A new day, a new bay!

My second day - Occurred wednesday 13 August, 

After a morning swim, we raise the anchor and set course for Ereikousa, the northernmost Greek island on the West side. This leg is about 18 nautical miles, which is under 3 hours in favourable wind conditions. The wind is blowing out of a NW direction though, so we shall be sailing close reach ("aan de wind").

Our route for the day, 18 NM to Ereikousa.

I am tasked to raise the anchor, a 40-kilogram chunk of metal that keeps the SaltyPaws in place even in the most adverse conditions. Which is attached at the other end of 40 meters of anchor chain, weighing another 60 kilograms or so. Walbert was kind enough to take a picture of me during this arduous task! I apologise in advance for failing the dress code- these are normal shorts instead of the required swim/board shorts! I had only brought one pair of swim shorts, and these were wet from my morning swim.

Raising the anchor

The wind is about 3 Beaufort, combined with small waves we have a very leisurely sail. There is so much room out back to sit and enjoy the view. The whole area is covered, too, so we sit in the shade. Again, the difference to a monohull is striking. It's difficult to capture in a picture, but I've tried below (this is when we were still anchored). Note the captain chilling out in the far left. He's so far away I almost need to shout to him. Another good picture is from the brochure. The boat is also very stable, even when sailing. There is a little mint plant in a cup just standing upright on the kitchen top, and Walbert told me he hasn't moved it once since they left La Rochelle! The small picture is just a cut out from the picture from the visiting SaltyPaws blog post.

Panaroma view of the rear deck area - fully covered of course.

The same area, this is the brochure picture. It's better when you sit there yourself, though! Note the stairs to the helm.

The stable plant pot... or is it a stable boat? Either way the two of them are just in a stable relationship.

The view started out beautiful and became progressively better during the day. We started between the mountains of Corfu and Albania. Then a mystery ground-hugging cloud appeared and started swallowing whole islands. I imagined it was Stephen King's The Mist where otherworldly creatures appear and eat everyone in the mist. In our sailing case, it would be the Kraken eating boats lock stock & barrel, crew and cats included, of course!

The wind starts dropping and before long it is completely still. The waves also go and the sea is not quite a mirror but otherwise absolutely flat. We fire up one of the engines and steam forward at a good 7 knots pace. The mystery clouds stays away from us, and there is only some haze looking towards our destination island. The flat seas make it easy to spot any dolphins. If their dorsals fins break the surface it would be obvious even from a large distance. But no such luck, no dolphins out swimming today.

View from the helm

Oh no! This boat is doomed! Don't go into the mist!

No wind, no waves, and alas- also no dolphins. Reading gone with the waves, perhaps?

How amazing is this view? The sea is flat and there is just a hint of haze as we approach Ereikousa, our anchoring spot for the night. 

We reach our anchoring spot around 18:00 and we jump in for a swim. I grab a mask to have a look around under water, but there is no fish in sight. Just weeds and sand. I take off the mask just in time to watch the sunset while floating behind the boat.

Our bay for the night. Just imagine that's us (they are our neighbours).

The captain enjoying a swim. The water is very clear, especially now it's so calm Yet, nothing to see underwater.

Sea still calm and the hazy island behind the boat.

Tux is not interested in the sunset...

But we are. The view is fantastic. Check the picturesque windmill on the right.

The windmill a little closer 

All while the mist is still eating islands in the distance.