Two nights ago, we were anchored in a very nice, large, horseshoe shaped bay at the top of Paros Island. The entire anchorage was very protected from the usual Northerly winds, and on this particular night there was next to no wind.
So, at about 10pm this huge motorboat shows up. Rather than simply anchoring on the outside of the crowd of boats, he slowly winds his way through the crowd and ends up deciding to anchor right next to us. And I do mean right next to us! It was ridiculous.
The boat was 145 ft long! Orient Star (google it). He spent about twenty minutes moving around using his thrusters to place two anchors all within the space of aprox. two of his boat lengths. They must be heavy because there is no way he had enough scope out for them to work as designed.
Why not anchor outside the crowd where you have nothing to worry about until the morning when you could then find a spot you liked better?
Oh, and the best part. It wasn’t like the owner wanted a great view close to shore for the evening. As soon as they finished anchoring, everyone other than crew jumped in the big tender and were off for a night on the town way across the bay!!
I figured I might need some proof of how close he was if he hit us during the night so I took this picture and a few others. Of course, they have a big crew and I’m sure someone is up all night making sure they stay clear. I also figured the owner could probably afford to fix my boat if needed.
I slept pretty well. Not sure about them.
-Jim
Morpheus Sailing 