Before leaving, we walked out to Mandraki Harbor�s entrance, where at one time the Colossus of Rhodes, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, hypothetically �might� have once stood. This huge bronze statue, 115 feet high, was said to have been so tall that ships of that time were able to pass under its legs. Begun in 302 BC by the islanders to honor the sun god, Helios, after having successfully resisted a year long siege by Demetrius Polioketes, it took 12 years to complete. The statue stood until toppled by an earthquake in 227 BC.
After working so hard on the boat this past spring, it seemed hard to believe that in our first three days out of Marmaris, a new boat problem occurred each day that required fixing by Phil. During our passage out of the Mediterranean this season, quite a few things have needed fixing, more than usual, but never so much as in those first three days. At the time, it seemed an ominous beginning to our long journey ahead, and we began to wonder what would be the next boat problem to occur. The first day out Phil had to fix the carburetor to our dinghy�s outboard motor; the second day Phil had to re-caulk the fittings to our new fuel tank as they were leaking; the third day the head needed fixing. When people asked Phil what he did, he started saying �I am a fixer. That is all I do.� So, while we waited for a weather window in order to leave Rhodes, Mary stocked up on supplies and Phil worked on the boat.
Sailing the Mediterranean can be a challenge due to the many different weather systems that must be encountered along the way, each with its own weather pattern. Moreover, when sailing west the weather windows are generally shorter as the winds are more contrary. We�ve known cruisers that have had to wait a couple of weeks at one port for the correct weather, and then when the wind finally comes from the correct direction, it is usually either too little or too much. As we were short of time, we hoped that the �wind gods� would grant us favorable winds, allowing us to continue on as expeditiously as possible.
The first leg on our track west after leaving Rhodes was to cross the Aegean Sea. The Aegean Sea is probably one of the hardest seas to cross in the Mediterranean, especially from east to west, as the predominant wind comes from the NW during the summer. Many times gale force winds will occur for days at a time throughout the central part of the Aegean Sea, causing not only high winds but rough and sloppy seas throughout much of the area. With weather information from Phil�s brother, our weatherman, we departed Rhodes on Tuesday, July 8, just as a new cruise ship was entering the port. |
