Socializing
18 August 2012 | Russian Bay, Poros
Dan 29 degrees C, 1014 mb, clear skies, gusty NNW winds
We're still anchored in Russian Bay on Poros and will probably remain here for another day or two. We've got great protection but the winds are strong out of the NNE and expected to remain that way for the next several days. We're sitting between a high of 1020 mb to the N and a low of 1008 to the SSE. The GRIB files for the next several days show tight isobars and somewhat of a "tug of war" between these two pressure systems with our present location caught in between. Consequently, we're not likely to find anyplace more comfortable than where we are now and, even if we could, getting there would require a wet and bumpy ride.
We've just returned from a very enjoyable 90 minutes onboard "Blue Dreams", the 35m (100 ft) wooden schooner that is tied up next to us. The owners are delightful people who kindly stopped by this morning to ask if we needed anything from town and, later, invited us to join them onboard their boat this evening for cocktails. He's a larger than life, self-made Greek entrepreneur who owns a large packaging company in Athens and has travelled the world extensively. She was born in California but moved back home to Greece by the time she was eight. They built their boat eight years ago and it's VERY comfortable and impressive. He apparently published a book of poetry at age 25 and, as a result, developed a network of benefactors who wanted to send him to Sorbonne to continue his literary education. But, as he explained to us, he wanted freedom and felt that he needed money to be free, so he opted to pursue a career in business instead. His is a classic story of ambition, vision, grit and determination and his perspectives on bankers (greedy and worthless b/c they don't produce anything) and bureaucrats (lazy, largely unnecessary and far too abundant in Greece) made for interesting dialogue this evening.
We're back onboard now and Chris is in the galley getting dinner ready. Tyler is sitting on the bow with his headlamp on writing in his journal. Today was a good day for making headway on cleaning and organizational projects and tomorrow may bring more of the same. We've now fallen into a nice rhythm onboard and, on most days, the pace and routine seem to work pretty well for everyone.