A Fond Farewell

From: Mandraki bay, island Hydra, Greece
To: Hydra, island Hydra, Greece

The wind didn’t shift during the night after all. It shifted during the morning when we were contemplating having breakfast. We had to move as we were anchored quite close to the shore. The bay was full in the evening, and as a catamaran, you just have to show off your shallow draft(how deep the boat is below the waterline).

We made the short trip back to the port of Hydra. A lot of boats had already left, so we could get a good spot near the restaurants on the south side of the harbour. Anchoring went quite smoothly and the Parents were again impressed. I was hopefully making up for the lazy line disaster of two days before.

There’s one thing I find has changed in the last 10 years or so. Before, when you arrived in a small harbor, people descended in droves to assist you tying off. Sometimes small riots broke out over who would handle your mooring lines(lines that tie the boat to something solid). Not so anymore. Nowadays, no passerby bats an eye, let alone offers to help you. When you’re lucky you get a helping hand from a nearby skipper of another boat.

Maybe I’m romanticizing the past. Maybe we were better looking 10 years ago. But I feel the world has become a little more self-absorbed, the people less inclined to help strangers.

We had a late breakfast. So late in fact that the Parents decided that a glass of wine was not uncalled for. Presumable to wash away the emotions and harrowing experiences of the days before.

I got up a few times to assist other arriving boats. We helped the nice Dutch people of Fiji Me tie off next to us three times. They had a bouy tied to their anchor and they were not allowed to do that by the port police, so they had to retreive their anchor, unhook the bouy and then reanchor.

We said goodbye to the Parents, who took a ferry back to Athens. Tears were shed. We would not see them again for a long time.