Next stop Ithaca, an hour and a half motoring at 6 knots over an oily "wine dark" sea as Homer put it. Except that this time it really did seem a deep purple with reflections of the hillsides. The crew slept deeply on deck after lunch, and didn't wake as Anne and I nosed in and out of bays looking for a spot to anchor.
We found a lovely spot in clear blue water in the channel between Ithaca and Perapigadi Island and carried out our first stern to manoeuvre with our new green rock straps and yellow floaty mooring lines. On the event having two 50 metre lines is rather a lot!
We ended up quite close the the shore in about 3.5 metres.
Later the wind picked up from the north through the channel and I was concerned that the anchor might drag. With 35 metres out in 5 metres of water it seemed ok but on snorkelling over I found it had migrated through the sand for about 4 metres. The wind eased and we stayed secure for the night. Cocktails were served before supper and a peaceful night by all.
However I'd read reports of rats coming aboard via the stern lines, and so rigged a plastic bottle on the taught line to deter them. In any case the lines kept dipping in and out of the water so I hoped we were secure.
I woke at 4 am thinking I heard scrabbling and went on deck. No sign of wildlife, and the stern lines were both submerged.
However this morning I came across a pile of what looked like brown breakfast cereal on the galley floor. I swept it up and then realised that it had come from the base of the cupboard where the wood is a bit soft from continuing damp. It had clearly been gnawed at, in an attempt to get access to the interior of the boat. Then Anne found several rat droppings in the steps! What a sinking feeling to find that we had been invaded. Are they still here? Or do they go home the way they came? The plastic rat stopper bottle was no longer present on the stern line……….
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