Tuesday 10th September
An early start at 05:00 saw a near perfect spring off followed by a disastrous sail hoist in front of the departing ferry! Dodging ferries and rocks in the dark was not a great start to what was to prove a long and sometimes scary passage.
Once out of the lee of Nisos Evstratatios the waves were in excess of 2 metres and on the beam. We have a video of it before it really kicked off but unfortunately I only have the cheaper subscription to Word Press that does not support video.
The little boat was fine and surprisingly so was the auto helm but it was the 1st and only time Louise has asked “Do you think we’ll be OK?”
Half way you cross a shipping lane & I had to call up a large freighter to ask him if he had seen us? He hadn’t, but obligingly altered course for us after contact.
Originally we were going to head for Sigri on the west coast to anchor but the weather was getting worse by the hour. We thought once in the lee of Lesvos we might get some respite so we continued east along the south coast to Kolpos Kaloni the bigger of the two lagoons on Lesvos.
The entrance was pilotage by beacons just what you need at the end of a tiring day but at least once in the situation calmed a bit. At anchor 18:00 underway for 13 hours.
Incidently the beacons are not recent, they were built by the Germans in WWII to guide their warships into the bay, I am advised by the Commodore.
Our view at breakfast on the 2nd day in Apothekes anchorage.
After two days we headed the 31 miles along to good old favourite Scala Loutra to wait out another blow forecast soon.
The exit from Kolpos Koloni in the distance in more peaceful weather
After a further 5 days at anchor in Scala Loutra we returned to Mytilini on the 17th September.
Lily was ecstatic and was on two other boats within 10 minutes of berthing at the marina, no doubt also looking forward to visiting her favourite lavender beds
OMG Glad you made it safely. Must have been scarey for Louise to ask the question. xx
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