Bali Bay

The rest of our stay in Rethymnon was entertaining. Great food in wonderful restaurants in the old town and the ancient Venetian harbour.

Days on the pre-booked sun beds on the beach, kids hooking up with mates as they do, para-sailing, paddle boating, ice creams, lemon fanta….





Not spoiled at all, but continually bitching nevertheless… “no air con on the boat, no new movies, why do we have to go, I’m not eating that, we wanna be with our friends….” and exhausted from having such an amazing time.

Small dampener and a warning for any arriving guests… do not put anything down the toilet, and if you do…..DO NOT FLUSH! This instruction was overruled simply by force of habit. No point in complaining, we have all done it, but this is particularly embarrassing if you are a guest. It was only two face wipes! They being made of cotton, don't break down. It took 4 hours in 40 degree heat in an enclosed toilet to completely dismantle this very badly designed bog in order to retrieve these items or the toilet would now be completely useless. 

So, if I seem a little insistent when issuing this instruction on your arrival.... you'll know why!

So, leaving Rethymnon was untimely. We’d had a great time there, it was time to move on, but we were unknowingly headed into a very uncomfortable sea. 

As soon as we left the harbour we noticed the sea was white capping but in an absence of wind? The caps were caused by the rolling over of the tops of a very confused, growing swell. I now know that this is what precedes the Meltimi, that dreaded summer northerly that blows down from northern Turkey, through the Aegean sea and down onto the northern coast of Crete…. Uh, That’s us!

Not a nice intro for Kerry who freely admits to being a land lubber however the day’s destination only 16 nautical miles away and it made the discomfort all worthwhile in the end…

Ormos Bali, or Bali Bay is beautiful, all be it crammed with tourists at this the very height of the season. It is a large bay protected from the prevailing NW winds, the floor of the bay is pure white sand, crystal clear water with a few rocks…. (more on these later).. and there are three distinct areas.

The large beach in the guts of the bay with hundreds of thatched umbrellas, sun beds, tavernas, bars and very pink poms.

On the western side of the bay about half way out is another beach with this amazing apparatus for kids to go nuts on. Very well managed, 12Euro for the day and “please leave us alone kids” in this really cool elevated bar with great music and a panoramic view of the beach and the ‘apparatus’….  Parenting 101.

And a small harbour packed with local boats so anchoring and becoming the star attraction was the only option.

All good so far. We arrived latish and ate on board. The anchoring was a synch, she bit and we were set a nice distance from any rocks or shore. 

There was one large rock but with any likely wind and the length of our chain, it did not pose a problem….

I woke early as usual, there was no wind at all, just a gentle swell swinging in from the NW  through the mouth of the bay. I went topside to greet the day and noticed that we were mere inches from this very rock! I quickly started the engines and moved us well away, a slight breeze came in and held us off as expected.

The following evening was breezy. I had a dose of food poisoning from lunch in that elevated Cool Bar and sadly had to cancel our dinner reservation in another elevated restaurant with great views and highly rated by Trip Adviser. 

Comfortable that the breeze was here for the night I hit the hay…then the can... then the hay…and finally dropped off until 4:00am when CRUNCH!

The boat became the chook pen that the fox got into…. "We’re on the rocks!" "There's a big swell!" "Grab a torch!" I’ll start the engines!" "Where’s the torch!" In the usual place!" Why do I need a torch!" I need to know exactly where the rock is!'"CRUNCH" so I can steer us off safely!" How can I help!" Which way do I go!" I can’t see the rock!"CRUNCH! "I’m winging it!"….. and we were off.... 

Rather than up anchor in the dark, we reversed the boat to what we felt was the original position with chain fully extended well away from the rock. Sal on the anchor, Kerry on the torch, me at the helm, we let out a further 30 meters of chain, waited for the breeze to keep us well away from that rock, checked the bilges to see that there were no leaks and went back to bed.

So, any wind was good. No wind was not good. Expensive lesson. No leaks. I dived in to take a look at the damage. Not pretty. The starboard keel took a crunching at the very back leaving an ugly looking exposed chunk of fiberglass. We will need to have the boat taken out to repair it, but it will be fine for the time being and it could have been a whole lot worse.

The swell had gone due northerly and was rearing at us straight through the mouth of the bay. Diving under the bucking boat had been dangerous, getting the dingy back up was horrendous and the sail from there to Iraklion was the most uncomfortable yet. I suggested to Kerry that she take a sea sickness tablet. Being the self confessed land lubber, she took two not realising they made you drowsy. So fortunately for her, she missed most of the trip but unfortunately also missed the interesting mooring in Iraklion.