Alinta, Leros Sunday 26 June 2016

So we get up a bit later this morning.  For once we don’t have an 8:00am appointment.  The weather has changed.  It is not nearly so hot, there are clouds in the sky and a breeze.  We still can’t make up our mind where to go.  We do really need the gas.  Our existing bottle is getting low and we will need it to cook.  So we do have to return to the marina on Monday to sort that out.  In the end the weather is the factor.  R says his sites show that strong winds are coming in tomorrow night.  I am still feeling the effects of the weather, so we decide not to go and join Jonnie for his birthday, but to go around the other side of the island and to anchor in a bay we haven’t been to before.

We are slow in getting started, but by 11:30 am we are finally out of the marina and on the sea!  There is a fair breeze, a 4 and we put up the sails quite early.  Putting up the main was a bit complicated because R made me go forward while he pulled up the sail so I could spray the carts and track with a new lubricant suggested by Bob to make the sail go down easier.  I did not do a good job.   Later when we took the sail down it still didn’t fall all the way.  Richard went forward again with the lubricant spray.

But the sails up and off we go, sailing at last.  The wind is mainly from behind but it does blow up to 17 knots. Just before we get to the bay we planned on staying at we had 17 knots on the beam and were doing speeds of over 7 knots - really good.

So we have anchored in Alinta.  There is a ferry terminal here and an interesting looking town, but we are on the other side of the bay near some beaches where the bottom appears to be sand.  The only problem is that it has cooled down so much I am cold!  I changed into my swim suit, but couldn’t take the wind on deck.  So we haven’t had a swim, although people from the beach seem to have swum out to the boat.

We had a late lunch in the cockpit and then a little nap.  Because we ate so late we have decided not to try and BBQ in the dark again.  I use up more of our precious gas grilling our chicken kebabs and making couscous.  But at least we both now have a bit of an appetite.  I wish we could find our scales to see if we have lost any weight.  It has to be somewhere, but finding things after the works and cleaning is proving to be a problem.  I panicked over dinner when at first I couldn’t find my wooden skewers.  Then we had another panic when R thought he lost his new fit band until I remember we put it away in the beach bag when we went for a swim yesterday.  We are getting absent minded!

So a quiet night we hope here in Alinta.  We will sail around the island tomorrow to return to Lakki.