Patmos – the holiday

Having the bike was great. We could head into town or wherever whenever we felt like it.

A typical night would see us heading into Scala for a wander, an aperitif in the square followed by dinner in one of the many tavernas available. As is usual for us we had found one we liked and kept going back.

Scala main square & surroundings

A favourite taverna

Although I had been up to the chora before, I had not visited the cave of the apocalypse.

Off we go in the morning from Livadhia

The Cave is traditionally believed to be the place where Saint John the Theologian received the visions recorded in the Book of Revelation. It sits halfway between Skala and chora.

Saint John was exiled to Patmos around 95 AD under Emperor Domitian.

Inside this cave, he is said to have heard the divine voice dictating the text of Revelation, which his disciple Prochorus wrote down.

The only divine voice I heard was the priest at the door asking for the admittance fee.

Chora is lovely as witnessed by the following scenes – this is where Albert of “Albert & Thomas” fame , our French friends who will be hosting part of our stay in France next year owns a house.

Colourfull Chora

View down to Scala Patmos and our anchorage top right in the far distance

After a bit of exploring & a coffee stop we headed off to Grikos Bay.

Coffee stop in chora

View down to Grikos

Just across from the islet, on the mainland side of the bay, is Kalikatsou Rock, which was used as a hermit’s dwelling in early Christian times.

There are carved niches, steps, and small chambers inside the rock. It’s believed to have been a place of ascetic retreat, similar in spirit to the Cave of the Apocalypse but not directly connected to Revelation.

Our revelation was that the main access route to Grikos bay was blocked by a cement mixer so it was an interesting return back up the hill to find another route. Well done Penelope Pit Stop. LOL

We had swung by here on the boat a few years before and wondered about stopping but didn’t. You can pick up a rental buoy but in effect turns you are quite far out from Scala and the only restaurants seem to be hotel based and extremely expensive.

Grikos Bay & old man Grikos himself

It was now too late for lunch so we headed down the wine roads to Petra but again didn’t get too far as the surface became a bit a bit off roadish.

Fun and OK for me by Louise wasn’t to keen

Can’t blame her though, gravel rash would be sore in the event of a spill only wearing shorts & tee shirts.

So back into Scala and a drink in the square before heading back to the anchorage.

George, Mike & Barbara had arrived in tour absence ………….

George & Barbara anchored behind us

………… so we arranged to meet at the taverna above the anchorage for dinner,

excellent end to the day.

They were staying around these locales for a bit (idling time before needing to get to Kos for the party) We asked if they would like to hire bikes the next day and join us , but Barbara is not too keen on two wheels.

Next day we headed off to Lampi (The bay we had anchored off a few weeks before our aborted attempt to head to Lesbos) By now the two tavernas were open and we plumped for the 2^nd one along. A very nice man.George Orfanadis who was eating in the taverna came to our table and recommended some dishes. He told us he had a house in a bay nearer to Scala. We knew it well . He invited us for coffees later in the week. Louise would have loved to have gone. The house and gardens are fantastic. Unfortunately the weather changed for the worst and we didn’t want to leave the boat unattended and had to phone him to cancel. Next time maybe ?

That’s George at the table behind Louise.

So that was a brief précis of our weeks “holiday” on Patmos.

It’s a lovely island.

I will have fond memories of the view & quietness of that anchorage

On our last night we had a strawberry moon .

Patmos

Wednesday 4^th June 2025

We left at 08:30 in calm weather just a zephyr.

After looking at the forecasted winds & weather we had discounted trying to get up to Lesbos at this time. It’s a wee bit disappointing but perhaps we may be able to go later in September?

The alternative plan then was to go south.

We had thought as far as Crete (170-190 nm) but after talking to Bob & Andrea who are based in Aghios Nikolas we decided against that as well. They have been waiting three weeks to try to get North to Kos where a small flotilla was heading, including Barbara, George & Mike for Mike’s 60^th birthday bash later in June. We were invited but even my liver wouldn’t keep up! I think from memory about 10 boats are heading to Kardamilla for a week’s celebrations.

In the end we decided on Symi, down to the south east very near Turkey. Although we could possibly get stuck on Crete with a strong Meltemi blowing straight down the Aegean from the north of Greece, there is a bit more shelter from the islands over at Symi allowing us to get back northwards.

Today however we were heading just under 25 miles down to Patmos.

Overall passage

Detail of the sheltered bay at Livadhia Geranou

By 09:30 the wind had got up a little to 11 – 12 knots which allowed slow progress but a pleasant enough sail to Livadhia Geranou, a favourite anchorage of ours at the east end of Patmos. I see from the log we arrived at 14:15, 15 minutes shy of six hours underway.

Mt. Kerkis on Samos on our way to Patmos

It is a big lump of rock! and is responsible for the fierce katabatic winds at Ormos when the meltemi is blowing. It can be seen from Patmos & the other distant islands.

You can see from the chart above that Scala Patmos (Patmou) the main town was a wee bit away from our anchorage. Normally we would travel in and out in taxis but their prices have rocketed so we considered a longer term scooter hire which would be far cheaper and give us some flexibility to visit areas of the island we hadn’t before.

We planned to stay a while as the timetable was such that we had the house booked from 17^th July so enough time to leisurely sail around the Dodecanese.

We thought we would need to visit Scala to arrange the hire, however to our surprise when we phoned the guy he arrived in a car picked us up , took us back to the main drag and sorted us out with an almost new bike. He also said at the end of the hire just to leave it at the taverna and he would arrange to pick it up. Brilliant service no ?

A few panorama shots of the anchorage , the last from the taverna.

What a view eh?

Ormos

In the end it took Louise a while to shake the effects of C19, maybe because she had had it before a few years ago back in London? I was OK after about two days or so.

A nice marina, good facilities though only two showers. A pretty setting.

Pictures of the marina from Camira

It has a number of shoreside tavernas and more available nearby a short walk into Kampos or, if you are feeling more energetically inclined, a climb on a steepish path up the hill to Marathocampos. So you are spoiled for choice for eating out. Throw in a reasonable supermarket, a good local beach that you can jump off one of the harbour walls to reach then Ormos isn’t a bad place to rest up.

Ormos village & the marina in the distance.

Some dodgy characters though.

It didn’t take Louise too long to get her appetite back.

Post Covid Cake

A few of the tavernas we visited the last being one of our favourites if a wee bit more expensive with great views

There was a lovely wee boat berthed just along from us. Initially I thought it was wooden but talking to the owner found out it was in fact steel, great lines.

In comparison look at these two big catamarans below. Now I’ve nothing against your choice of boat – we are all sailors after all – but this is the way things seem to be going, less space available in marinas, for example I think you could get a minimum of 6 boats in the space of the two cats.

More irritating however is the decreased possibilities for anchoring in some of the more popular bays. If you only have even have a few of these in – that’s it . Normally we are so small we can usually manage to sneak in but I have seen lots of others having taken a look needing to move on & find elsewhere. Nicolas, Louise & I have said it before but we think we have been lucky to have seen the best. It’s getting far busier now with far bigger craft. That’s life……cue Ester.

There are some nice walks and run routes for Louise now she’s up to it.

Surrounding countryside at Ormos, Mt. Kerkis in the distance.

On one particular night out to the local “hotel” taverna I managed to swipe the following glass of red completely over Louise. This is her having returned from the facilities after a clean up attempt.

We still hadn’t ordered ! Think the face tells the story.

Clock the picture below and spot the cat, our cat ! If you can.

The woman on board was OK with, & liked, cats but wasn’t overly keen on them visiting her on her boat. We had told her, as we do everyone, “If Lily appears & you don’t want her aboard please just chase her away”. She usually only does a quick nosey & then leaves anyway. Not this time, I looked up early one evening and just spotted her ! There she is above the owner, who is blissfully ignorant of a Lily napping above her without a care in the world.

We kept shtum in the hope she would sneak off unseen.

It’s always difficult to get the momentum to leave Ormos but had planned to do so on the 3^rd June but two things happened: George & Barbara arrived on their Bowman and her nibs was sleeping on another unattended boat and we couldn’t get her off !

So without too much arm twisting we stayed one more day and had a night out with George Barbara & Mike. Copious jugs of wine included.

George , Barbara & Mike

The next morning – cat locked in -no escaping, Louise suffering a “sore heid “ and swearing off the wine, again, we finally managed to escape port Velcro after a very enjoyable 13 days.

Lampi ? – No Lurgie !

9:00 a.m. start and off up to Lampi bay just under 25 miles to the north.

On the way we heard and felt really loud explosions, turned out some sort of exercise at the other side of the Aegean near the mainland, miles away !

We dropped anchor shortly before half past one. Alone again.

It’s another beautiful setting. I had attempted two panoramic shots – the 1^st looks like some leviathan from the deep is surfacing but I have included it anyway.

Lampi Bay, Nth Patmos

There are two tavernas ashore . We are not sure if they are open. There is some movement but may just be the owners getting things ready for the season – looks like their houses are next to the tavernas so they maybe just doing the usual Greek coffee and chatting amongst themselves – not punters.

Anyhow it’s not worth all the palaver of inflating / launching / deflating the dinghy on the off-chance of lunch and we were both feeling a bit throaty & lethargic anyway.

Calm afternoon Lampi

A relaxing afternoon , dinner on board and earlyish to bed for the early start tomorrow pre dawn ! They are hellish to get up for but good once you are on the move. From the log I see the engine was on and the anchor up at 05:40.

No wind at all at the moment but hopefully it would fill in later from the south.

A medley of dawn shots Lampi

The planned passage The actual passage

The total distance to Kolpos Geras, Lesbos is just shy 0f 114 miles but with a likely stop at Oinousses Waypoint 3 just 75 miles away we planned to break it into two.

We had motored past Fourni, leaving it to starboard and there was still no wind. Furthermore both of us were now feeling pretty grotty with flu-like symptoms so we phoned Ioannis at Ormos Marina at Marathocampos on Samos so see if they had any space available for a few days. He would check with Stephan & get back to us – but we heard nothing (which in the end turned out to be a misunderstanding) so we continued onwards with the original plan. By the time we had reached the east end of Ikaria there was still no wind so we thought we will just go to Ormos and if they don’t have a space we will anchor outside or at Limmonias. In the event when we arrived they were expecting us neither had got back to us to confirm . LOL.

The journey looks, and was, a whole lot shorter but we still clocked up 30 miles and over 6 hours underway.

We tied up and after having to dive over the side to free the far too short lazy line warps that were wrapped around the prop ! we let Lily ashore and I lay down with the lurgie or as Louise calls it Man Flu .

Now I have never had Covid – always managed to dodge it – however we had some old test kits on board and guess what we both had Covid.

Mine as you can see is far more severe.

C-19 for the 1st & hopefully last time.

So it was a few days isolating on the boat for us, not mixing with anyone.

Lily on the other hand had won a watch – “shore time unlimited” for her.

Lesbos , last time ?

Now that I am back to the blog proper and writing this up after the fact I hope I have not ben too hard on Mr Blobby. However it was a stressful night and the American Trimaran Skipper who visited Louise on his dinghy had said that he (Mr Blooby) told one boat he had 50m of chain out, another 30m and another again over 40 “He appeared not to know what he had out” and “ I’m glad he wasn’t near me “

Ah well …….. All’s well that end’s well.

Panoramic view of Blefoutis after the carnage and many departures – it’s beautiful.

Its now Sunday morning and we are back off around to Lakki for the provisioning & laundry run, yet again, and to decide what our plans will be thereafter sailing wise. We tried the Genoa but with little to 5 kts of wind it was a waste of time so engine on for the 12 miles or so.

We really like Lakki, which is just as well this year , the number of visits we’ve had! It has a strange atmosphere – the architecture is Italian / Art Deco – totally understandable given the Italians were here for a while during WWII and Mussolini built himself a huge mansion across the other side of the bay. They have been continually renovating the buildings on the waterfront and seem to be eventually getting there with some, while others are falling further into disrepair.

Lily is recovering well and we have been stocking up on her favourite goodies and a few toys (which she will totally ignore after a brief sniff)

We met a Dutch couple a few years ago berthed next to us in Lipsi who after talking to us about our lifestyle took the plunge and bought a house up the hill overlooking the bay. We had been up for a visit years before just after they bought it. We met them again this year by accident in the supermarket and they now have installed a swimming pool (the last one’s allowed to do so) and now spend half the year here & loving it.

We are on 1^st name terms with the scooter rental lady, the laundrette man and I have a wee French girlfriend in the Souvlaki gyros taverna . We are recognised in the Pizza restaurant and the local “sailors bar” and the artisan butchers – it’s a telling story no ? LOL

We also have the choice of two chandlers, a place to get camping gas refills, a B&Q like outlet, a reasonably big supermarket and a number of mini’s as well, oh! and a wine cave/ merchants

So all in all not a bad place to be “stuck” for a while.

Laundry run could be coming or going not sure?

Louise ready for an evening trip ashore.

Water replenishment whilst on anchor is our biggest challenge only having 120 litre tanks. I have installed an additional 60 litre storage in plastic jerry cans under the aft seat in the cockpit you would think they were made to fit. When in Lakki I take the dinghy across to our “secret tap” outside the tennis courts to fill up – job done ! and easy to refill.

Bespoke water tanks

Whilst here I took pity on the local stray cats and whenever I can, usually when going to the laundrette or more likely having left the laundry & going for a beer!

Talking of beers – Brian & Sara arrived on their boat unexpectedly while we were here and on a still very cold night we visited their favourite gyros outlet.

Think this was when we got the lurgies, more later……………………

Trying to keep warm with Sara’s scarf

We have looked at the weather and there is a tiny weather window that maybe could allow us to travel north up to Lesvos, for what might be our last visit of all time. We have a soft spot for Scala Loutra, Mytilini & Lesbos in general, so that is the plan.

Unfortunately Xios our usual half way house on route where we normally stop for a week or so is out of bounds now as the unfinished marina we used to frequent has now been purchased. It is being developed into what looks like a super posh one. So if we do go, it will be a long one but the wind is to shift south on the 22^nd into the 23^rd so we are heading for Ormos Lampi on the North coast of Patmos to get a springboard northwards in fair winds – fingers crossed.

This will be our 1^st time anchored in Lampi.

Plan for tomorrow

Off south

Initially this year’s plan was going to be a return passage back across the Mediterranean starting mid to end April with a view to ending up for the winter in France but ultimately this didn’t happen.

Our Scottish contingent of sailing friends had, after about 10 years of thinking about it, decided this was the year to visit us and were chartering a yacht out of Kos the 1^st week in May.

That being the case we decided to take a break from full-time sailing and avoid the blistering 40 degree summer heat of July & August in Greece that’s become the norm. We luckily managed to arrange with Corinna & Ton to additionally rent “Another Day in Paradise” (the house) from mid July to mid September this year. This would also let us test what it’s like to live ashore during the summer months – because who knows where ultimately we will end up?

In reality this meant we would probably base ourselves in the Dodecanese keeping an eye out for potential weather windows to attempt a trip up to Lesbos either after the Scots’ visit or after the summer break at the house in September?

Who knows time will tell?

For now we were off!

South to Kouloura anchorage on Lipsi passing Agathonisi on the way and then Leros

You can see by the chart plotter a few others maybe have the same idea. Things are definitely getting busier & it’s only the 27^th April.

The wind in the morning was only 5 knots or so requiring help from the engine but later on it picked up and with a reefed main & full Genoa we managed a consistent 5 knots boat speed , not too bad. Underway for 7 hours at 17:00 we anchored in Kouloura Bay in 4 meters. Not another soul to be seen, the others must have gone elsewhere, maybe Agathonisi or perhaps around to the harbour at Lipsi town quay.

On passage to Lipsi warm enough in the sun …………

But ……… it was still cold when the sun disappeared not time yet to stow the winter woollies!

After a couple of nights on anchor it was off to Lakki, Leros. At 11.00 it was overcast and brisk. We left in gusts of 17 knots and quite lumpy seas. Once through the relatively sheltered passage between Archangelos (island) and Leros the wind had filled in some more – now a steady 23 knots gusting higher. We were surfing down the waves on the west side of Leros heading for the entrance of Lakki. When we arrived not unexpectedly it was quite busy but we found a wee spot to anchor.

Nicolas arrived with the new owner, boat delivered to the marina. He was staying on it for his final few days. The only thing for him to do was pick up the balance of the final payments (4 undated cheques) from the French Guy who had now decamped to his house in Aghia Marina. He had lent Nicolas his scooter so I hired one as well and headed off with him to pick up his money in Aghia Marina, then a scoot around to Gourna Bay, then down to Xirocambpos for lunch and finally back to Lakki. Its not a big island and you can go from one end to the other in jig time.

Aghios Marina & 1st coffee stop

Gourna Bay & small church almost in the rocks

Xirocampos for aperitifs

We had a night out with Nicolas, Eric & Beatrice, other French sailing friends. They are from Brittany and Eric loves his Scottish Whisky.

Nicolas’ last night saw us visiting the pizza restaurant and the patisserie before he said his final good byes to Greece and boarded the overnight ferry to Athens for his flight back home to France the next day.

Final eateries & a cold night

Au revoir !

The weather has been pretty miserable by Greek standards and so we were worried for the week’s yacht charter by our friends.

Arriving in Kos and meeting us in Leros would not be too much of a problem as the winds were southerly, but some of the contingent were not sailors and initially had preferred to be berthed up each night as opposed to anchoring.

These considerations meant their area to sail and stop was almost totally limited to Lakki, Leros with a couple of nights in Kalymnos, which we had recommended to break up the initial and return passages.

Stopping there on the buoys, provided by the tavernas, however allowed the non-sailors to gain their confidence & after getting their sea legs enjoyed a few nights at anchor as well. We met them on arrival in Leros , their 1^st stern to mooring at Lakki quay which they handled no bother. That night we all went to “Sou V lakki” a gyros based taverna just along from the town quay. Needless to say a few jugs of wine were demolished and the following gyros discovered.

Unfortunately for them the wind continued on a settled southerly course with some strong winds forecast which made it difficult to find alternative safe harbours to moor up in.

However after Lakki we headed around to Blefoutis, a sheltered bay on the other side of Leros for a couple of days at anchor .

Short but pretty passage for the charterer’s around to Blefoutis

While there Louise and the others hired taxis to visit Aghia Marina and have lunch, while I stayed on boat watch with Lily, so at least they got to see a bit (well most) of the island before they decided to start back down to Kos again in plenty of time for another night on Kalymnos.

It wasn’t the greatest weather for them but they enjoyed it all never the less.

Neil piping us abord

At anchor on their boat in Blefoutis – later on we might have been a bit noisy !

Visit to Allindi/ Aghios Marina

Goodbyes

After they had gone we headed back round to Lakki again to stock up, get water, laundry etc. This was to prove all to regular this year I can now speak “Lakkinese”

There are a few walks around Leros, this is one, nice to stretch your legs off the boat sometimes.

A circular walk on the Sunday before our return to Blefoutis tomorrow for the “vet run”

We had discovered a lump on Lily’s back and had visited the vet in Lakki for a diagnosis on the 9^th May. He felt it was probably OK but best to remove it & see. Unfortunately he wasn’t available until 15^th May the following week when unfortunately a really strong southerly was forecast so we had to head around to Blefoutis yet again ! Louise had organised a car to be delivered from a lady we had used before & she took Lily for her op. Luckily after testing it was benign.

Lily in Blefoutis Bay pre ………….

………..… & post op, recovering

The weather is absolutely terrible this year now culminating in storm “Innes” which required staying on anchor in Blefoutis for 5 days. Ashore later for a walk after it had calmed a bit we heard from another crew that only 5 boats (us one of them) out of 13 held with others repeatedly dragging their anchors in the middle of the night, and 5 actually leaving in 40+ knot winds.

I note from the blog I had “penned” a record at the time on the laptop in which I had attempted to humourise the potentially dangerous series of events that occurred during our enforced 5 day stay in Blefoutis . It has a separate posting under “Mr Blobby”

Mr Blobby

Well its been a long couple of nights culminating in storm Innes last night.

I have to admit this morning the thought of not getting rolled out of bed and then back in again and using a toilet that doesn’t move is very appealing.

Rather, to wake up, wander through to the lounge with a sausage sandwich, a mug of builder’s tea and watch what James Martin was cooking up for Saturday lunch / dinner on TV seems idyllic.

But its now Saturday evening.

All is calm again & I have returned from doing some admin ashore on the laptop. Louise had meanwhile been talking to an American skipper on a boat anchored in the bay whose thoughts of the storm and the antics of one particular boat in particular had mirrored mine.

So here’s a précis of events that, while definitely not funny at the time, now with the adrenaline rush having come down, goes a long way to produce the giggles, in me at least, and possibly cathartic into the bargain!

You do however have to have imagine the character MR BLOBBY

I enclose a URL for those who wish to have the full immersive experience, LOL.

Press Ctrl & Click link below:

Mr Blobby’s Official Home on YouTube

From what I remember he was from the Noel Edmonds show. He was like a blow up manikin figure that was pink and …..well ……blobby. All he ever said was “Blobby, Blobby, Blobby “ and then jumped on people. He ranged from being mildly annoying to completely aggravating.

Further, imagine for speech a Dutch version of Sean Connery and you’ll not be too wide of the mark.

I’m in the bay alone not another soul, Louise is away in a hire car with Lily at the vet and we have moved here well in advance for protection from a severe storm forecasted to start the following evening.

Not a soul – no other boats

A boat appears, and like a magnet makes a beeline for me, despite having an enormous bay to chose from.