Sunday 13th August...
Linda - How many islands in the Dodecanese? Well, the name itself means 'Twelve Islands' of course, but in fact there are 15 main islands, plus 150 smaller islets according to Wikipedia. I've learnt that since Antiquity, these islands formed part of the group known as the 'Southern Sporades'. So how many have we visited up until now? Well the answer is a mere 11. Here they are in visitation order... Astypalaia, Kalymnos, Leros, Symi, Rhodes, Alimnia, Chalki, Tilos, Nisyros, Kos, and Pserimos. Kalymnos and Leros we've visited twice!
This morning we left the lovely Kalymnos after 6 days on the quay. That went so quickly, almost in a blink of an eye. And now. after three hours of motoring we arrived at Leros around midday. Our first choice anchorage was packed at anything with a reasonable depth (less than 20 metres!), and after trying to anchor twice we (Dean) threw his dummy out of the pram and we left. Luckily just around the next headland we found another bay called Alinda (good name) where there was LOADS of space and we actually think it's much nicer than Plan A. So here we are tonight with just a handful of neighbours. All very nice and calm.
Caves on Kalymnos
Our new bay at Alinda
Looks very nice, just our cup of tea
Even has a castle too
Just taken this sunset photo
Castle lit up
Linda - So calm during the night in our new found anchorage at Alinda (aka Alindas, or Alintas depending on which book, chart, or map you are looking at). It's got a lovely feel about the place, it took an early morning debate to decide whether to stay or go. And even then we couldn't make up our minds because guess what? There's a bit of wind Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, so could we find a better spot to head for?
Eventually by 9am we decided to move on to the next island up which is called Lipsi, Leipsoi/or probably even more variations of that word. Have you noticed i've given up calling them Nisos...es. Anyhow, Lipsi is our island number 12 and we are in a bay on the south east corner called Kouloura. The red arrow on the photo is Thesee's current position right now, bang in the middle of the bay. The amber coloured anchor circle is a marker that I add once we've dropped anchor.
It's not the most exciting anchorage we've ever been to, but it's pretty quiet with around 10 boats here tonight. So let's have a look around....
Looking east, a lot of outlying rocks
North from Thesee's starboard side
South this evening, Leros in the background.
North shore again
Cliffs to the east
Tuesday 15th August...
Linda - Plenty of time to sit around and do hardly anything today, as we waited for the 5th meltemi in one month to start up. Dean passed some time by teak sealing Thesee's toe rails. He performs this job every three months to keep on top of Thesee's handsomeness. BMIEP i hear you say. Well today I would call it BMIU.... Boat Maintenance In Underwear.
This afternoon a very large boat, or I might even call it a small ship headed into the anchorage. It had two anchors which we watched him drop methodically. It was flying a Marshall Islands flag. We see quite a few of these Marshall Islands flags. I guess you must have to be very rich to get one. I just googled it, cost to charter is 275000 Euros per WEEK.
The ship is called 'Asteria'
Linda - It was very windy and gusty yesterday evening, I can't relax when it's like this. Somehow, after going to bed I fell asleep quickly, and waking at 3am it had all calmed down somewhat. Still, I was awake until 5am then I found myself asleep on the sofa when Dean got up around 7am.
After breakfast we thought it was a good idea to go ashore in order to get a break from the boat for a couple of hours. It was fairly calm by now and we were able to offload the dinghy and outboard easily. We left our phone number with our German neighbour boat and he kindly kept his eye on Thésée whilst we were away. There's a walk into the main town which takes about 25 minutes so off we toddled to get some fresh bread and have a bit of a look around.
From the beach, looking back at the anchored boats
Thesee on the right
Dean at the recycling bins
Dimitri's farm shop
Views across the land
Donkeys, sheep, and chickens
First of many churches for a small island
Beutifully laid out vines
Are you Mrs C, or am I?
Pretty painted signs
First glimpse of the town
Nice accommodation
I'm following the leader
Linda loves Lipsi
On the quayside
Drying the day's octopus catch....Yuk
Painted signs on houses
Pretty and lovely scented flowers
The walk was lovely, even passing an aviary with exotic birds chirping their little heads off. No photo for this because the cage wire was very small and tightly knit. In town we stopped for coffees and then to the bakery where we bought a huge heavy brown crusty loaf.
Goats crossing
Horse with a wooden saddle
Bread, grapes, and dried figs
I had to cut the bread into quarters and freeze three parts
This afternoon Dean was keeping busy by scrubbing the hell out of the cockpit floor and seating. In the meantime i had other things on my mind..... Jigsaw.
Dean's soapy scrub
New jigsaw for me... A farm
Well it's 9pm and we should be at the peak of meltemi wind by now. I think after midnight it's due to calm down with tomorrow almost back to normal. What is normal for this place anyway??
Thursday 17th August...
Linda - Stilll blowyish today at 14 knots gusting 20 knots, but that's a considerable improvement on the last two days. In fact, it was almost a pleasure. This gave Dean the chance to remove the anchor snubber and make some adjustments. The anchor snubber line has a cover of black anti-chafe material which was held into place from slipping by some zip ties. The zip ties broke off yesterday in the winds and the anti-chafe material began ruching up at the fairleads. We tried to rectify it yesterday but it was impossible. However, today Dean was able to remove the whole caboodle, and instead of using zip ties to stop the anti-chafe slipping, he secured it by threading dyneema line (very strong) through and around it and the snubber line. Are you still following me???
I honestly don't know how he thinks all of these remedies.
Removing the snubber lines from the bow roller
The anti-chafe ruching
Now with the new dyneema line secured to stop the ruching
Pulling it all straight along the snubber line
Now re-affixed to the chain, just needs dropping a few more metres to tighen
...and sitting nicely at the fairleads again
That's about all of the excitement for today.
Friday 18th August...
Linda - Yes today it's Friday, and it's also our 13th island. So what could go wrong? We departed our Kouloura anchorage at 8.30am, and set off for a 12 mile crossing west to the island of Patmos. En route we checked out a couple of small islands called Makronisi, just off Lipsi. There seemed to be an anchorage but the boats there were rolling a bit as it's open to the south, south west. Anyway, onwards to Patmos.
One of the islands at Makronisi
Anchored boats
The red arrow showing our position half way across to Patmos
Arriving at the main town Skala, on Patmos
Seems to be quite sheltered
We'd decided that we were going to berth on the public government quay for a few days. When we arrived there was only one space empty. I guess we were a bit too early at 10.30am and the night beforers hadn't yet departed. We dropped the chain to reverse into the empty (tight) space, but there was a little side wind and the boat just wouldn't reverse into the space as planned because the bow kept being blown off course. We ended up with our chain dragging across someone's delta anchor and getting caught. We couldn't free it easily and so we unfortunately became the day's AW's.
Dean had to go up front and using his special tool he raised our chain and the other guy's anchor and eventually got it free.... after a lot of everyone watching and shouting unhelpful advice of what to do. In the process of holding up the other anchor, Dean lost a chunk of skin from his forefinger. Luckily not a major issue as it was only the surface skin layer.
Whilst this was all going on, about 7 or 8 boats all decided they were leaving, so we not only had to deal with the anchor issue, but also at the same time avoid the numerous boats who were now raising their own anchors, and also a boat that had appeared from nowhere and was loitering. We didn't know if he was coming or going and just constantly got in the way.
After we had set free we chose another berth (because now there was about 7 to choose from), and Dean performed a perfect berthing manoevre. Luckily the man whose anchor we had caught wasn't mad with us and he came to help us berth in the new spot and take our lines.
So we were now safely in our space. We set about getting jobs done, first the Transit Log stamp, then shopping, and even self service laundry for 6 euros, a little walk about, and then filling the water tanks.
Lunch on the beach
After dinner on board, it was back into town to try and hire a scooter for tomorrow. We tried everywhere, but I don't think there's a free scooter on the island. Turns out it's the main holiday week in Greece. Eventually we did find a car to hire for the day, so tomorrow will be a road trip and lots of photos.
Walking back into town, nice beach
Kitty cuteness waiting for his master to catch dinner
Saturday 19th August...
Linda - Right then! Today was our sightseeing tour of Patmos. It's called the Holy Island. There's a vast amount of tourist brochures and leaflets telling the island's history, so much so that it's impossile to take it all in. Basically it's famous for the Cave of the Apocalyse and the Monastery of St John the Theologican. In 1999 UNESCO declared the cave a World Heritage Site, together with the Monastery. They both lie on the Chora (the highest point of the island), and are regarded as one of the most sacred sites of Christianity.
Here''s a link to Wikipedia's take on it all...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cave_of_the_Apocalypse
Our first stop was at the Cave of the Apocalypse. 3 euros entrance fee, but there's not a lot to see. However the 'cave' itself was quite spectacular, shame photography not allowed. When we arrived in the small cave there was a full blown service going on with quite a number of tourists doing their holy thing, crossing hearts, eating bread, and kissing pictures on the wall.
Up early for our day out
Dean's poorly finger this morning
Arrival at the Cave
Walkway to the cave
Views over Skala and the main harbour
Some very old tapestries
This one damaged, but no protection over it
Nearly there
More views outside
It was a little disappointing because there was nothing else to see, but glad we did it anyway. Next was up to the Chora and to find the main square and the monastery. The island's not very big so it only takes a matter of minutes to drive from one place to the next.
Walking up to the square
The windmills
A classic Fiat 500 with wicker seats
Old buildings
Disappointed to find the cafes in the square all closed
The island has a seahorse theme, it's shaped similar to a seahorse
Wooden mixing tub in the monastery
The bells
Fabulous colourful mosaics
The tourist gift shops
Fridge magnets
Greek Orthodox Priests for sale
Lovely decorations outside homes
Our painted table at the only cafe we found open
Rude not to stop for cake
Another old car, this time a jeep with a shovel attached to the side
.... and an axe the other side
Next stop... Number 3 was the seaside village of Grikos. We wanted to have a look a the buoy field for future reference. The small village had a strange feel to it, very odd really. There wasn't really much there at all, about 3 restaurants and a smallish beach. But on the other hand a number of big black fancy RIB's with huge engines and the cafes were full of what Dean described as 'Hooray Henrys'. The people just didn't seem to match the place, and we wondered really what they were all doing in such an offbeat location.
We stopped for fresh orange juice.
Grikos
Trying to distinguish any vacant buoys
The beach
Next stop... Number 4 was in the north of the island. There are at least six beaches along this coast. We chose Kampos Bay beach, a much nicer spot for lunch and beer, and to soak in the atmosphere. The restaurant was on the beach road and had its own sunbeds, which we took full use of after we had eaten.
Lunch at Kampos Bay
Looking from our table to the beach
The restaurant was lovely with nice staff
A couple of hours spent sunbathing and swimming
My Mr C
.... and me
Well, about 4.30pm we packed away and drove about some of the other beaches, but didn't stop. In one of the bays we saw a couple of boats that we knew. We ended up back in Skala at the supermarket to get a few heavy items whilst we had the hire car.
About 7.30pm we took the car back and walked into town for dinner. Amazingly, we found a very lovely restaurant called 'Yiamas' and sat down for dinner and wine. Even though they didn't have tablecloths it was still amazing! Dean said it was the best cheeseburger he has ever eaten.
Summing up our day, we had a super time even though maybe a little disappointing at times. Glad we did it, but perhaps a bit pricey for the hire car considering the island is quite tiny. Still, if you want to see it, DO IT!
Sunday 20th August...
Linda - It was a day of relaxation, having decided to spend one more day on the quay. It's very busy here with boats coming and going all of the time. Dean was helping take some lines for boats arriving, but being careful not to hurt his poorly finger any more than it hurts already.
As the sun was easing around 5pm we took an impromptu 1km stroll to the next bay along, called Meloi. And to suss out the anchorage of course. It was a very nice small bay with a restaurant so we stopped for dinner. I know, eating out again! Dean was quite taken with it.
On our walk to Meloi bay
Quite rocky outcrops here
Trimaran in the bay along with a number of other boats
Peacefulness
Picture perfect
Restaurant to ourselves at first
Stuffed jackets for me, quite a change from the normal menu
Greek salad to share
Dean with our tiny unique wine glasses
The wine comes in a tankard
Walking back to Thesee along the local boats
Whilst I've been writng up this blog post, Dean has been mending his sandals. Most men would just dump the broken sandals, but of course as everyone knows, Dean is not like most men, ha ha! He loves fixing things. Now his broken strap has been replaced with a piece of the old leather steering wheel cover. What a clever clogs.
Good for another few years he tells me 😏
Monday 21st August...
Linda - Moved to a nearby anchorage today. Dean spent the afternoon fixing the bow thruster. It would only thrust one way! All fixed for the meantime, but some parts needed to fix for good. Here's a few photos....
Tuesday 22nd August...
Linda - Livadi Geranou is today's anchorage, still on Patmos. It's LUUUUUVVVVVELY. There's a number of anchorages on the inside of this north peninuslar, this new anchorage just a couple of bays down from last night's. The water is perfectly clear blue. This is the first anchorage in weeks that I feel truly relaxed about. Might have something to do with today's extremely calm weather too!
These next four photos are of last night's anchorage....
Now, today's anchorage, seems I was too taken with the clear water and forgot to take some land shots. Maybe tomorrow...
This is what I call 'Croatia style' water
Too inviting to resist, and I took a swim this afternoon. Dean took three swims. Mainly to scrub Thesee's prop, keel coolers, and water line. Whilst Dean was in the water he saw a baby Ray on the bottom! He said it was about the size of a dinner plate. Even with this Ray news, I still was willing to have a dip, the water was so good.
Thesee, the red arrow in our position tonight at Livadi Geranou
Wednesday 23rd August...
Linda - Pictures today of our anchorage at Livadi Geranou. For a change we offloaded the dinghy and went for a spin around the bay and between the two islands, then walked ashore on the small but very nice beach, and then a coffee. There are very shallow patches between the two islands and the shore, perfect to dinghy over, but never in a sail boat.
Cormorant standing firm on the rocks as we pass by
Our anchorage from afar
There he is, our handsome beauty
Fish? No thanks...just coffee
View from the cafe. Thesee third in line.
This afternoon a boat anchored in front of us and quite close. Dean said he thought the guy had an issue with his anchor windlass because there was some panic going on and too much chain had been let out (which is why he was so close). After a while Dean went over to see if he could help at all with advice or tools. We offered to pull back on our anchor chain so that we could give some extra space between each other, and we did.
One more event of the day, the ever observant Mr C noticed a tug loitering just outside of the island. A largish motor vessel had gone aground. We don't know when this happened, but it's still there tonight.
The tug. Can't see the aground boat from here.
No comments:
Post a Comment