Captain Chaos here again:
The passage from Siros to Leros is approximately 104 miles past Mikonos and into the exposed windy channel West of Ikaria. The Melteme (A strong Northerly prevailing wind) blows fiercely through this especially in July & August, F5 / F6 the norm and F7 on occasions. The forecast looked reasonable so we decided to leave at 23:00 to time our arrival in Leros late afternoon / evening the following day.
Ikaria is a huge precipitous slab of rock, west of Samos. The mythological origin of the name comes from the legend of Daedalus & Icarus who tried to escape from Crete on wings made of wax and feathers. Icarus flew too high, the wax melted so that he fell into the sea near Ikaria.
Through the night it was a bit of a motor sail, but from 07:00 hours we had a sleigh ride for a while- surfing down the waves with only a reefed foresail. We passed Nisos Bouvais a big lump of rock in the middle of the Aegean about half way across.
Nisos Bouvais
We berthed in Leros Marina at 18:00 it was very busy with boats but we had reserved a space. This is without doubt the best showering & toilet facilities in the Med so far, truly 5 stars. It was boding well for a winter stop……………………….
Leros Marina
The Sunday was a bit overcast and after catching up with our sleep we went for an explore.
I quite liked the first impressions but Louise thought it would be too quiet for a winter. I suppose in hindsight she is right, a bit like Dunnoon on a wet weekend, though I also like Dunoon! Anyway I digress.
We took some pictures of Lakki town to eschew later and that night we were invited out to dinner with another couple of boats who do leave their boats there for the winter but not living aboard. They also thought it would be quiet. Looks like I was on a loser.
Lakki town surroundings & the Marina bar
I hadn’t fully given up and suggested we hire a scooter the next day to further explore the island
