As we are getting on a bit in the season the weather can be a bit more unsettled, as was the case when we left “Kreta Bay” to head back down to Lerakas , a small hamlet with a shallow lagoon nestling behind a dogleg inlet.

It was a 6 hour passage with an uncomfortable swell on the quarter. We were glad when we arrived and tied up alongside the remaining space on the harbour wall next to Syeni, just before a big catamaran who had been gunning his engines and had been catching us up appeared round the inlet.

I went for an alfresco shower at the bathing platform (the old ferry berth) and got ticked off for using shampoo, it’s not as though I use a lot!

It then started to rain cats & dogs. We had all gone to a local Cafe until we spotted loads of cockroaches roaming the walls and made a hasty retreat.

Dinner was in the rain that evening in the one remaining taverna that had remained open late in the season.

During the night the weather worsened and we were bouncing up and down against the quay. Louise woke Nicholas on his boat (He was totally unaware of the worsening of the weather) . At 02:00 we left the harbour wall to anchor off the village, firstly on Syeni, and then back in the dinghy to do the same on Camira. It was tricky laying the anchor as not a lot of space and a black night.

On Saturday we reckoned the weather had settled enough to allow us to leave, but it was a step “climb” out of Lerakas, all the same!

It was a short passage to Momenvasia where we managed to get alongside once again; being late in the season does have some advantages. That was until the harbour master advised us there were 12 other boats arriving because of the bad weather and we had to move stern to.

The weather having seemingly changed for the better we headed back out to a lovely wee quiet bay with surrounding oilve groves and ciccadas, all very Greek.

 

It was not to last as another front moved in with even more electrical storms. We stayed put this time .

It was just after nine o’ clock, dark and stormy and a number of boats had came in to shelter.  – now our stern ladder is articulated and if we forget to lift it it will rattle and bang so when it did just that Louise went to pull it up. I was down below when she let out a scream “ There’s an animal, there’s an animal I can see its eyes”

I ran up thinking turtle or something , I am not quite sure . When I looked over there was a dog trying to get up our ladder. I grabbed her collar and pulled her on board. We are anchored in the middle of a bay so we could not figure out where she had come from? Our initial thoughts she had got a fright from the thunder and fell or jumped of a passing boat. If she had come from the shore she had swam past other boats ! We put out a call to any passing boats but got no replies.

Anyhow we wrapped her up in towels  and sat with her on our knees until she calmed down, she just kept sighing but eventually went to sleep, presumably out of exhaustion, she was lovely.

 

We eventually went to bed but later on Louise heard her pattering up and down the decks and was worried she would jump overboard  so she didn’t get much sleep the rest of the night sitting up to comfort her.

I went ashore the next morning at 06:00 looking for a clue but the local surroundings seemed to be deserted.

 

We then spotted a guy walking a dog on the shore so I rowed over and explained the situation and showed him a picture. His name was Issa , a lovely guy from Mali and he thought her name was “Kreta” from the house next to the one he worked in, so the pair of us trecked back there and sure enough two workmen recognised her. They gave me a lift back in a golf cart and we transported Kreta back ashore in Nicolas’s dinghy (his has a solid floor!)

 

I walked back that afternoon to thank Issa for his help , he was a real gent. I had invited down to the boat the next day but a change in the weather meant we had to move into porto Kheli bay yet again and I texted him to explain, if we are back that way we will look him up.

Its still a mystery what happened the night before but it all eneded well, otherwise who knows we might’ve had a boat dog!

   

We left Poros town wall on Friday morning heading down and around Nisos Spathi towards Ermioni.

We had a great sail but Nicolas broke his spinnaker , we were just too far away to get good pictures before it came down. Though he managed to get one of us on his phone so quality not brill but hey !

  

We anchored amongst a bunch of school kids out in Mirror dinghies just off Ermioni and went ashore for provisions, planning & aperitifs.

The next day we set out for Ormos Zoyioria on Spetses. On route Louise caught a fish 10 minutes after starting , initially we thought it was a Mackeral but it turned out to be a wee Tuna, and very nice it was too. Clock the marrigolds !

 

We moved from O. Zoyioria a very peaceful bay on Spetses across to Porto Kheli at sunset on the Monday night to get more shelter from what looked like an approaching thunderstorm. This was to be a theme over the next couple of days.

 

The next day was ashore in Nicolas’s dinghy to Porto Kheli for provisions and having a look about. There were a number of boats stern too the harbour wall starting to set up for winter.

 

The landing pontoons were “interesting”

Later that day we moved out of the big bay to a smaller one just off the entrance to Porto Kheli, it was to become known as “Kreta Bay”  …………………..

We left Ormos Skinou , and Nicolas, having his morning Cafe – he won’t do anything until he has had it – very French.

It was a relatively short 24 mile sail back to Nisos Siros where we anchored in Posidhonia Bay around 4 o’ clock.

 

Saturday & Sunday were spent swimming, provisioning and filling up with fuel. All three of us had trecked to the garage only to find it closed , however we understood from the harbour master that a tanker would arrive on the quay some time the following morning and Nicolas was on the ball dingying across to fill his cannisters and alerting us. He must’ve had his Cafe this time !

Monday was blisteringly hot and unfortunately only enough wind to motor sail, thankfully though again a shortish 32 mile hop to Nisos Kithnos. We liked it here on the way out.  Our intention this time was to anchor in Ormos Fikiada (Fikiada Bay) but when we arrived there were just too many boats. Nicolas had arrived earlier and had a space ,we tried anchoring 3 times but it was just too close to other boats to be comfortable, having said that loads of space by Turkish standards ! lol. We motored around to Ormos Apokriosis, which sounds like a skin disorder, but is very beautiful and only us and two others at anchor.

   

On Tuesday morning we moved back round to Ormos Fikiada as some boats left. There was a big luxury yacht still there from the previous night and  today the crew had erected a marquee type tent on the ithsmsus between the two bays . We discovered from a Greek guy that it was “just in case” the passengers, all 2 of them ! wished to come ashore, which they did in the evening for about 10 minutes , the poor crew had stood there at attention in the sun all day.

   

We went ashore for lunch at the taverna and had a  tranquil day & night before heading off for Poros the next morning.

     

We left Ormos Kithnos at 6’o clock in the morning  with reefs in the main & genoa, there was a moderate swell on the beam – it was going to be a long day! As it turned out it wasn’t too bad we were underway for just over 9 hours and half of it sailing. A pod of small grey dolphins came to visit us for 10 minutes or so before they got bored. I must remember to send in sighting details more regularly to the ECO Navigation, a project developed by the Arhipelagos Institute of Marine Conservation which aims to record valuable data on marine life. Through engaging with sailors they hope to build an online community & database of the status of the Greek & Mediteranean sea.

On arrival at Poros we had three attempts at getting the anchor to bed in , great fun as there is quite a fast cross current to negotiate. However it was rewarded with dinner at the fish taverna recomended by Nicolas, our tour guide .

  

During the day daytripper boats come from Mykonos. Some play their music a bit too loud but they are only there for a short time before heading back to Mykonos when  the island is returned to its beautiful tranquil state. We loved it here, swimming, walking and generally doing very little. Again, this was a place that reminded us of Scotland, maybe a wee bit like Canna in glorious sunshine. We had three lovely days here but we must get moving.

 

      

Sadly, we are not able to wait for Dave and Iain, so near yet so far! We are gutted.

This is how close we where – thats Mykonos Town in the distance

Before leaving Samos we nipped round to the marina to fuel up then made our way to Ormos Agriohio on Nisos Fournoi twenty five miles away. It turned out to be a lovely spot with only us and Nicolas on Syeni in the bay. A quiet night was had by all as we were up  at sparrow fart to do the sixty miles to Nisos Rineia, a small island three miles from Mykonos.

Preparing to anchor

 

At anchor with Nicolas just aft

With very light winds it was a motor job all the way to Nisos Rineia. However, the dawn start was beautiful and very peaceful. Well, that was until Nicolas passed us playing Valkyries throught the VHF at full blast as he passed us. That certainly woke us up as did the dolphins swimming  in our bow wave a couple of times throughout the day. It’s always lovely to get a visit from them. 

 

Dawn after leaving Nisos Fournoi

 

Passing Nisos Ikaria

Dave and Iain arrive in Mykonos next week and we were hoping we could meet up with them. However, the weather ahead isn’t looking great and we  could get held up and miss the weather window for getting further on and out the way of the Meltemi. We will monitor it and see how it goes, but not looking promising.

Slowing down to dodge the traffic

Mykonos

We anchored in Ormos Skhinou, a beautiful bay on Nisos Rineia. Honestly, the water is crystal clear and so so blue. The island is more or less uninhabited, only a few people who do a bit of farming and shooting live here now.

  

Rienia is separated from the Island of Delos by a channel 1 km wide. In the channel there are two rocks, rather than islands, which are called the little Rematiaris and the big Rematiaris. You will find  the ruins of an ancient Greek temple and a Christian church dating back 1900 years. Delos was the spiritual centre of the whole Aegean sea. The Athenians made Delos their sacred island. This meant  that no one should be born or die on the holy island so they opened all the graves of Delos and transferred the bones of the dead into a huge hole in Rienia.

We couldn’t leave Samos without a final visit to Pythagorion and to say goodbye to Diamontes.

We moored up outside the Blue Boat Bar, the noisiest bar in town, but since things are starting to wind down a bit now it didn’t bother us too much.

Gordon drinking Shuma with Diamontes the harbour master in Pythagorion

Nicolas was aready there and Paul and Paulette were there too. We spent the week getting ready for the start of our return journey, cleaning the boat, shopping, re fuelling etc. Obviously the preparations were broken up by aperitiffs on Paul and Paulette’s boat, Nicolas’ boat and our boat, well, why wouldn’t you.   We also visited the Gyros  restaurant and the four trees restaurant, two of our favourites and  cocktails in the Beyond roof bar.

Because of the strong North winds, our sailing area was restricted to certain Islands. It’s amazing how you get  attached to them, so, like Patmos, it was quite sad leaving Samos for the last time. Our return trip will be in the company of Nicolas who is also heading back to Siracusa for the winter. Well, we’ve spent most of the summer with him so it would be silly not to finish it with him. The plan is he gives us, well me really, French lessons and we give him English lessons. So far, he’s doing better than me, my French is abysmal but I can speak more French than I could at the beginning of Summer so at least I’ve made some progress.      

Thoughts are now turning to returning to Siracusa for winter. As we left Patmos for the last time I felt very sad. It’s a lovely island with some great anchorages and has a very peaceful feel about it. I think we understand why Nicolas likes it so much and we will  definitely return here again.

Just as we were clearing the Island there was some fog but nothing too bad and we also got a bit of a sail once it had cleared.

When we arrived at Posidonia we met Richard and his wife that we had briefly chatted to in Agothonisi. They were going ashore for drinks and a bite to eat and asked us along. Turned out a good night and met other friends of theirs, Paul and Paulette from Canada and Sally and her husband who had also been in Agathonisi. You might have guessed, I can’t quite remember everyones names, this is what happens when you dont do the blog right away, lol. 

When Nicolas didn’t get into Agathonisi he went to Livadhia on Patmos so we decided to go there and catch up with him. There was a fair bit of wind so we managed to sail most of the twenty three miles there. It’s a good anchorage, plenty of room and good holding.

 

We had three days here at anchor again, not a lot here, just a nice beach and a couple of beach bar tavernas which are good for morning coffees, all part of Nicolas’ morning ritual. We jumped in a taxi one night and went to the nice Italian restaurant in Scala for dinner. Lovely, what a beautiful place to sit and watch the sunset while sipping a cocktail.