Idyllic Bay Stop

I woke at 6am in Mongonisi to a beautiful morning again. I went out on to deck, everything was so still.

I had to be super quiet as people are sleeping on deck where it is cooler.

It’s not long before people start to wake, a couple paddle board around the bay and people start slipping into the water off the back of their boats for a morning swim.

The briefing at 9.30am tells us we are heading back to the main land, Sivota Mourtous.

After a breakfast of ham and mushroom omelette at the taverna we were the second of our flotilla to set sail.

We headed straight out of the bay on a course of 10 degrees, just south of our evening destination so that we could stop off in a bay for lunch.

The wind was pretty much non existent so motored all the way.!

We found a beautiful bay with some tavernas along the beach and Colin dropped the anchor. We wanted to head to the beach to get lunch so Colin put the engine on the dingy. The engine is really heavy and not the easiest thing to manoeuvre into place whilst the yacht and dingy are bobbing about in the water, not sure what would happen if he slipped and dropped it into the sea.

Engine on we motor to the beach, lift the dingy onto the sand and head off in search of lunch along the talcum powder and paddling in the warm blue water. We find a taverna and order beers, followed by a Greek salad and calamari. We sit admiring our yacht floating in the bay all on its own, it looks just like in the holiday brochure.

We strolled back to the dingy along the beach and off we went back to our yacht for a swim in this idyllic bay.

We laid out on the deck to dry off whilst listening to music (next time I’ll be more prepared with music and a wireless speaker) and admiring the views.

At around 3.45pm we start packing up, bringing the paddle board back on deck and winching in the anchor. Off we set again but there still isn’t any wind so motor on we set off for Sivota M.

We were told of 2 routes into port. Round the headland or through a shallow channel between an island and the mainland. We started heading round but when we saw other boats heading for the channel we decided to do the same so changed course. The channel is only 2-3 meters deep and we were told to keep right in the middle to avoid beaching the boat. I asked Colin to take the helm and steer us through. He was reading out the depths from the instrument panel as we moved forward, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 meters. I was cringing, waiting for a crunch of the keel hitting the sand but it didn’t happen, we were through and heading to the pontoon. I radioed in to say we were pulling into the bay and Yorkie told us to dock stern too, that means reversing in. I took the helm and Colin flipped the fenders over the sides of the boat and headed to the bow ready to drop anchor. I manoeuvred the boat ready to reverse in and we followed Yorkie’s instructions. It’s a relief to be moored up, docking the boat can be a bit stressful.

We sat on the boat having a beer as we watched our fellow yachts mooring up beside us.