Pandeli Bay, Leros, Friday 29 July 2016

We had a rather latish morning.  The original plan was to just go to a very small neighbouring island for the night, but when Richard looked at the weather forecast he was not happy.  The winds and sea are going to increase over the next couple of days.  He doesn’t want to take chances with us getting back to Leros Marina in time.  So instead we decide to go to Leros.  We won’t go into the marina.  We will anchor for the night and see what tomorrow brings.

So sometime after 10am we set out.  As the wind should be behind us and be a force 5, we don’t put up the main.  We will just sail on Genoa.  Well, that was the plan anyway.  But the winds did not cooperate.  Instead we had very light winds of under 11 knots which weren’t pushing us along much at all.  The 16 mile trip would have taken 8 hours at the rate we were going.  So first we just motored.  Then we put up the main.  The sea is fairly flat, but still at bit lumpy.  Then the wind disappeared more or less.  We were approaching Pandeli Bay, so we took the Genoa in.  What happened then, well, of course the wind got up to 17 knots, just as we wanted to take the main down and set our anchor.  What is it with us and fluky winds?

Anyway, we anchored safely in the bay.  When we came in we were the only boat at free swinging anchor.  There were about 6-8 boats all stern to with lines ashore at one end.  However, within a few hours the bay filled up with other free anchor types like us and there are now about 11 boats anchored in our area.

The weather is hot and sunny.  We have been in the water regularly.  Richard has checked the anchor twice and found that it is properly dug in.  We aren’t bothering to go ashore.  We’ve had lunch and dinner aboard.  I need to use up all the food as we go home in 4 days.

Richard is threatening to have us go for a skinny dip before bedtime.  It is just about hot and dark enough to do it.

Port Stretto, Arki, Thursday 28 July 2016

The anchor held perfectly well all night.  We were up but not too early because we aren’t going far.  We want to try to re-visit an anchorage we went to last year.  It is a tiny inlet on the small island of Arki.  There are four mooring buyos and a taverna.  Last year all the buoys were occupied, so we anchored in the next bay.  We hope to get a buoy today.

As we are only going 9 miles or so, I decide not to take a pill.  I am OK on the journey, but only just.  The conditions are more or less identical to yesterday.  A force 4 wind on the nose with a lumpy sea, although the waves have gone down a bit.  But I manage the two hour journey.  When we get to the bay it seems that it is full.  However, for a change luck is with us and as we approach a boat leaves one of the buoys.  Also we note that there is another buoys further in that we might use.  Richard heads for the further in buoy and would you believe it, we hit the bottom!  The book does say that the moorings are in shallow water, but we didn’t think we would ground.  R takes the keel up a bit to move us, but decides not to go for the inner buoy and we go to the next one.

The fun then starts when I try to pick up the buoy.  There is a pick up line, but the loop at the end is not open.  The rope has pushed itself together and for the first four or five attempts I cannot get a boat hook into the loop.  When I finally do, I find that the line is very short and I cannot pull it up to the boat deck.  I am hanging on to the boat hook for dear life.  I nearly lose it at least twice.  I have to pull on it with what feels like the weight of the whole boat.  I have no idea why it held and the handle didn’t fall off!  In the end after a great deal of heaving I manage to get a rope through the look (such as it was) and finally attach the line to the boat.  By the time I am finished I am exhausted.  Later in the day two of the other buoys come free and I watch others pick up perfectly ordinary lines with nice open loops.  Why did I get the duff one?

Anyway, the spot is lovely.  We have a very leisurely afternoon, doing puzzles, reading the paper and swimming.  In the evening we go to the taverna.  It is pretty basic, but it is nice not to have to cook.  It is still a bit blowy, but not bad and it means it is a little cooler so we can sleep.

Ormos Kouloura on Lipsi, Wednesday 27 July 2016

I slept very well, but Richard didn’t and that wasn’t the cause of the motion of the boat.  We tried to have a fairly early start and did get away by 9am, which wasn’t bad.  I had hoped the sea had flattened, but when we got out of the bay it was the same thing as yesterday.  Force 4 on the nose with a lumpy sea.

Last night in the restaurant we met a German who comes here regularly and he claimed that there hadn’t been big winds or big seas in the Dodecanese this month.  We aren’t sure which Dodecanese he was talking about.  Everyone else has said this has been the worst July in years for the Meltemi.  To make the point we have just heard from Jonnie and Marion that they have made it to Amorgos, but it took over 6 hours in a 4 metre high sea!

Anyway, we slogged away and made it to Lipsi (Lipso, if you prefer).  We are not in the main harbour.  We are in an anchorage called Kouloura.  It is a sort of triple bay with a beach club and a restaurant.  We came here last year in September only to find the whole place shut up.  Today is different.  The restaurant is open and there are lots of boats anchored.  The pilot book suggests there is poor holding, but there are many anchored boats so we finally use our new windless.  On the first attempt Richard puts the boat in reverse so hard I am certain he pulled up a perfectly set anchor.  The next time we just wait and see if it bites, which is does.  So then we go for a swim and R looks at the anchor with his face mask.  He is not happy.  It is covered in sand and on a sandy patch but only one fluke (from the side) has dug in.  So we have lunch and wait and see.

The wind is fairly high, gusting 14 to 16 knots.  We have set an anchor alarm and we haven’t moved at all.  We leave it all afternoon and it seems fine.  Just before sundown R looks at the anchor again and it is in the same position.  He is concerned about it and is not happy to leave the boat.  So we stay on board and have dinner in the cockpit.

I am sceptical about all this looking at the anchor.  For 11 years we anchored this boat all over. We never looked at how it set (well, who swims in the English channel!)  We just waited for it to settle in one place and felt for a tug to show it had bitten.  We only ever dragged once and that was our own fault when we forgot how big the tide would get in the Tregier River and didn’t put enough scope out.  So just because we are now in clear waters where it is warm enough to swim and look at the anchor that we are getting so fussy.  As I said, I think we are making ourselves miserable for nothing.

The wind now seems to have settled down a bit, so we hope to have a tranquil night.

Ormos Palionisou on Kalymnos, Tuesday 26 July 2016

Well, I have not posted before now because we hadn’t done any sailing!  We spend three days in Kos just relaxing.  We did some domestic stuff and shopping.  We did a little sight seeing.  We went back to the reconstructed Roman House, which I really love and then to the archaeological museum to see some of the statuary rescued from the house.  But we decided to leave today.  So it was early rise and get everything ready.  We managed to get away just before 8:30am.

The weather forecast looked unexceptional.  The winds were forecast to be just off the nose, possible enough to sail, but with wind speeds of only 8-10 knots.  So we were expecting a long boring motor trip into light winds with a fairly flat sea,

So we headed off planning to go to an anchorage on Lipsi.  But the weather was not as expected.  The wind was blowing top of a 4, bottom of a 5, right on the nose!  Further the sea was bigger than forecast being between .5 and 1 of a meter.  That doesn’t sound to bad, but with the wind on the nose we were banging right into all the waves.  It was not nice or comfortable.  And in those conditions we were making slow progress even with highish revs on the motor.

After about two hours of this (luckily I did take a pill before we set out) even Richard got fed up with the conditions.  So we started to trawl the pilot book for an alternative destination.  He found what sounded like a suitable bay called Ormos Palionisou on Kalymnos.  It is described as having two tavernas who put out mooring buoys.  So we decide to go into it to see what it is like and if any of the buoys are vacant.

It turns out to be a very pleasant stop indeed.  The bay is surrounded by hills, which look quite dramatic.  There is a taverna on each side and each taverna has about 7 or 8 buoys with pick up lines. Plenty of the buoys are vacant and we have no trouble picking up the line, securing it to the boat and then with the dinghy attaching our own lines to the buoy.  We have picked an orange buoy belonging to the taverna on the right hand side of the bay.  It is fine, but we note that the taverna on the other side sends a boat out to help you attach your buoy (not that we needed help) and also seems to take you in their boat to the restaurant.

But we are fine.  We haven’t bothered to put the outboard on the dinghy.  Too much hassle and we are quite close to the shore, so Richard rows for the evening.  The weather is warm and sunny and the sea is lovely.  Slightly cool at 25C and a lovely turquoise colour!  So we both have a couple of good swims and just relax.

We row over for an early dinner at the taverna where they keep giving us more little nibbles on the house!  My only complaint is that for some reason our boat (and not the others) is rolling about a bit.  But then again, I am tired and I expect the motion will put me to sleep.

Kos, Saturday 23 July 2016

We have decided to go the Kos.  The weather report isn’t bad and it will be a safe haven if the wind does get up on Sunday as threatened.  I am wakened very early by the boat rocking terribly.  However, I must have gone back to sleep, because next thing I know it is 8:30 am.  We had thought we should leave early, but we must wait for the Luries to get up because they left some gear in our dinghy last night and they have Richard’s camera which they thought they might have a charger for.

So while we wait we phone Kos marina.  They can do us a berth but we must turn up no earlier that 3 or 4pm.  So there is no rush for us to leave.  So we take things easy.  We see the Luries in their cockipit, so R goes over in the dinghy and returns their things.  Regrettably they have been unable to charge R’s camera.

We eventually set off just after 10am.  The beginning of the journey is fine.  There is a bit of wind through the Leros Strait, but we expected that.  We only have Genoa up and we are motoring.  Then the wind drops so we need to motor but the sea gets very lumpy and the boat is doing that awful corkscrew motion that makes me sick.  A little belatedly I take a pill and just about manage until the sea flattens out.  So basically the whole trip was a boring motor of 5 hours.  We get to Kos just within their time scale and are put on a pontoon which is full of charter boats and is quite far from the toilets, regrettably.

We go to the chandlers.  They can do us a full gas canister which fits our system, so that is good.  The lady is also certain she can do crotch straps for our life jackets.  However, when we try they we find the clip fitting don’t match, so we are back at square one with that problem.

We have an iced coffee at the café and then finally rather late make our way into town for dinner. Back at the boat and now it is 11:30pm and we really are tired.  However, it is getting very warm and I am not sure I will be able to sleep.

Leros, Friday 22 July 2016

I haven’t written anything because there has been little to say.  We have been sitting in the marina while the work on the windlass has proceeded very slowly.  We hire a car on Wednesday and were able to get shopping done and go down to the other end of the island to a nice beach.  I got the laundry done in town, which was much cheaper than doing it myself in the marina. 

We have had another maintenance crisis.  While the engineers were testing out the new windlass, they asked us to put the engine on.  When we tried to turn it off, the red button which stops the fuel getting into the engine didn’t work and we couldn’t turn the engine off.  We have had this problem before many years ago, but we couldn’t solve it.  The electrician tried to put it right, but couldn’t.  He thinks the cable between the red button and the solenoid on the engine is faulty.  We really did not want to spend any more time in the marina waiting for repairs.  We can turn the engine off by pulling the solenoid cable by hand at the engine.  So we will do that and have the problem dealt with while we are back in England in August.  It is a bit of a nuisance having to go to the engine to shut it off, but not a danger.

The Luries came back to Leros on Wednesday night and we have spent more time with them.  We went to Demitri’s again for dinner on Thursday.  Today we were desperate to get out of the marina.  So when we both had our repairs completed and had sorted out the forward cabin and cleaned the boat, we headed out to a local anchorage where there is a taverna and they have mooring buoys.

The weather in the marina was very calm, so we were a bit surprised to find that the wind in the harbour is still blowing 14-15 knots.  We went out of the harbour to pump out our holding tank and then went back to the Merikia Cove.  We tried to pick up a mooring buoy.  They have pick ups and it should not have been difficult.  But with the wind and all I made a proper mess of it.  I finally got the pick up, but when I put my line through I was on the wrong side of the railings.  It took me ages to sort it out.  The Luries followed us in.  Despite a cool breeze we all had a swim, which was very welcome after all these days in the marina.

Luries  don’t have a dinghy, because theirs has sprung a leak and is being repaired.  So we ferried all of us to the Taverna for a preprandial drink.  Our dinghy isn’t that well inflated either but we managed to get us all safely ashore.

The mooring is rather rolly, but it is just about acceptable.  We ate dinner aboard our boat.  The Luries provided smoked salmon and avocado as a starter.  I tried a new recipe for steak Creole.  I marinaded the meat for four hours and then “grilled” it on a dryish frying pan before flaming it with rum.  It was great fun to make and was very nice, but I am not sure that it tasted much different from my ordinary fried steak!

We drank far too much wine over dinner, but managed to get everyone back to their own boat without untoward incident.  The weather forecast is still for strong winds.  We will try to get to Kos tomorrow.

Leros, Monday 18 July 2016

We were wakened by rapping on the hull at 8:30 this morning.  It was the electrician coming to look at our windless.  He started by trying the buttons and would you believe it they both worked!  But when I showed him how the unit moved back and forth when it had the winch handle on it he was very concerned.  In the end the verdict was not at all good.  The unit is moving because one of the bolts has come out.  It cannot be repaired because the whole engine is terribly corroded.  The fault on the buttons is intermittent because the engine is not working properly.  The advice is that it could last another year or two, but on the other hand it could pack up at any time.  So basically it is not safe.

End of story we have ordered a whole new windlass.  We are going to upgrade the system by adding to it a wireless controller which contains a chain counter so we always know how much chain has been put down.  It is going to cost a fortune.  The items are in stock with Lofrans, but they are in Athens, so they must be shipped here.  They may arrive tomorrow afternoon, but it could be Wednesday.  As the weather forecast is dire, the delay really doesn’t matter.  The winds are supposed to go up to 38knots over the next two days, with the waves going up to nearly 2 meters.  The wind will go down by Thursday, but even then the sea state looks bad.

While we are spending lots of money with the chandlery we have finally ordered two new mooring lines as the ones we have been using are a disgrace and possible not safe.

We have spent the day on the boat.  Much of the late morning was taken up with clearing out the forward cabin so that the workman can get to all the bits of the windlass that are inside.  All the rubbish has been put in the saloon, meaning we have very little space to sit inside. 

The electrician comes back as we are eating a late lunch and starts to dismantle the existing windlass so he can install the new one as soon as it comes.  It takes him and an assistant over two hours to get it out.  When he does, it is worse that we thought.  The gear box is so corroded that two of the holes holding the bolts that keep it on the boat have worn through.  The entire thing is flaking like it is plastic, not metal.  We really did need to change the whole thing urgently.

As the afternoon goes on the wind starts to build as predicted.  Since about 3pm it has been blowing a Force 6 here in the marina.  Heaven knows what it is like out at sea.

Clearly we are here for a few more days.  We have yet to decide what to do with our time.  We have dinner on the boat.  As the saloon is full of all the junk from the forward cabin we sit outside.  The wind is so strong it makes me cold and I have to put a sweater on!

Leros, Sunday 17 July 2016

Well, the anchor held just fine all night.  When we woke up this morning there was hardly a breath of wind and sea was absolutely flat in the bay. It all belies the weather forecast which is for big winds this afternoon.  But we will be cautious and go to Leros.  So we wake up at 7am, have a quick breakfast and are off by 8am to avoid any bad weather.

The journey was better than expected.  The wind was on the nose, but it never went above a force 4 and the sea was flat.  So it was just a motoring slog up to Leros, which was fine.  We got here before noon, which was very good time.  At the marina there was no delay getting in and we are back on pontoon E, which is very convenient to the loos and showers, so that is nice.

We wonder if we were unnecessarily put off going further afield.  The weather seems perfectly fine.  No strong winds have blown up today and it has been very hot.  We have been to the office and they will call out an engineer to us to look at the windlass and the diverter on the holding tank.  The only problem is that the weather forecast has got worse.  Winds of up to 38 knots are predicted and worse than that, the sea is going up to nearly 2 metres.  We don’t know when we will be able to get out of here.

If the weather does really mean we have to stick around here for some days we may move to Lakki Marina which is at least in the middle of town.  We shall see.

Pserimos, Saturday 16 July 2016

Well, we still are not doing very well.  We stayed in Kalymnos on Friday getting all domestic things done.  We washed the floor in the heads and the other floors inside the boat, did a biggish shop and washed the outside of the boat.  However, just before we went out after breakfast we found that we were very close to the pier and pulling up the anchor did not tighten it up and solve the problem.  Our two neighbours left early in the morning before we were up and we wonder if they disturbed our anchor.  So we had to re-moor and while we did that they made us move into a space between two other boats.  Anyway, the anchor was fine after that.

We ate on board in the evening.  Going to sleep was a bit of a problem because after our move we were right in front of the Taverna that has live music until after midnight.

This morning we bought some fish for dinner and set out to find an anchorage where we can swim and be protected from a southwesterly wind (most unusual).  Richard found this island called Pserimos.  However, the usual harbour used on this island will not be protected from the wind, so he plotted for us to go to a bay on the north of the island called Vathi bay.

The journey was short but eventful.  It started out very calm.  Richard put the main out in the hope we could sail, but at first we only had 8 or 9 knots.  Then within minutes it went up to 17 knots and we were sailing along nicely.  As we got to this island the wind dropped and we had to motor.  Then we went around the headland towards the bay and all hell broke loose.  The wind first went dead behind and the Genoa was acting up, so we took it in.  Then suddenly the wind was more or less on the nose (well, off 30-40 degrees) and turned into a 6!  It seemed to get worse and worse as we entered the bay the Richard had identified as sheltered.  I was hysterical and fed up.  In these conditions I didn’t see how we were going to get the main down.  Eventually as we got further into the bay the sea flattened a bit and even in the wind we got the sail down.  Actually into such a wind the sail came down better than it has been.

We finally got further into the bay where it was still blowing 14-17 knots, but it was possible to anchor.  So then as we started to anchor my next problem arose.  The down button on the windlass stopped working.  I had been saying for days that it wasn’t right, but R poo pooed my concerns.  In order to anchor here I had to release the chain using the winch handle to release the windlass.  I had been shown how to do this when we first got the boat, but that was 14 years ago, and I have never done it since.  I did manage, but I was not happy.  I could not keep track of how much chain I put down and when I stopped the release, the windlass seemed to be going loose from the deck.  But we did get the anchor down.  We are not certain whether it has dug in properly.  When R looked it wasn’t really right, but I had no desire to start again with my dodgy windlass.  Anyway, we set an anchor alarm and it hasn’t gone off all afternoon.  Not even when the wind was blowing up to a force 6.  So I guess we are fine.  It is now 11pm and the wind has gone down, so we hope all will be well.

However, we now have another problem.  The idea of coming here was to have a break before going to Cos.  Also in Cos marina we don’t have to use the anchor and could get someone to look at the windlass.  However, when we phoned them to find out if they had a berth, they said they were full up with a Rally until Monday!  So now we are in a quandary over where to go.  The weather is turning and we need shelter.  The suggestion is that we go back to Leros to let them sort us out!

Kalymnos, Thursday, 14 July 2016

Well we have finally left Levitha and have internet so I can post these entries.  We wound up in Levitha for three days, which I do not recommend.  Pleasant though it was, there is nothing there except shelter from the wind.  And we certainly needed that because the Meltemi continued to blow harder and harder.  On Tuesday a lot of boats came in looking for shelter saying it was awful at sea with Force 8 winds and waves up to 2 meters.  So we decided that caution was the best course and stayed until things got better.  A nice Dutchman on the boat behind us found out that there is internet connection at the restaurant and he gave us details of his weather forecasts.  He was the one who recommended not venturing out until today.

So we stayed.  The wind was so strong that we were cold and didn’t even go swimming although the set up was perfect for swimming off the boat.  Also for the first time in years I nearly ran out of food.  We ate at the restaurant for two nights, but last night decided to cook the chicken that would otherwise go off in the fridge.  Anyway we wanted to put away the outboard for the dingy and Richard was pleased to do that in daylight.

So this morning we got up at 6:30 and had a hurried breakfast to get away in good time.  Plan A was to go to Amorgos, which was about 30 miles away.  But the weather over the last few days seemed to indicate it would be an uncomfortable journey, so we made plan B to go to Kalymnos,  We slipped our mooring without trouble and set off out of the harbour.  When we got out to sea we were pleasantly surprised.  The wind was just a force 4 and the sea was much reduced.  So we decided to go to Amorgos after all.  But that turned out not to be such a good idea.  The wind had gone around to a west, northwest, making it  too far on the nose to go to Amorgos.  Also as we went on the sea got bigger and motoring straight into the waves was not good.  So after about half an hour we turned around and decided to go to Kalymnos after all.

Kalymnos was straight downwind, so the waves were not really a problem.  We lost about an hour messing about, but arrived here in Kalymnos just after 1pm.  Would you believe that the wind got up to 15 and 16 knots just as we were mooring.  As soon as we were tied up the wind disappeared and it was very hot.  That figures as we are now in the middle of a town with nowhere to swim!

We were here last year, but didn’t tie up to the town pier.  We at least now have electricity and access to water, so we can clean the boat and re-provision. It isn’t an exciting place, but we will be comfortable for a couple of nights.  Not sure what is in store after that, but at long last the Meltemi seems to have given up for a few days!  Next Monday it is forecast to return.

Levitha, Monday 12 July 2016

I am writing this but no one will be able to read it for a few days because we are in such a small place there is no internetWe spent yesterday in Lipsos just relaxing.  We couldn’t even be bothered to go to the beach.  The Luries left in the morning before we got up.  It was sensible to set out on Sunday as they fly home on Tuesday.

Sunday started our really lovely.  The sea was calm and the wind was mild.  We hoped at last that this Meltemi which has been going for almost 2 weeks would end.  Apparently this is most unusual.  Just our luck.  First we have an unprecedented heatwave and now an unprecedented strong Meltemi.  Anyway, the settled winds did not last.  By late afternoon it was blowing a Force 6 again.  We also heard from the Luries that their sail to Leros was a bit more exciting than they hoped, with winds up to 32 knots!

Despite this wind we hope to leave tomorrow.  The weather forecast looks a bit better with the winds going down to a Force 5 maybe gusting just a 6 and the waves just around a meter or a bit more.

So this morning we got up bright and early with a view to going somewhere new.  Again, the weather in the harbour looks benign.  But as you can never tell we are not putting up the main.  Much to my surprise and relief the anchor comes up without any trouble.  It was great holding.  The anchor had a huge lump of gelatinous mud on it!

It is soon clear that the weather forecast was a bit optimistic.  It starts out OK with winds up to 17knots and  few gusts near 20.  However after about 90 minutes the wind and sea start to build.  In the end for most of the trip the wind was blowing top of a 6 with gusts up to 28knots.  The sea was also well above a meter and although the waves were mostly behind us we were still rocked around a lot. I tried to go below to take a nap (not because I felt sick, but because I slept badly last nigh) and I could hardly stay on the bed!

But we made decent time and before 1pm we had made it to the little island in the Cyclades called Levitha.  I could hardly believe that there would be a sheltered harbour on this island particularly after the sail over, but indeed there is.  The Island is inhabited by two families.  There is nothing else here but their farm buildings part of which are made into a taverna.  Further there are real mooring bouys with pick up lines.  So we are nice and comfortable and secure.

We ate at the taverna, which is a bit of a trek up a stony path.   The food was fine, with very friendly service, if a bit expensive, but it does include your mooring fee.

So you can now see why we have no internet.  We are a bit concerned about the weather tomorrow.   Our original forecast was for more settled weather to go to Amorgos on Wednesday.  So we might just stay here another day and chill out.                                                                                                                  

Lipsi, Saturday 9 July 2016

As I said I didn’t post yesterday because no sailing was involved in our activities.  We hired a car which turned up at about 10:30 and drove around the island.  We went to see a few beaches and were unimpressed with them all.  I had to drive because Richard’s new licence after his 70^th birthday didn’t get to us before we left home.   I am a nervous driver in a strange car and on strange roads and this was not helped by R’s navigation which took me along a beach at one point!  It also helps to drive on the right I am told.

A long hard look at the weather forecast made us decide to leave Patmos today.  The Meltemi is still blowing strong, but the winds are not forecast for 7’s and 8’s and the sea state is just over 1 meter high.  The direction of the wind will put us on a reach to get to the island of Lipsi (or Lipsos depending on which book you read).  So we decide to set for there.  Jonnie and Marion have come to the same conclusion, so we hope to meet them there. 

The plan was to fill the car up with fuel, collect the laundry and leave at about 10am to get there before the winds pick up in the afternoon.  Everything went to plan and we even slipped our lines half an hour early when disaster struck.  Our anchor was horribly fouled on mooring lines and chain from the neighbouring fishing boats.  We first tried to just manoeuvre around to free it, but that didn’t work.  Then R got out his hook gadget with which you are supposed to hook the line fouling the anchor, pull the anchor free and then trip the hook to free it.  Richard played with this for about 45 minutes and all that happened was that we picked up more ropes to foul the anchor.

By this time I am getting hysterical.  No one is coming to help even though they can plainly see our problem.  We will be a hazard to the other boats soon.  I start to shout for help and wave and finally someone responds.  It is a man who was on a boat along from us with a family.  He dived off his boat and swam over to us.  He then borrowed R’s face mask and snorkel and dived down to the anchor and managed to free it.  What a relief!  We were not even able to give him a bottle of wine to say thank you and we were sailing off and he was swimming.

So we got away about an hour later than planned.  The weather forecast was more or less spot on.  The wind was blowing top of a Force 5 with regular gusts up to 24 knots.  We sailed all the way on Genoa making 5-6knots.  We got in just before 1pm.  By now the wind was blowing a steady force 6, even in the harbour where at least the sea is flat.  It took some effort to moor the boat stern to with the wind constantly blowing us sideways.  We did it without mishap, but heaven knows where the anchor is and how many other anchors will be over it by the time we want to leave!

Just as we tied up Jonnie and Marion came in.  They had similar trouble mooring, but finally came safely in. We should have had lunch then, but were persuaded to go to the good local bakery and have coffee and cake instead.

Then back to the boat where the wind is still howling away as a force 6.  We manage to connect to electricity and fill up with water and clean the cockpit.

We went to dinner with the Luries and their Belgium friends who live here, Jos and Marie-Claire Vanstraelen.  It was a very nice evening.  We will almost certainly stay here for another night.  The Luries may well leave early tomorrow because they have to fly back to London on Tuesday to sort out building problems with their letting flats.

So we are off to bed.  I need the sleep.  The boat is rocking about in the wind.  That should put me to sleep.

Patmos, Thursday 7 July 2016

Well, the weather forecast seems to be right.  The wind is howling away.  At one point over breakfast it hit 34 knots.  Remember that is inside what is supposed to be a sheltered harbour.  We are pleased that we are nicely tucked up and perfectly safe.  We are a bit surprised to see a number or boats go out in this.  We are left on our own with the boats either side of us gone.  A few huge yachts, both sail and motor do come in, but there is room in the harbour which seems strange.

We have a leisurely breakfast.  We don’t know what to do.  This weather seems to be set in for days.  We are communicating with the Luries and they are in a similar quandary.  The only direction one can go in is south and even that will need to wait until the sea state gets better.

We have one or two problems.  Our holding tank is filling up and we have no idea when we can get out to clear it.  Further we thought it had been cleared and the fact that it has filled so quickly might mean there is a blockage (heaven forbid).  The next problem is with our life jackets.  In these conditions I insist we wear them and have harnesses on.  I know we should always wear them, but in hot sunny seas, it is a pain.  We had 4 of them serviced so we would be safe.  When we last had them serviced they came back without the crotch straps, so we removed them before we sent them off.  The only problem is that we cannot remember where we put them.  We spend half the morning going through all the lockers and we cannot find them.  The life jackets are a lot less effective without them, and it is a worry.  This is a small boat, where could they be hiding!

I’m not sure I will be writing anything until we get going again.  I am hiring a car for the day tomorrow and we will look around the island.  I have to drive because R’s licence renewal for his 70^th birthday did not arrive before we left!  It seems we are unlikely to move before Saturday afternoon and perhaps not until Sunday.  If conditions seem OK, we may just go to a local anchorage if it is sheltered enough.  We can suss that out in the car tomorrow.

One good thing, the high winds have brought the temperature down.  In fact we were downright cold have dinner outside this evening.

Patmos, Wednesday 6 July 2016

Our neighbours were as good as their word and were ready to leave at 7:55.  So we cast off from them.  We were not ready to do anything so we just put the anchor down while we sorted ourselves out.

The weather forecast is the same.  Winds of 17knots gusting 22, north to northeast going north northwest.  The sea state is still said not to be too bad, going up to 1 metre waves.  But instead of improving on Thursday the wind will increase and the sea state will get worse.  So we decide we should go now rather than                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            being stranded in this delightful, but basic little fishing village.

So we set out around 8:30am.  The weather is pretty much as the forecast said.  Maybe it is a bit more blowy, being pretty much between the top of a Force 5 and a Force 6.  The wind is a bit more on the beam and the waves are coming from the side rather than the stern.  But it isn’t a bad sail.  We are headed to Patmos.  We went there last year and stayed in one of the main towns, Skala, but hoped today to go to a nice bay with a posh hotel and spa.

The trip takes about 4 hours and it wasn’t at all bad, but I am pleased I took a seasick pill!  We get to the bay called Ormos Grikou.  The pilot book speaks of a jetty where visitors can moor and visitor mooring bouys.  But when we get there all the spaces on the jetty are taken and the visitor bouys as described (orange coned buoys) say private and when we start to try to pick one up we are yelled at by a moored local boat.  So the only thing to do is to anchor.

That turns out to be a problem.  Our first attempt takes us rather close to a French boat.  Out of concern and with an element of being helpful the skipper on the boat swims out to our anchor with his face mask and snorkel and says that the anchor is not dug in and we need more chain.  So we try again, but then we are clearly dragging.  Finally we think we may have got it right, but we do wind up rather close to some rocks.

To check on the anchor we decide to have a swim before lunch and R can look at the anchor with his face mask and snorkel.  His report is not very good.  The anchor is on sand but it is not dug in.  That will be good enough for a lunchtime stop, but not to hold us safely in the expected high winds tonight.

So we eat lunch and cogitate over what to do.  In the meantime the wind is coming directly at us and we do seem to have settled in one place.  We have three choices.  The first is to inspect the anchor again and see if it has set.  The second is to put the boat in reverse and try to dig the anchor in.  Either way, we will be reluctant to leave the boat and go to dinner in the rather charming looking village.  The last idea is to go into the town Skala, and see if we can find a berth on the town pier.

Richard opts for the last choice.  At bit dull as we were in Skala last year, but off we go.  The big disappointment is that as I take up the anchor it is clear that it had dug in well as it comes up full of sand and gravel.  So there was no need to move at all!  But off we go.  The journey is short but uncomfortable motoring into a Force 6.  We get to Skala and luckily there are a few spaces on the town pier and we manage to get into one without too much trouble despite the high wind still blowing a 6.  My only concern is that we have not put our anchor out straight in front of us and we may have fouled the anchor of the boat next to us.

Our place does not have easy access to electricity or water.  We shall have to be careful about that.  The mooring fees are cheap, 6 euros a night, but they want 20 euros for electricity.  That may go down, but we need a longer lead to get to the box in any event.  Here is where we hope our solar panels are doing their job.

We both shower and change and feel much better.  We are about to go for a walk in the town when the young German couple on the boat next door ask for our help to be ballast to tilt his boat to port so he can get to a fuel pipe that needs repair on the starboard side.  This done we do go to town and I now remember it much more. We have an iced coffee and get some free WIFI and make reservations for dinner.

When we get back to the boat our German neighbours are getting ready to leave.  I am really worried that we have fouled his anchor, so we watch them go with some trepidation.  They do have trouble taking up their anchor, but it does not seem to be caused by our anchor which doesn’t move at all.  After a little toing and froing they get away and we feel better.

Have a sort of average dinner.  We use their WIFI to look up the weather.  It is not good.  The sea is going higher with nearly 2 metre waves predicted with winds between 22 and 34 knots!  So it looks like we will be stuck here for some days.  We may be able to go to safe anchorages on this island, but it does not look like we can progress to other islands, but as ever, we shall see.

Agathonisi, Tuesday 5 July 2016

We got up fairly early and after another look at the weather forecast we decide to leave.  Jonnie and Marion are also going, but only 5 miles to another bay on the same island.  We have decided to make our way to another island called Agathonisi which is due south of where we are.  This means that even with high winds it will all be downwind, so not so troublesome.

We set out just after 9am.  The sky is clear and the weather is lovely.  To start with the winds aren’t particularly strong about a force 4-5.  However we resist the temptation to put up the main and just sail on Genoa as planned.  After about 30 minutes we are out of the lee of the island of Samos and the wind really picks up.  Most of the way it is the top of a 6, bottom of a seven.  But there are strong gusts.  I saw one at 32 knots, which is gale force 8.  Richard says he saw it gust to 38 knots.  In any event we were screaming along at 7 knots just on Genoa.

I was worried that the sea would be really bad.  It was a bit lumpy with waves us to 1 metre high, but not too bad and again, the waves were mainly behind us, just pushing us along.

We were a little concerned at first to find that we were the only boat out on the water, but as we approached Agathonisi, we did see other boats.  So we weren’t the only lunatics out in these conditions.

We entered the harbour area of Ay Yeiryiou.  As we were coming in, so was the ferry, so we had to get out of its way.  The wind was still blowing very strong and with the ferry in the main village and seemingly no other boats anchored, we started out to go into a small bay with a beach at the end.  It was much calmer there with much reduced winds and the sea was flat.  However, Richard was not happy with our anchoring efforts, unconvinced we had sufficiently dug the anchor in to cope with the conditions.  So we decided to go to the main bit and see what was happening there.  The ferry was going as we got in.  No one seemed to be anchored in the bay and we were a bit confused what to do.  As we were manoeuvring a man swam up to the boat and told us that we could moor on the ferry quay.  He said we should wait half an hour for one boat to go, or raft up to another boat.  However as we approached the quay another man took our lines and put us at the very end saying the ferry would dock between us and the other boats on the quay.

So we got tied up to the quay and started to eat our lunch, when the swimmer came up to us on the shore.  It seems he is the harbour police.  He says we can’t stay where we are unless we move to let the ferry in at 5pm and then return.  He again suggests we raft up to the first boat on the quay.  So after we finish our lunch that is what we do.  We are rafted up to a 45 foot boat filled with 8-10 Italians.  The only problem is that they are leaving at 8am tomorrow.  Isn’t that always the case when you are rafted up!

But we are safely ensconced.  We can walk to the town (after crossing over the Italian boat) and we don’t have to worry if the wind gets up in the night.   In the meantime 7 other boats arrive to moor for the night.  After the ferry has been 4 of them moor on the ferry quay and there are three anchored in the bay. 

The weather is very hot and we are pleased to be able to swim off the back of the boat.  The water is wonderfully clear and cool!  The wind is quite gentle all afternoon, but by 9pm it does get up a bit, but nothing to worry about.  We are not sure what we will do tomorrow.  After our Italians have left it would be nice to tie direct to the quay.  We are on the end where the ferry does not ever dock, so no problem.  But R thinks we should move on.  We will see.