Levitha, Wednesday 21 September 2016

I had a really bad night’s sleep, which is unusual when I am on the boat.  I had a whole load of crazy dreams and in the early hours I started to worry about our anchor being fouled.  The boat next to us has 6 or 8 (I never really counted eastern European men, Russian, maybe).  They speak no English and are rather weird.  There is one huge obese guy who helms.  One skinny guy stays by the boat and constantly smokes.  One of them slept in the cockpit in a sleeping bag.

Anyway. I have been worried about their anchor since they came in.  I was hoping that they would leave before us and that would solve the problem.  But they aren’t.  The morning is very fresh and clear and I can see in the water where the anchor chains are lying and I really think their chain is over our anchor.  Somehow I make my concerns known to them.  They are not leaving until this afternoon.  But they actually are very helpful.  They get out their dinghy and row up as I take the anchor up.  It is really touch and go.  For a while it looks like it might be OK with the two chains parallel to each other inches apart.  But at the last minute our anchor turned towards their chain and sure enough the chain is over it and I can’t get the anchor up.  After a lot of up and down they manage to pull their chain off our anchor from their dinghy and we are off.  Phew!

The weather report was for very light winds of about 7 knots and sunny weather.  That is not what we got.  It is rather cloudy and there is almost no wind at all.  Most of the time it is at about 2 knots!  So we just have a very long motor trip to Levitha.  The sea is calm and there is no problem.  But it is dull.

We get to Levitha at about 2:30pm.  There are only two other boats moored on the buoys.  We can therefore choose a buoy that is quite close to the landing stage, which is a help because our outboard is not working and Richard will have to row ashore.  I do my new nifty form of capturing the buoy.  I get the pick up line and put our line through it and secure it to the boat.  That only takes a minute or two.   Then Richard swims out to the buoy and I send him down another line to put through the buoy.  I pick that line up from him with the boathook and secure it to the boat.  Then I let the pickup line go.  Simple and quick.

As Richard is already in the water I join him for a swim.  It is getting more and more cloudy and is not that warm, but the water is nice once you get used to it.

We have a lazy afternoon.  At one stage it even rains!  It is only a very brief light shower, but unusual.  However I forgot to mention that we had a huge thunder storm in the early hours of Monday morning when we were in Katapola.  Richard woke up and ran all over the place closing hatches and putting up the sprayhood.  We managed to stay dry.  That is the first rain we have seen this year.

What we thought would be a quiet time here with few boats turns out not to be the case.  By the end of the evening there were 11 boats here when there were only two others when we arrived!

Tonight we rowed over to the farm to eat at their taverna.  As usual they had fresh fish which he called barracuda.  However, it was nothing like what I would call barracuda.  First of all it was a small fish about the size of a largish mackerel.  It was very meaty and tasty.  We made our way back to the landing stage with some difficulty in the pitch black.  We had a torch, but it wasn’t really bright enough to find the white painted stones that mark the path.  But we made it safely to the dinghy and better than that safely to the boat.

We are now trying to decide what to do.  We were going to rush back to Leros to avoid bad weather.  However, the forecast has improved and we really don’t need to go back for at least a couple of days.  We will make our minds up tomorrow.

Leros, Thursday 22 September 2016

When we get up we are a bit surprised to find that the wind is blowing a 3 here in this very protected harbour.  Does that mean there is some sailing wind out at see?  We leave fairly early to find out.

The answer is ‘no’.  When we get out the wind disappears entirely.  At one stage what little there is (2 knots) is on the nose.  When at one point Richard thinks he might be able to put out the Genoa , the wind dies before he does that and goes on the nose!

So we are motoring again.  We have decided to play it safe and head for Lakki harbour in Leros.  There is a nice little restaurant by a beach called the Lemon where there are mooring buoys.  We spent a pleasant night there earlier this summer with the Luries.  So we decide to go back there.  When we get there at lunchtime we are a bit shocked to find out that the restaurant closed two days ago!  It is all but an abandoned site.  We row over and use their toilet and just go back to the boat.  We could stay here for the night.  We are safe on a buoy and we have food for lunch and dinner.  But Richard wants to go back to the marina, not least to fix the bow thruster.  It has been pretty hopeless for the last week.  When we picked up the buoy here it would barely move the boat and I had a dickens of a time trying to get the pick up on board.  It is almost certainly the same problem with the nut that attaches the rotor blades to the prop.  It has come loose again.

So we call up the marina and warn them that we will need help moving into a space because of the lack of the bow thruster.  When we get there our friend Baba is in his rib and with no fuss pushes us into a tiny space on pontoon E.  So we are safely home. 

We go see the marina office. They arrange for a diver to come see us tomorrow to see if he can fix the bow thruster under the water.  Richard thinks there may be a chance we can go out after that and have a sail, but I think that is very doubtful.  Although we are back about 2 days earlier than planned, if we want to sail we can’t dismantle much of the gear and then we won’t have enough time to do it all before we go home.  He is really fed up that there has been precious little sailing this trip, but then that is the problem with sailing.  It all depends on the weather and that has not been cooperative this summer.

We also have a problem with internet.  We cannot get the marina internet to work at all.  The café internet, which was quite good when we were here before is acting up.  It will not load the Times nor the Archers.  So in the end we walk into town and go to the Vodafone shop and buy some more internet time.  It is expensive, but we can at least contact the world while we are here in the marina.

We have dinner on board.  I guess we will start to pack the boat away tomorrow.

Amorgos, Tuesday 20 September 2016

I haven’t written for a couple of days not least because we have run out of credit on our sim for the internet.  So I do not know when we will be able to post this.  There is free WIFI here, but it is very weak.

We left Iraklia in good time on Monday and made our way to Amorgos.  There was supposed to be a following wind so we could sail, but it never really appeared.  We motored more or less all the way save that there was a bit of wind for the last hour.  When we got to the harbour in Katapola just about at lunch time we were a bit shocked to see that all the mooring spaces on the wall where we understood you can moor were all taken.  We were then resigned to anchor again, but we were in desperate need of water.  After nearly four days we are down to a quarter of a tank and if we can’t get on the wall will water available we will need another three days worth at least.  So we just go to a space where we think it is reserved for local boats to take on water.  We make a poor fist of getting the anchor down straight, but as we only plan to be here for 20 minutes or so we aren’t worried.  We are too far away from the water tap to reach with our hose, but there is a hose on the pier and we use that and fill up.  Just at we are filling up a Turkish boat moors alongside us and it is clear that we can moor here if we wish.  We even speak to someone in charge who says we can stay and gives us a form to complete to register and pay. 

As our anchor is not set properly, we decide to go out and moor up again, closer to the boat that has just come in.  Well, we make a pigs ear of it.  Richard cannot seem to get the boat to go back straight.  Also I cannot make out his commands and at one stage he starts to throw lines ashore when I haven’t even put out the anchor.  With a lot of help from the neighbouring boat, fending off, directing anchoring etc, we finally get in to a proper space.  It is terribly embarrassing especially when the man on the next boat says he remembers us from last year!

So we are in Amorgos.  After something of a domestic argument we finally agree to stay two nights.  I want to get some laundry done and I like this place and want to relax for a change.  Richard wanted to sail off because his weather forecast showed that he might be able to sail on Tuesday.  But we stay.  We have paid for electricity and water, but the man who wanted us to pay for mooring never came back, so we have had no one to pay.  We have noticed this before, that as the season comes to an end, the Greeks can’t be bothered to collect mooring fees.  It is crazy bearing in mind their precarious financial situation.

Nothing much has happened while we have been here.  I did get one load of laundry done, so I can just wait to do the rest when we get back to Leros.  We have topped up a few supplies and cleaned the boat.  Midday today was very quiet and the town wall was quite empty.  However, by 6pm every space was taken including a place that isn’t really big enough for a large boat next to us.  Nonetheless a 50ft boat with 10 French people on board have moored up next to us.  I hope we can get away tomorrow morning.

Irakleia, Sunday 18 September 2016

 We raise anchor at 9am, which is pretty good for us.  There is no wind.  On a few occasions Richard puts up the Genoa, but it doesn’t do any good.  But it does prove that our work to the winch was successful.  No terrible noises when it is used.

We make it to Irakleia at about 12:30.  It is a small harbour.  The pilot book suggests that you can tie up to the mole, but it is more or less full with local boats moored alongside, including what calls itself the local sea bus.  There is just one other small catamaran in the harbour at anchor.  It is flying a red ensign and waves to us.  We put our anchor down a little way from it.  We are rather close to the mole, but given the boats on it we do not think that will cause any problem.

By 3pm our optimism about our mooring is sorely tested.  First a fairly large boat (40ft?) comes in and complains about our mooring spot.  He them whizzes around us putting down an anchor and goes stern to the end of the mole.  This seems to us to block in the sea bus, but it is not worried.  In fact, it moves around to moor stern to making more room!  Richard wonders if it was alongside just to reserve a place for this boat.  But then another 50ft boat comes in and tries a similar manoeuvre, but is not so clever as the first boat.  In the end he asks us to move and we reset our anchor so he can put his out to go on the mole.  At this stage we think the harbour is full, but it isn’t.  Four more 50ft boats come in.  One goes sideways on to the mole attaching its stern to the corner!  It is also in front of a huge Catamaran, which has gone alongside at the end of the mole.  Two more large yachts anchor on the other side of the harbour with long lines ashore.  Then two more come in and anchor at right angles further along.

We have spoken to the other small boat that was here when we arrived.  They too are surprised by all the traffic in large vessels.  They say last night there were just 6 small boats anchored and swinging where we are.  What makes all these boats think there would be room to moor?  When I read the pilot I wondered if our boat wasn’t going to be a bit big in this small harbour!

But we are finally at rest.  There doesn’t seem to be much ashore, so we just stay on board.  The only thing is that the wind has picked up.  It is now blowing a 4.  I hope we will be secure here given all the boats around us!

Aliki, Paros, Saturday 17 September 2016

We stayed put in our anchorage outside Naoussa yesterday.  It was a pleasant stop and we have plenty of time.  When we were having breakfast a motor boat stopped by the boat and it was a fisherman offering to sell fresh fish.  This was just what I needed as we are running low on fresh food.  So I bought a nice big sea bream which will do for the two of us for dinner.

As we were staying in the bay we decided we would go ashore.  So with the usual reluctance Richard put the outboard motor on the dinghy.  It really is a performance to do.  Also we don’t tow the dinghy with the motor on, so it has to go back at the end of the day.  We have a little block and tackle to help, but it still is hard work.  It was all the worse as when we finally got the motor on, it wouldn’t start.  We tried several times during the day and it was as dead as a dodo.  We don’t know why.  It did work in July.  So Richard had to row after all.  That meant we weren’t going too far around the bay.  We just made it to the beach club at the end of the bit of bay where we were anchored.  Nothing much was doing there, so we just came back again to the boat.

Today we were moving on.  There is little wind and the sea is quite flat.  The plan is to find the anchorage recommended by Jonnie between Paros and anti Paros.  We make for the anchorage described in the pilot book only described at Andiparos.  It is a bustling little town with ferries going in and out.  The bay is very shallow and we take up the keel a bit to get as close as possible, but that is still some distance from the shore.  With no motor on the dinghy it will be a long row if we want to go into town.  I was hoping to eat out for a change and to buy a few essentials to keep going (milk and fruit mainly).

So we have lunch and then Richard suggests we try to find somewhere more appealing.  He even thinks he might get to sail a bit!   So we set out.  Taking up the anchor is a bit of an adventure.  It comes up with difficulty and completely covered in thick mud!  If nothing else, there certainly is good holding in this harbour.  The wind is only a 3, but Richard thinks he would like to put up the Genoa.  When he starts to unfurl it on the winch, the winch starts to make a terrible grinding come clattering sound!  I insist we don’t use it.  We should have serviced the winches ages ago, but never got to it, so this is our reward.  Until we do something about it we are a motor boat!

We can’t find a suitable anchorage on Antiparos, so we make our way back to Paros to Aliki, a little resort on the south end of the island recommended in the pilot book.  It looks a sweet place, but what is strange is that other than a large gentleman’s motor yacht, there are no other boats anchored here.  We can’t find a suitable place close in to the shore near the main part of the town because it is filled with buoys for local boats.  So we anchor along from the town near a nice sandy beach.  Again, it is very shallow.

When we are anchored, task number one is to do something about the winch.  Richard thinks it will be relatively straightforward to deal with.   So he gets out his winch maintenance kit.  First problem is that a plastic bottle of oil to lubricate the winch has leaked all over and soaked in the instruction book.  It is almost readable and we will have to make due with it.  Also we have to find an alternative oil for the parts.  R thinks WD40 will be fine.

The long and the short of it is that it took us over two hours to take the winch apart, clean it, fit new palls and put the thing back together again (that was the hardest part).  But we finally did it and a small turn of the winch sounded fine.  We shall see how it works under wind tomorrow.

By the time the winch is back together again we are both hot and bothered.  So we have a swim even though it is 6pm.  Then a quick shower and we decide to row the dinghy ashore and go into town.  The pilot book and the Cruising Association website says the town is nice and there is a supermarket there.

We have spotted a stone pier not far from the boat and we make our way there in the dinghy rowed by Richard.  The pier is wet and slippery, but there is a good stainless steel ring to tie to.  So we do make it in to town.

The town is sweet.  Just a tourist resort, but a rather old fashioned one.  I am able to buy the few things I need to keep us going for the next few days.  We find an attractive restaurant right on the waterfront and have a pleasant enough meal.  We make it back to the dinghy.  The pier is still quite slippery, but we manage OK.  We get in the boat and have a dickens of a time pushing off from the pier.  Pushing by hand and with the oars doesn’t seem to work!  Finally we get away and make it back to the boat safe and sound.  The weather looks settled for the next few days, but strong winds are predicted from next Thursday.  So we will have to press on to Leros a little earlier than we wished.

Ormos Ay Ioannou, Paros, 15 September 2016

Well, we finally had the courage to leave the harbour!  We haven’t come far.  We just motored out a way to dump the holding tank (where the sea was very lumpy) and then returned to the bay and anchored near a monastery about 2 miles away from the harbour.  The sea is flat here but there is a fairly  brisk wind.  It blows a force 4 and then there are gusts up to a 5.  But we are happily ensconced and all seems to be well.

There are a lot of other boats and even a mini super yacht.  There is supposed to be a taverna, but we can’t see where it is and we are unsure there is anywhere to tie up the dinghy.  Anyway R doesn’t want to get the outboard on the dinghy and I think it is too far to row.  So we just stay on board having had a pre-lunch swim. 

So not much to report.  We shall move on to another anchorage tomorrow.  I hope we find a restaurant because I really only have one more proper meal on board!

Naoussa, Paros, Wednesday 14 September 2016

We have stayed in Naoussa for extra day because of weather and the fact that we have 12 days before we need to be back in Leros and we are running out of islands to visit!

Monday night was very blowy and the boat was swaying all over the place.  I decided to take a pill to make sure I would be OK.  It is rare for me to do so in port, but this one is different.  All the warnings were true enough.  It isn’t as bad as it was Vernazza in the Cinque Terre in Italy, but nearly.  On Monday evening we walked all over the town which is another Chora with its narrow streets going up a hill and white washed houses.  We found a good restaurant right on the beach and had a nice meal.

On Tuesday we decided to hire a car.  They told us they would have a car for us and they opened at 9am.  So just before then R went to get the car and I was getting worried when over an hour later he hadn’t returned.  I went to find him just as he was returning.  Apparently they didn’t have a car and he had to wait for another company to bring one.

When we got back to the boat we were a bit concerned to see that one of he wheels on the passerelle, which we just paid to have replaced, has broken again after only two weeks!  It hasn’t quite snapped off yet, but it will very soon.  We need to get a fender to put under it to stop it deteriorating, but the one we had on it before the repair was never returned by the boatyard.

We had to rush off because parking here in the port is not allowed and they give big fines for it.  So we rushed off.  We did the highlights of the island.  First going to the town of Paroikia.  Another cute white washed town with a port.  We even managed to buy a fender for the passerelle.  Then to a hill village called Lefkas and finally to a beach, where it was too cold and windy to swim!  I put on a Bikini but spent the whole time wrapped up in my beach towel.

When we got back to the boat we had another disaster.  One of our brand new mooring lines had worn through on the rather rough metal cleat where it was tied on.  It was JUST holding the boat with a few strands left.  So we had to hurriedly get another line on.  This time we have doubled it up like we were advised to do in Ireland a few years ago.

It was worse for rocking this afternoon, so to avoid feeling bad we went ashore to dinner.  Richard says the further mooring line will be fine.

This morning we decided to stay for another day and let the sea swell go down.  We went into town for elevenses and then spent the rest of day on the boat.  I finally washed the floors to try get some of the filth from Mykonos cleared up.  Richard finally polished the chrome on the boat.  It was really looking bad.  Made the boat seem very neglected.  I tried earlier in the summer and couldn’t polish it well.  I bought some highly poisonous stuff to clean and a whole bag of disposable gloves which it needed to use.  But R just used the old stuff and it seemed to work OK.  Not perfect, but a good improvement.

While looking at the boat we have a second problem with the passerelle..  The end which attaches to the boat is also bent.  If that snaps when someone is on the thing it will dump the person in the drink. I don’t know what to do.  It seems it is just very badly designed and can’t take the forces on it.

So we had dinner on board.  The bouncing is much better.  We will venture out tomorrow.

I haven’t mentioned one interesting thing about both Naxos and Paros.  That is they are famous for their marble.  For instance the Venus de Milo was carved from Paros marble.  The availability of marble is obvious.  In Naxos the breakwater was half mode of huge slabs of marble.  The streets were all designed with marble set in the paving.  Here in Paros most of the bigger streets are paved with marble and many houses have marble surrounds around the doors.  All very pretty.