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.
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