The remainder of August saw us meandering around the Dodecanese.

When we left Patmos there was a period of extremely high winds forecast so we headed back to Lipsi to wait them out. We stayed one night in the harbour to provision up,then moved out into the bay across from the chapel for some respite as the night in the harbour had not been very comfortable ,a lot of snatching, and little sleep.

Then finally the next day around to Kouloura Bay on the south until the winds had blown themselves out. In the end we had eight days on anchor in Lipsi.

What was left of the Greek courtesy flag after the winds

A short 6 mile hop then followed to Archangel, a little island to the north of Leros. We had not anchored here before but had seen it on passing so fancied giving it a try. Happily there was a taverna ashore. It’s quite a beautiful anchorage and the views back across the channel to Leros are reminiscent of Scotland.

The Anchorage at Archangel evening & morning with Leros in the distance

Heading ashore via drinks on Syeni and views from the Taverna into the empty bay

Camira at anchor in the morning, Archangel

The next tranche of house hunting was beckoning so we heading back to Samos by way of old faithful, Blue Bay on Arki, It was hot & humid so the clear waters were very welcoming.

Blue Bay, Arki

We stayed a couple of nights.  One morning we woke up to a big Turkish Gulet that had arrived in the night and parked just behind us which in turn brought a fast Greek Coastguard rib armed to the teeth to investigate. They gave us a cursory once over too but nothing more than that.

We had been “out” now for quite a while the need of a good clean up, both for us & the boat was required, so the last passage back to  Pythagorio, Samos was the plan.  After a very lumpy 27 miles we berthed just before 17:00 outside Gregory’s  Bar in the harbour.

Lily as usual helped with her usual noisy arrival antics and shot off as soon as her door was opened and the passarelle deployed, No doubt glad to be on terra firma I suppose after a long stint on the boat.

Aw c’mon let me aff pleeeeeeeeze !

All cleaned up and out for dinner , Pythagorio

Before leaving Patmos altogether we sailed around to Ormos Grikos an alternative anchorage that we have never stayed in as the holding is not great and the water very deep.

It is said that John the Theologian lived in exile on Patmos in the 1^st century AD and to have received the revelation of God in the cave of the apocalypse hereabouts.

 

Ormos Grikos

Also an equally famous horse and donkey whisperer is known to frequent these parts dolling out carrots to the animals without losing his fingers on his morning trip into Scala for a coffee

Morning walk into Scala

Given our lack of progress in securing a winter billet we intended hanging about this part of the Aegean and continue trying to get something to rent in Samos or Leros.

We have covered off Patmos in previous year’s blogs so I won’t include too many pictures of the anchorages, lovely though they may be. So more rather our meanderings ashore.

We shuttled between Kyma, Ay Georgious & Livhadia bays for about a week. They are marked in that order on the chartlet.

Kyma is just wee inlet that you can anchor across from a very chic taverna that plays jazz and is visited by tourists staying in Scala Patmos the main town. It’s like us watching them watching us. You are so close you can almost see what they are eating.

When the boat swings the other way you are quite close to the taverna Ready to head into town for the evening

Kyma also has the advantage of being able to either walk into Patmos town or , as we did this year motoring round in Nicolas’s new Hondwave dinghy.

Don’t think our old AVON would make the trip , lol more patches than Desperate Dan after a shave

Now one of my favourites when visiting Patmos is the pizza restaurant that I insist we visit. This year however Louise & Nicolas on returning from shopping advised me it was shut due to covid. I was sorely disappointed and only after letting me suffer for another couple of hours told me they were joking,  I was like a dog with two tails .

Pizza here we come

The bay marked 1 is Ay Georgiou’s and is the most remote and has only a beach taverna and a little church on a hill. When the visitors disappear at night you can only hear the goats. It is very beautiful and especially so this year again due to the lack of other boats

Nothing to do but chill , bliss

Livadhia Bay (chequered Flag) is more commercialized but still nice, having a taverna ashore and a taxi service into Patmos Town. Normally we head in late morning for our supermarket trip followed by lunch before returning to our boats in the late afternoon.

 

Patmos & Scala Patmos in particular is a bit more chic than other Greek Islands, it’s always nice to spend some time ashore here

It may seem like it but we are not out on the town every night. Louise is a dab hand with the limited cooking facilities and space on the boat and rustles up some great dishes.

Last night we chilled after negotiating a deal with the George & Barbara a Scots couple I had met in Lesvos Marina when Louise was back home. They had a inflatable paddle board that they were selling and Louise has always fancied one, so we bought it from them. That’s their boat in the moonlight – a lovely big Bowman.

George & Barbara’s Bowman

Now momentarily jumping back to today. It’s April 2021 and the paddle board has been sold on to Lorraine & Paul as the Camira crew’s back is too knackered to let her continue with her paddle boarding. It’s currently sitting all packed up in the corner of our porch at the moment awaiting delivery to them.

Bloody nuisance anyway & guess who had to blow it up

Next day we trekked back in to Lipsi town to do a bit of exploring and of course lunch. We found a taverna hidden away owned by a (French) Belgian with Nicolas being French we automatically gravitated there.