Whiling away our last remaining days in Greece
Saturday 21st May...
Linda - We have about 10 days left before we leave Greece and enter Turkey. We aren't sure yet which day to go, maybe later this week, if not it will be early next week. For a change, it's not really got anything to do with the weather! We just don't want to arrive there too early. Reason.... our 90 days start ticking again and we aren't booked into our annual berth in Finike until August.
With time to spare we moved up one island to Leros, to find a lovely anchorage at Ormos Panteli on the east coast. It was about a 3 hour motor trip as wind was dead on the nose, but we can now spend a few days around this island before heading south again. As we travelled up the coast of Kalymnos there were many caves, with one especially spectacular. It even had stalagtites inside, we could see with binoculars.
The spectacular cave
A close up look
There is only a small crossing between the north of Kalymnos and the south of Leros. Here we are approaching Leros.
On arrival Dean found a nice sandy patch and we dropped the anchor in 6 metres of water, releasing 30 metres of chain. Under normal conditions the ratio is normally 5 times the depth. We are just south of the town and it's peaceful and pretty.
Views towards the bay in town
Views in our own anchorage
Thesee on the left, phtoto taken from the shore
Later, after we had settled in and was happy with everything we dinghy'd ashore into the town. It's not really a town, just a bit of a seaside resort. But it has nice windmills and a spectacular castle way up on the hill.
The windmills
The town resort
Dean with his strawberry ice-cream treat
The castle up there
Bars along the sea front
This is the Castelo Hotel
It's a very well protected bay in the main, with lots of families enjoying their Saturday. The seashore was shallow with clear water, perfect for kiddies. After our little walk about and ice-cream we headed back to Thesee. Not long after, two boats came in, and we spent well over an hour watching them both trying to anchor. One of them even pulled up a huge mass of rope on his anchor.
Linda - Guess what happened today? ....We changed our minds!
All ready to go, everything switched on, only the anchor left to raise. Our destination was only a 5 mile trip planned to an inlet at the bottom of the island to get better protection from some forecast afternoon winds. Then just as we were about to raise the anchor we decided that we had great protection where we were, the anchor was well dug in, there was really no need to move anywhere. So we didn't.
Boats have come and gone throughout the day, and we have been entertained by the antics of boats picking up buoys, anchoring, and trying to berth in the small fisherman's harbour. The time has flown, and the winds weren't actually that bad. It was a good choice to stay, plus it's really nice scenery too.
And a bonus Cobb BBQ onboard tonight with chicken drumsticks, roast spuds, coleslaw, and Greek salad (without the cheese). Maybe we shall move tomorrow? Or maybe not? Who knows?
Monday 23rd May... Happy Birthday ISAAC
Linda - This evening we are in Lakki, it's the main town on Leros and on the west coast in a rather large inlet. We got here by going around the bottom of Leros, it only took about an hour and a half. Strangely in a straight line across the island we are only about two miles away from last night's anchorage on the east coast.
En route we passed the gravel ship. We've seen a few come and go, it must be a 24 hour operation. Anyway, it's extraordinary to see the ship's stern so low in the water whilst being filled full of gravel from the quarry on the hilltops.
Gravel ship
Look how low the stern is
Final approach into the inlet at Lakki
Thesee at anchor (hiding behind the big white catamaran
Once again, we are at anchor. It's so much easier to drop the anchor than to get lines and fenders sorted for going onto the quay wall. We've checked in with the Port Police (this is becoming a hobby for Dean).
The anchorage was suffering from the light westerly winds but it was still comfortable and fine. Later we took a walk around the streets. It's got the feeling of 50's America (not that I experienced that 😀), quirky in a way, and different to what we expected. And on the way back, Dean took me for dinner once again. I'm a lucky girl.
Tuesday 24th May...
Linda - Happy Bunnies, today we are back on our favourite island 'Kalymnos'. Just a short hop of 9 miles, and we managed to sail for about 3 of those miles. For a change, we are on a buoy in Emborio. We came here last week on the scooter. Today we love it even more, with its spectacular mountain scenery and calm waters.
Leros this morning, looking towards Evros marina
That sprawling array of white buildings up there
is an asylum seekers detention centre
Leros town quays
Approaching Emborio
Clear water at 9 metres depth
Such a serene and sheltered place
Massive cave up on the mountainside
(one of many caves up there)
Our massive buoy
Thesee in Emborio
We went for a mini ramble this afternoon, high upon the hilltops with amazing views down into the bay.
Thesee on the left.
It's like being on a big lake.
Lots of greenery on our mini ramble,
and a few goats here and there
Goaty friends
This is the small bay near to us
A rare selfie
Walking down to the nearby bay
After the walk we were back on the beachside. We went in search of an ice-cream. These following photos are in Harry's Garden Restaurant.
Is there really a cafe in here?
We find sofas in the bushes
Fantastic trees and flowers
....and butterflies
5.30pm and back on board. Dean dives in to check the buoy. There were quite a few swimmers about today.
The water is warming up now
Big buoy, Little boy
Another meal out tonight. They advertise lamb but don't have any. Dean ends up with Goat and I end up with Pizza. A lovely setting on the beach, but a fair few bugs about.
Wednesday 25th May...
Linda - Back to Harry's Garden Restaurant, this time they were open for morning coffee and fresh orange juice.
It's wonderful sitting here in such a lovely location
Red Admiral Butterflies like it here too
Being a lovely calm morning I had the opportunity to undertake some dinghy rowing practise. I'm getting better at it but I think more co-ordination is needed.
I seem to be going in the right direction towards Thesee
After lunch we left to make our way down to Vlychadia anchorage on the south side of the island. This is the very first bay we went in two weeks ago when we arrived on Kalymnos. First we motored past Telendos. We saw this imposing island last week on our scooter tour. Today we got a closer look as we passed close to shore.
Approaching Telendos
The small and only resort on Telendos
Looking back
Soon after we noticed this strange looking mountain top on Kalymnos. We couldn't work out why it looked so flat. Dean soon found out with the binoculars...... it's the airport up there! 😮
Fancy landing here?
We were having a lovely sail, then as we rounded the south west corner of the island we had gusts up to 20 knots! Lucky we were sailing downwind by then. We were actually goose-winging the mainsail and genoa, but decided it was too tricky and put the genoa away. Dean then expertly steered us in between another gap as he carefully avoided gybing the mainsail.
Reaching Vlychadia we could not believe that there were no boats anchored. We had the place to ourselves. Brilliant. After we settled down Dean had the waterworks apart as we still have a small leak somewhere. Removing some of the pipes he found a one way valve stuck open. Could this be the cause? We don't know yet. He also found some bits of plastic stuck in the valves and they had some corrosion. I helped by holding my thumb over the pipes, just like I did with the diesel leak a few weeks ago. What would Dean do without me? 😃
Plastic bits
One way valve
The waterworks under the floor
Well, our time in Greece is nearly up. All being well, on Friday we shall be crossing to Turkey!!
Thursday 26th May...
Linda - What a beautiful serene morning to wake up to. Not a single ripple on the water. Shame we had to leave, but a busy day lay ahead in town. Good job it was only a few miles to go. By 9.15am we had taken one of only 3 remaining spaces on the quay in Kalymnos town.
Vlychadia anchorage this morning
After arrival we were soon at the shops stockpiling wine and ham. We bought two boxes of our favourite wine and 1.7 kilos of ham. It's always a pain trying to find nice ham, and in Turkey we don't even know whether we shall get it at all. I'm not sure which will last the longest....the wine or the ham?
Ham supplies
The harbourmaster gave us access to some free water, so Dean filled the aft tank, washed the boat down, and scrubbed the outdoor cushions too.
Scrubbing the cockpit cushions
Dean had also defrosted the fridge as well by this time. As I said, a busy day. After lunch we went to the Port Authorities to get ourselves checked out of Greece for an early departure tomorrow. First we had to go to Passport Control to get an exit stamp in our passports (like in an airport), then to Customs Control to pay 5 euro for the privilege of leaving the country, then to Port Police to hand in our beloved Transit Log and be given clearance to leave Greece. It all took about an hour, and we were elated that everything went smoothly. We knew we had all the right documents, but you hear horror stories from other sailors and you never really know what to expect.
It's been a hot day today, 30 degrees, and all the summer clothes have come out to stay. One last job was to walk to the fishing harbour where they have a big machine that dispenses drinking water for free. We took two 5 litre bottles and filled them.
At the water dispenser machine
Full bottles in our bag on the trolley
When we arrived back at the boat we had a Thesee Thursday (that's rum and coke in our special Thesee glasses). Dean dyed my hair!, we had showers, and then out to our favourite taverna 'Stukas' on the quayside for dinner. An action packed day you could say. We're all ready for Turkey.
PS folks..... As Turkey is not in the EU we won't get free roaming on our phones and internet. We're not really sure yet what will happen, we may have to buy Turkish sim cards. Unfortunately this could affect our blogging, and we may not be able to blog for a few days. We will update you all as soon as we can.
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