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I think I need to start this story about a year ago. Around Christmas last year a tiny seed of a travel idea germinated in my head.

Dodecanese, Greece

Nickjenkins
2003-11-20 16:38:39

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head into Vathi.

Vathi is a beautiful harbour and has a dramatic entrance. Around Vathi the hills rise in sheer cliffs some three or four hundred metres high and the entrance to the harbour is only twenty or thirty metres wide. As we motored into the harbour we found a pair of large Greek warships parked there which lent credence to my local friend's taverna-dynamiting story. The large building site on the edge of the quay also lent and air of authenticity to the explosive anti-competitive practices of Greek taverna owners.

The harbour at Vathi is tiny with barely room on the extended quay for more than seven or eight yachts and only a boatlength or two in which to turn your boat. The wind also gusts down from the hills and through the harbour mouth and, much to Ian's consternation, I announced we were going to moor bows-to and not stern-to. We had set up for a stern-to approach and bows-to meant moving the lines and fenders and laying out the spare anchor and its 40 feet of chain. We'd also never done it before.

My decision proved to be a good one and we handled the mooring with precision and aplomb that made us looked like seasoned veterans. This was particularly useful because later on we were able to sit smugly on the aft deck of Isis and watch a number of ham fisted attempts at mooring by some late-comers.

Mediterranean mooring is quite a spectator sport and as one of the crew commented, much more exciting than daytime television. Once you are safely in and secured you can sit back and watch everyone else jostle for position. An Austrian crew next to us had more than four attempts to get onto the quay and there was some fender crunching action further up the line when an Italian boat came in.

Since we were safely moored we lent a helping hand to some of the new arrivals and then ducked off for the traditional afternoon swim. Vathi ...