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.