Days 399 to 402: 19th to 22nd July 2018 - Windy Thursday, Vliho Yacht Club Happy Hour and One Amazing Weekend at Varko Bay

Thursday

Having spent the previous afternoon at the pool at one hotel, we decided to spread the love (and chaos that comes with several kids in tow) and return to the Athos Hotel pool today after school. The morning went reasonably well but by the time we were ready to head off for the pool the wind had picked up. (It had been forecast to be strong winds both today and yesterday but as it hadn't arrived yesterday we were quite laid back about making plans for today.) As it increased Sacha messaged to say he wasn't too happy leaving Yves, and Patrick and I also agreed. Lachin invited us over to AraKai but in the end the wind and waves were building so we all stayed put, watching for dragging yachts, and giving the evil eye to boats that turned up and tried to anchor too close. We felt a little mean, given that these people had been out in the ever increasing winds and probably just wanted to drop anchor and relax, however by ensuring they didn't anchor too close or over our anchor, we were saving them hassle later.

It was pretty lumpy and Patrick and I took it in turns to stay on deck watching for trouble. By tea time I really didn't feel like cooking anything spectacular so we raided the bilges for good old faithful Heinz Ravioli.

We were both a little uneasy come 9pm so I let the kids have a movie in their room, and I curled up with a book in the cockpit while Patrick got an early night so that if the wind continued overnight he could take over the anchor watch. In the end though the wind died around midnight and we all got a good nights sleep.

Friday

School again, things at much calmer at the moment with regards to school, perhaps as my anxiety about it has lowered this has transferred to the kids, or perhaps we are just getting into a good groove. In any case we were soon finished so had lunch and our usual hour of electronics to keep us out of the sun in the heat of the day. We had earlier said goodbye to Lotty, Sacha, Hector and Pheobe on Yves Christian as they began their journey south, and had messaged Lachin about heading to the Athos Hotel Pool late afternoon but had no response so buzzed by AraKai on our way.

We were invited on board and had a great tour of their very interesting boat. AraKai is an aluminium Cat that they bought as a bare hull with engines in Australia when they decided they needed a bigger boat than their 40 foot monohull. Lachin, Louise, Siara and Kai live aboard full time, and long term. They plan on circumnavigating over the next 10 or 20 years as an alternative to traditional education and already have lots of stories to tell. The inside of AraKai is pretty unique as their priority was to get the correct base boat as cheap as possible and set off as soon as possible. So as soon as they had a galley, toilet, and some mattresses for beds they threw on a few bean bags for seating and set off. Most of the inside is made from skip diving finds and in fact a lot of the internal structure is from some kind of lightweight material scavenged from a commercial aircraft that was being refitted.

Despite their amazing hospitality I was absolutely in need of a swim (and groceries) so was keen to press on to the Athos Hotel (particularly as they had told us of the Vliho Yacht Club Happy Hour which started at 5pm) so we all headed into Nidri. Patrick went investigating the chandlery while I swam with the kids, bumping into a lovely family the kids had met at the watersports club. We then tag teamed with Patrick swimming while I shopped for groceries at the new My Market as recommended by our new friends.

Back to Laurin to drop of shopping then over to the Yacht club in time for a couple of drinks at happy hour prices, as well as chips to keep the kids going while we continued to socialise. It was a really pleasant evening but by 9pm we had enough to drink so headed back to the boat for hot dogs and bed.

Saturday

A nice lay in followed by a short motor up to Varko bay (otherwise known as one tree bay or fox bay depending on who you talk to!) via a fuel pontoon just north of Nidri opposite a small island that also provided free water.

There was hardly a breath of wind and I reflected that this would be perfect weather for my Sister in Law when she comes to stay next week!

Once at Varko we anchored close to AraKai and spent the afternoon chilling out in the water with various toys ranging from the paddleboard to pool noodles, inflatable dohnuts and pineapples, as well as "Captain Sharky".

By late afternoon the wind had increased and swung round so we moved to the other end of the anchorage in order to find more space so we could be happy leaving the boats at anchor while we went to have a beach BBQ. We also found another 3 kid boats and so had an amazing evening ashore. In the end there were 12 boat kids, 9 adults, 5 nationalities, 3 Ukuleles and one bottle of very dodgy Czech alcohol as well as  copious amounts of food and fun.

 

Sunday

After an extremely late night we had a very late, lazy morning followed by a lazy day swimming and relaxing on the beach before heading back to Nidri, sadly missing the watersports youth club due to exhaustion! 

We anchored in plenty of space, and then the inevitable happened and other boats squeezed into gaps that weren't really necessary, we think just to reduce the dinghy ride to the restaurant. It was somewhat both amusing and perturbing to see the name of the closest boat was "Captain Guilty III". Patrick was pretty worried that he was apparently on his 3rd boat!

In any case we had an early tea and an early night after such a manic weekend!