn’t embarrassing (witness accounts may vary).  More lessons learned, don’t be skimpy with letting out the anchor, and take care of any windless jams asap because if the boat loses momentum, we lose our line on the spot we’re trying to back into.  Got it!   We’re not perfectly straight, but the harbour isn’t super busy, and frankly we saw bigger boats that look more crooked than ours.

It kind of feels like we’re back home!  We hooked up to shore power, filled the water tanks, and then treated ourselves to dinner at Panta Rei, officially my favourite restaurant here.  Couldn’t get the WiFi there to work on my phone, maybe I’ve been flagged for downloading all the episodes of the podcast S-Town on my last visit.  No worries, I forced Mike to get a gelato next door at Gelato Follia so I could get their WiFi password.  It’s directly across from the boat, so I thank them for this signal I am now, uh, borrowing.

This morning I went to pick up our clean laundry that I dropped off last night (luxury!), while Mike worked on the solenoid.  Things are coming together!  This afternoon I will visit the grocery store and also try and find a pair of sunglasses with built in readers.  I currently have to wear my regular glasses and sunglasses together to do any close work on deck, and that is bound to end badly.  If I drop these new glasses in the water I am going to be very cranky.  It is quite a look, though.   Also must get a floating tether for glasses.  Add it to the list.

Here is a bonus shot from when we were working on the mainsail on Sunday. Kurt E. and/or Mark G., where are you when we need you?