SV ICE BEAR

We stern tied in the new marina in Rodos. The marina staff were busy directing boats to their spots and actively keeping captains from poaching services from the
boats that had paid for them. Across the road we could see a big flashing sign offering a laundry service. We noticed two familiar boats in the marina. We knew it wouldn't
be long before beer would be shared. The rest of the day and part of the next was spent washing the Bear inside and out. Clean walls and floors plus a trip to the laundry hehehe fresh sheets
who doesn't like fresh sheets? It was late afternoon and we were enjoying drinks with visitors when he arrived :) then we were three on the Bear. The next two days were spent exploring
Rodos. The harbour entrance where the Colossus once stood and the fortress protecting the palaces where knights stayed and plotted their next campaign into the holy land.
People still lived with in the walls so while it had the look and feel of a medieval fortress it still felt alive. In the middle of the mote there was a stage set up for a show and near one of
the entrances there was a huge bouquet of flowers. Scooters and bikes traveled the narrow paths with ease however even the smallest cars felt no joy trying to navigate in the maze.
Everywhere you looked there were massive stone canon balls. Closer inspection would reveal each ball had a symbol carved into it telling its weight so the cannoneers would know how far the ball would go.
We manged to check out the Archaeological museum housed in what was the hospital of the Knights of Saint John and the Grand Master of the knights palace wow did these guys know how to live.
Then the meltimi weakened and we had to go. I'm certain you could spend weeks exploring this island. From Rhodes we retraced our steps to Kos and ended up spending the day untangling our anchor and chain. Note to all when you back up to a dock and the boat beside you says your anchor is across their chain fix it don't just say ya ya we are only here for two hours it will be fine cuz there is a chance a guy in oohh say a 33 ft power boat that had just tangle its anchor around a mega yacht will park beside you and also cross his anchor over yours. So there we sat with both boats to our starboard tangled in our chain. The way our chain jumped as both these boats backed to dock made it very easy to see that something wasn't right but both captains said the same thing. Its no big deal it will all be fine. Then they left for town. yaaa right sure it will. About three hours later the first boats crew returned and wanted to leave. They caught our chain and the powerboats anchor. It was really interesting to see how the two anchors had locked together. The crews from the other boats at the quay grabbed the entangled sailboat so it couldn't hurt anything then its
Captain climbed into his dingy and started beating on the ball of metal eventually our chain fell from the mess then he went to work on the two interlocked anchors. I'm certain the hour + he spent in the 38c heat felt like forever to him. To the captains credit he did thank all that helped as they finally pulled away from the quay. This just left us with the the power boat. We knew that the first boat brought our anchor at least 30 meters back towards the quay and we would need to reset. The powerboat decided to try and re anchor first however their windlass couldn't lift our chain and kept blowing the breaker. They tried for about 30 minutes then returned to the quay. While we were still tied we winched both our gear and theirs to the bow. It was a mess there was no way they could have sorted it without our help. We even had the Captain of the power boat on our bow to help untangle the chains. Once everyone was re anchored and beer was shared all was good for the rest of the day. The guys even went for provisions but I suspect they just wanted the free golf cart ride back from the market.
We traveled back to the island of Leros and found a butcher that sold the most amazing aged feta and these meatballs wrapped in a fat lace. Then to Patmos where there
was a big monastery on a hill and a man that decorated his small fishing boat to look like a Ferry. From here we took advantage of a weather window to leave the Dodecanese islands and head back into the Cyclades islands. We anchored outside of the town of Naousa on the island of Paros to hide from a new weather system and spent some time swimming in the warm water. The guys decided this would be a good time to take the razor to the bow and trim their hair. Our third crew member even took the opportunity to join a tour boat from Naousa to check out Delos and Mykonos.
He said the boat trip was a little bumpy and some of his fellow passengers didn't deal with it well. Next we went to Serifos and partook in some pig on a spit then off to Poros for a few days.