Would you believe it the wind is going to go southerly again and quite a blow is expected, so its off across the almost 6 miles to Blefoutis Bay on Leros but not before I headed into Lipsi town to fill up our three 20 litre jerry cans with water.

A bit less luxurious than before but it did have it’s reward !

The water station Lipsi town

The “other” water station, Lipsi town.

Whilst here, just on the off chance, I tried a few fisherman type shops to see if I could get a replacement anode – to my surprise there is an actual boat chandlers just off the road we normally take in to town . We had been coming to Lipsi for years and didn’t know it was here, walking past it all the time !

AND they did have an  anode, Great! I went  under the boat in the nice clear water of Kouloura  and fitted it. No immediate need to visit Lakki then.

Once back with the water and anode repair effected we headed off to Blefoutis.

Being so close we arrived first but, as expected more boats arrived later in the day to join us sheltering from the forecasted weather.

“Looks nice & clear to me skipper “

“Oh!  Oh !”

“Have you seen them?”

“Oi are you listening to me?”

New arrivals

 

and more 

and the weather did change

After the storm we walked up to an old Italian General’s Mansion – now dilapidated and used by a goatherd to house his goats. Its all kitted out inside like a byre. Very comfy – if you are a goat – the herder also has a wee camp bed.

Almost there

The building is now the preserve of goats

We also tramped  down then back up up to the winery only to find it closed for the season – only a barrel of empty bottles !!!!!  Not impressed. LOL

The “non” winery

Full now in the anchorage -view from up the hill.

A visit to Lipsi normally means an obligatory visit to Manolis’ Tastes.

And this time was no exception.

You wouldn’t think the glamorous Mrs M had clambered into and out of a dinghy onto a sandy beach .

On board before the dingy departure

Camera shy cat

We normally walk into town but on this occasion we had ordered a taxi & he would pick us up at the cat feeding station above the anchorage

The cat feeding station photo shoot

The road you can see disappearing up the hill at the clouds is the normal walk

Lipsi Harbour

Drinks at “the ouzo” taverna by the harbour before Manolis’

So it looks like the last three weeks or so will be “Doddering around the Dodecanese.”

Not a hardship by any means, lovely they are …… but ….. perhaps? ……. maybe? ……. we can limit the Lakki visits. LOL

That said however, it is by far, the easiest place to reprovision & do the laundry etc.

We will see.

The plan today is to head down to Lipsi about 28 miles away.

Heading Lipsi -Mt Kerkis ever present in the background on Samos

The NW did indeed stay with us and we had a lovely sail down to Kouloura bay at the south of Lipsi.

It did get a bit brisk around lunch-time requiring a reef to be put in.

Cracking sail though, just under 6 hours underway and only 35 minutes on the engine lifting & dropping the anchor at the start and finish

I see from our log: 17:15 we are anchored with 1.5m under the keel in Kouloura bay.

Kouloura Bay, Lipsi

The daily aquatic, gymnasium routines

Back on the water.

Ton & Corinna have taken up residence in our house ! Hrrmmmph!

Not quite a month before we are back there again, if we so choose. We can of course stay out sailing longer. Late in the season can be lovely, albeit things are beginning to close and nights a wee bit chilly – yes we – no  correction, I  am getting soft !

We thought we might try for Lesbos, one last time, so our initial passage direction was along to Limonias bay at the west end of Samos , not far from Ormos Marathocampos.

It’s a lovely spot but it can be windy due the massive block of Mt Kerkis towering above it.

This year we have been “plagued” with south winds with all the inconvenience that usually causes, but now we are actually hoping that the light but southerly wind we have at the moment will continue for a few days or at least one ! If it does we might be able to scoot up north to Lesbos.

Unfortunately it was not to be. The 10:00 am 5 knot southerly changed to a 14:30 pm 15 knots north westerly.

Ah well we had two days at anchor in beautiful surroundings with only two others in the bay.

Limonias & Mt Kerkis

Lily settles in to seafaring mode, lounging in the sun .

However on the boat front:

Whilst swimming we noticed the decorative Moody stripes on the starboard side had been completely rubbed away caused by the tight berth we were in and the boat next to continually pressing our fenders together. I had heard squeaking when on the boat at times but couldn’t discover the exact source – really annoying.

In addition on diving under the boat I noticed the hull  anode looked like a stick of candyfloss. When I rubbed it to my horror it all disappeared – all I had was the two connecting through hull studs!

With the help of Mick I tested the electrical current in the water and looked for stray currents on the boat. All seemed to be OK and the water within tolerable limits so we put it down to a stray current in the marina. Hopefully I should be able to pick up a replacement in Leros – Lakki here we come again . LOL

At the start of this year we had decided that we needed a wee break from full-time sailing or a change of location. We both love Greece. I would probably have settled here, and we may still do, but Louise was not so sure about buying, and renting as we know is damn near impossible in the summer due to the Air B&B syndrome prevalent everywhere.

We have been extremely lucky to have had Another Day in Paradise (ADIP) every winter since 2020 & the earthquake! and we count Ton & Corinna amongst our friends now.

We were both looking forward to our 1^st shore based summer break since leaving Scotland way back in April 2014. We planned to just chill and decide what the medium to long term plan was going to be.

Fotis & Kostas at Aramis again supplied us with a discounted rental car although not quite at our normal winter rates but still very good of good of them given it was their busy period.

Firstly though we tackled the garden. It took about over a week in total. It was exhausting in the summer heat but enjoyable in an exercise sort of way and it not only meant it would be nice for Corinna & Ton when they arrived in September but also for us to enjoy.

As usual the normal cuts and bruises by Captain Chaos!

The finished results

We also drained, cleaned & refilled the pool

ET “Phone Home” arms. LOL

Lily also gets a summer break in the fields as well  (when not snoozing) although there are more dangers to contend with, busier roads and the possibility of snakes. Apparently this particular valley is known for snakes. I have only ever seen one alive out the back, most of the others are dead on the road. I think the poor buggers come out at night to  lie on the warm tarmac and get squashed flat. There is only one type really to be worried about and that is the Viper, the others are harmless.

So anyway ………….  back to our plans.

I think I have said before elsewhere in this blog that we loved Atlantic France on our trip down from Scotland and we had always considered the possibility of “doing” the French canals on the way back. So a germination of an idea began  ………….

After our shore leave and final mini sail in the Aegean at the end of this summer – Why don’t we spend yet another winter here in ADIP and, beginning in say April, next year sail back the way we came via the Ionian, Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica to France, planning to arrive September / October ?

OK, Yes !

We would look into the possibilities of obtaining a berth in a marina in the South of France, and renting accommodation for the winter period October 2026 to the following March / April 2027.

“The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men ……… gang aft agley.”

I wrote to nine or so marinas along the stretch of the south coast of France where we thought we would likely want to be. The story was almost the same in each one. There was a waiting list for an annual contract and whilst they couldn’t guarantee a winter berth they were more hopeful of offering a winter package, perhaps ashore, and only for six months, but we must apply again apply later in the year after October.

A helpful phone call received from one of them confirmed my thoughts that all the negative posts online were exaggerated. I did however stress our Scottish Nationality in every request written & verbal so maybe the “La Rochelle Effect” was in play ? LOL

Now this possible lack of availability gave us a problem.

Louise had looked at numerous rental options and had come up with a shortlist of likely places. If we sailed to France without a guaranteed place for the boat what would we do if, on arrival, we came up empty handed?

There was the possibility of finding a place actually in the canals or we could just transport the boat home to Scotland. I had got two quotes to do so and they were agreeable for us arriving at a French port around September or October.

So the decision was made, lets go for it, and we booked a villa in Homps, Aude, planning to set sail next April.

………………. more later !

Summer chilling continued.

Clara came for lunch & a swim.

Just a wee snack !!

It was now blisteringly hot even with air conditioning on in the upstairs bedroom.

The gardening continued.

We had an ant infestation. Every morning we had ant Armageddon despite setting traps and spraying.

Lily didn’t seem to bother sometimes she managed to wolf them down along with the rest of her food bowl before we could exchange them.

When getting advice in the shops we gleaned it was a common problem, A Greek shrug and “Next month, finish, finish next month”. LOL

We hoped so both for Corinna & Ton and also for us in the coming winter . We normally don’t see hide nor hair of any.

Two ant hills and them carrying all the grass seed I had put down into their nest.

Culture “an at” …………………….  “ Go Compare” ………………  a night at the opera.

I got dragged along to an outdoor opera held at the Pythagorio Amphitheatre up in the hills near the monastery. Two singers & a pianist.  It was very good although the lady singer was far better than the bloke . We spoke to her after the show and very nice she was too.

Dinner before the event daaahlings ! was taken in Mytilinii square (picture below) , so all in all a very enjoyable summer’s evening.

Mytilinii Square

Brian was out to do some work on Tutela so we “ convinced” him to take a break and come for lunch to Aghios Costantinos – didn’t take too much convincing & neither did the evening visit to  Samos town one night for dinner. LOL

Drinks before hand in Ag Konstantinos

Taverna with Brian

Silvie, our French friend was in transit between sailing boat’s and we managed to catch up briefly in Pythagorio before we saw her off on the ferry to Leros

Quick drink with Silvie in Pythagorio

Nothing more of import to tell re the summer break ……….

other than Nicolas contacted us “with a plan” ……………

He has a friend who lives in Mazamet not far from Toulouse. His friend was in the final stages of selling his business and then planning to go on a world tour. He was looking for house sitters for the period May 2026 – Sept 2026. Nicolas had put our names forward and the guy was delighted to have us. Apparently we had met him with Nicolas while sailing but we can’t remember ? This meant we could have almost a full year in France , 5 months of it FOC with perhaps a car thrown in!

These are pictures of the house.

What’s not to like?

We accepted his offer, the actual timings & itinerary details would be confirmed later.

A year would certainly give us plenty of time to see if we liked France enough for a permanent move.

BUT

Obviously we couldn’t sail there in time for May 2026  only leaving in April 2026 .

What to do then ?

We came up with the following solutions:

Leave the boat in Greece and fly to France.

If we liked it, all well and good, we would return to Greece pick up the boat and sail back to France , hopefully having actually eyeballed some French marinas in person and been successful in guaranteeing a berth or storage space or sell the boat!

If we didn’t like it, then return to Greece, and hopefully decide what to do after that.

This left all our options open:

• permanently or not,

• with or without a boat

• property purchase or not

• in France, Greece or wherever.

…………………. even more later !

Could be doing all this again eh ?  (in reverse of course)

All very exciting as we head off for what could be our final sail in the Aegean, or even for ever!

Tuesday 1^st July.

Today’s plan is a straight line to Kefalos , the large bay at the west end of Kos.

It’s about 43 miles and about 9 hours away so we were up early at 05:45.

It was calm when we left but thankfully the wind increased steadily throughout the day. By 11:00 we were more or less abeam Nisiros having clocked up 27 miles and at 15:45 we were anchored in Kefalos. The last 6 miles we had the wind on our nose as expected – good for the anchoring orientation though.

As we were going to be here for a few days we had hired a scooter to explore. On spec one evening we decided to take a run along to Kardamena, where the various party’s were / are in progress. However it was blowing a hoolie and Bob & Andrea had posted on line to all the other party goers they would not coming ashore. Bob doesn’t like leaving his boat on anchor if its too windy, can’t blame him. George & Barbara must have been out in a taverna somewhere as their boat was deserted on the quay, so we left a calling card, had a wander around Kardamena before scootering back for dinner in Kefalos. Turned out we missed G&B them by 5 minutes !

We visited a few tavernas including one we had first been to back on our earlier years sailing in Greece – it seemed like ages ago we had been there. Time has definitely flown by !

I took Louise to the airport on Friday 4^th July to fly back to Scotland.

Kos town

That afternoon before I took the bike back I went up to visit Kefalos village proper, that’s the anchorage in the distance.

Kefalos village.

The next day Saturday I headed back up to Leros .

Lily seemed unperturbed that it was just me and her on the boat when we set off, and she settled down in her usual sailing spot. Holding on with one paw though, I see.

The Crew leaving Kefalos

The afternoon before however I was pinned down. She was probably wondering where Louise had disappeared to and was making sure I couldn’t follow suit.

It took me just under 8 hours to reach Lakki, taking the scenic route through the channel between Nisos Telendos & Kalymnos and just after 16:00 I was anchored in our “usual” spot.

4 days R&R for me.

Harry & Diane time for Louise.

Scottish Breakfast

Bowling fun with Harry, Courtenay & Diane

9^th July

Louise was due to arrive back in Lakki at the ferry terminal, which is a 5 minute stroll from the anchorage.

The expected view!

I would see the ferry arriving, she would walk to the boat & whistle as normal & I would pick her up in the dinghy.

I was duly waiting but no sign of Louise or the ferry.

She hadn’t noticed the ferry arrived at a different port Aghia Marina on the other side of the island and I didn’t have my phone on!

It was a taxi job and an irate crew when she did eventually arrive.

Next day we were heading to Posidonio on Samos. It is a longish one so we were up and away by 05:50.

The decks were soaking and a very thick mist surrounded us. That made exiting Lakki Bay interesting, looking out for ferries and other boats . The unusual mist stayed with us all the way up the west coat of Leros. It only started to lift at 07:00. We were motor sailing as the wind we expected hadn’t arrived . Heading through the Archangel channel we decided that, having no wind, we would just too head to Kouloura Bay on Lipsi and have a night at Manolis’ Tastes taverna.

By 09:00 we were anchored and two hours later the wind was thrashing so no Manolis this time around.

The next day we did have a cracking last sail up to Samos – 2 reefs in the Genoa and the main.

We would “ holiday “ in Posidonio for a few days until it was time for the 5 mile passage along to Samos Marina on the 17^th July.

What is it with cats ? – close but thankfully calm

and why use two anchors when one will do , LOL

Posidonio and Klima ( the next bay along)  are lovely hence why they are so busy.

Posidonio from the road around to Klima

…. and Klima

Klima is always quieter but holding not as good

That ends the the first half  of sailing  season 2025.

Now for two months in Another Day in Paradise

Monday 30^th June

Well it’s been a longish haul down to Symi and having got here what were we going to do next ?

Given we have ADIP (the house in Samos) booked from the 17^th July, did it make sense to continue further west to perhaps Astipalea (Butterfly of the Aegean) or just start to head back?

In a way the sad passing of Dave Milne helped make up our minds.

We would start heading back up to Kos where Louise would fly home for his funeral. I would take the boat from Kos to (good old) Leros. Louise would fly back to Kos after the funeral, then get the ferry to Leros where I would pick her up.

Having come this far however, a day trip into Symi town seemed obligatory. We have been before. There’s not a lot of places we haven’t visited at some point or other . We have now been sailing in Greece since 2017 so repeat visits are just part & parcel of that.

We didn’t expect the visit into town to be quite as short as it turned out though.

The bus times from Panormitis are not brilliant and the taxi price is just downright ridiculous. You have departures from Panormitis at either 07:00 in the morning which means getting up about 06:00 to get ready & row ashore. ( Nicolas wasn’t impressed the last time I remember !) or at 11:00 BUT the return bus is either at 13:00 or 16:00.

We had plumped for the 11:00 in and the 16:00 back but when we got there it was so hot and busy we couldn’t be bothered hanging around – it was tourist hell. We both decided let’s just pick up some provisions , grab a kebab and head back to the peace of Panormitis, which is what we did. Back on the bus at 13:00. LOL

It is lovely but, we’ve been there, done it, and bought the tee shirt I’m afraid.

We did have time to get some shots of the town .

Symi town approach from the bus

Symi town

Louise waiting for our carry out Gyros – they were very good!

’The way the boats were bouncing on the quay was borderline dangerous. We can’t show the video clips on the blog but we wouldn’t want to be berthed there – couldn’t anyway – not suitable for Lily with the main road feet away and a noisy busy town she might get lost in!

View of Panormitis from the bus on the way back

Lily cool as, well a cat ! hanging nonchalantly off the back to welcome us back.

Some lovely views from the Taverna , Panormitis, across the bay

So, say you calculate from Leros (our centre of Greek civilisation this year), we will have completed a return trip  of around 160 miles and 35 hours underway for a 1 hour dash around Symi town , LOL

Ah well what else would we be doing  – daytime TV?  Blue skies & sunshine – no contest, but we admit we are looking forward to some land based time this summer back at ADIP.

Thursday 26th June

After so much variable weather it looked like, for a few days at least, which is about all you can realistically rely on, some settled winds from the NW direction were forecast.

Today’s plan was to head down to Pserimos, an island just north of Kos.

We normally head for a sandy bay at the east end with clear water and good holding. Its nearness to Kos means that during the day you have  numerous little motorboats hired by visiting holidaymakers. Some of the seas around here can really fetch up. It can be quite a windy spot off Kos and although as I say its only about 8-10 miles to Kos town I wouldn’t fancy being in one of these wee things and trying to get back if the weather changed.

Like today !

We set off in a steady 10 knots around 10:00. I see from the logbook by 11:00 it was up to 15 knots. We were having a nicely balanced sail downwind & just before 13:00 it was a steady 20 knots gusting more. By the time we reached our planned anchorage it was over 25 knots. We had to gybe twice to to clear a couple of tankers before continuing into a very windy bay. It was a fast approach and needed some thought to get the sails down & pick a spot. There were a couple of boats in close in to capitalise on the shelter but we managed to find a reasonable spot too.

It was a great sail and in the just over 4 hours underway only 30 minutes on engine at the start & 15 at the end laying the anchor.

Unfortunately no pictures but if you imagine a brisk, blowy, dull Clyde day you won’t be too far wrong.

However I was. We had expected favourable winds to get us southwards but instead the next day we woke up to blue skies and no wind at all!

Friday 27^th June.

50 miles to go to reach Panormitis, a landlocked bay on Symi.

We set off at 07:30 fingers crossed for some wind. It was not to be.

At 09:00  we were motor sailing abeam of Kos town approaching the marina. (Wpt 1). After rounding the SE of Kos at AK Fokas, (Wpt2)  we headed for the end of the Datcha peninsula. (Wpt 3)  Now strictly speaking we shouldn’t be doing this but we fancied a close look at the Turkish coast. At 12:00 we were almost in the little harbour around the corner at Devboynu point. (Wpt4)

Thankfully no approach from the Turkish Coastguard, if they had seen the Greek courtesy flag they might have come for a look.

Turkish waters

Still no wind and it was a further long hot 36 miles to Symi. The alternator is playing up. It’s not charging for some reason until I fiddle with the connections. It may be the extreme heat ? will need to investigate.

At 17:15 we finally reached Panormitis and dropped anchor. It had been a long hot day, time for a dip.

Panormitis is a lovely place but there’s not much ashore other than the monastery , a café, bakery and one taverna. It’s more or less owned by the monastery. During the day the ferry and trip boats come around from Symi town crammed full of visitors for the Monastery, which is well worth a visit. We have been in years past.

Ferry boat and a panoramic picture of the bay

 There are small basic cell like rooms along the cloisters that we think you can rent for a retreat sort of thing.

Sleepy quiet place when the visitors have gone.

In the late in the afternoon during the siesta I sneak ashore to fill my jerry cans with water from behind the monastery from a very ornate tap. I’ll be going to the bad fire. That said I’m sure if I was caught by the head monk they would surely be  be charitable no ? It’s in the teachings after all.

Isn’t it amazing that the light from the moon reaches all the way to reflect off the top of that boat’s mast eh? LOL

At night the lighting on the monastery is quite spectacular

After 11 days in Lakki we were doing the small jump down to Kalymnos.

The south end of Leros at Xirocambos virtually touches the north end of Kalymnos. They are separated by a channel and a number of small islets. It is through these islets at wpt3 we pass and then down the east coast of Kalymnos to Palionisis.

This is the same spot we recommended to our visiting charter friends. There are two sets of buoys ,each belonging to their respective tavernas, and the done thing is to eat in the taverna whose buoy you have picked up. For some reason or other we have always gone to the same one. We hadn’t booked so it was pot luck if we would get in. If not we would just continue on. As it turns out there were plenty vacant with no reserved signs when we arrived.

Panorama of the whole anchorage

The sail itself was mixed with 11 knots of wind from the NW and then variable in direction. However we managed to use both the sails and were underway for just under 4 hours, about half the time having to use the engine to motor sail.

Landing pontoon

The taverna whilst still good and a great view has gone up in price a bit – we are in June right enough & normally we would be early or late in the season here, maybe the prices change for the charter boats coming in .

Views from our taverna & the other one is across the way

It’s a nice spot and good to have a change so we stayed here for two nights.

Friday 13^th 08:00 anchor up and heading back to Lakki.

There was a good steady wind from the NW of 20 knots, gusting more, and a perfect direction for a brisk downwind sail to Leros about 22 miles away.

The waves were a lot bigger than forecast but no matter as we were surfing down them in the same direction. However that all came to an end around 10:00 when the wind died to only 4 knots which was not expected, leaving us with a very lumpy sea and an uncomfortable 2 knots SOG, so unfortunately the sail we were looking forward to came to an end and the engine was on.

We arrived to a very busy anchorage presumably all hiding from this strange weather. Unusually it took us two attempts to set the anchor but in the end we were more or less where we normally stop. It’s a wee bit close if it goes southerly but the holding is great.

George & Barbara and Mike’s boats were already here a few days since.

G&B’s lovely Bowman – Pipe Dream

Mike’s big Moody was even closer in than us. Fingers crossed for not a lot of south wind, pointless that proved though – it is Friday 13^th after all ! and yes it did go south.

Stern facing into the shore but relatively calm at the moment

We were OK as you can see from the night-time picture, almost right across from Souvlaki , I could have shouted my order in, but psychologically you are always happier when not on a lee shore.

Mike could almost have stepped of the small jetty and on to his boat ! LOL

We thought it was going to be a quick provisioning, fill up with water, laundry, supermarket etc. (AND pizza) before our mini passage down to Symi.

It was not to be, the weather kept us, and everyone else, pinned down for 11 days.

You’ll now understand my comments in an earlier post about time spent here this year.

We had a few more nights out with George, Mike & Barbara.

Mike & George on “Pipe Dream” Beer ’o clock before dinner.

We hired a bike to visit Allindi , on the other side of the island, where there is a new pontoon, as yet not officially opened, but as is the norm in Greece a number of boats are already in residence. There would be enough space but it is just off the main road so preferably for Lily one of the buoys purportedly owned by To Steki , a taverna on the waterfront would be better.

We went in for a drink to find out the situation. The owner indeed have a buoy that we were welcome to use but he had not serviced it this year and recommended in calm weather only. The Taverna itself gets a great write up so we may well visit at some point.

Allindi Bay Views

To Steki Taverna

On a sadder point when out walking on day we happened upon a wee kitten lying in the middle of the road up near the back of the town. We think she was blind & dehydrated. We left her some food and water and the next day returned armed with newly purchased gardening gloves, a box and a free loan of a scooter from the lady in our scooter place. We had planned to try to capture her and take her to the vet, but she was nowhere to be found. Hopefully her mother found her & is looking after her.

Watching Taxiarchis ( the local bulk carrier) slowly making her way between the anchored vessels to berth at the quayside and the big Blue Star ferry doing the same at the other side was a regular voyeur sport.

Taxiarchis – gently manoeuvring alongside

Blue Star reversing in on the other hand doesn’t take prisoners

On a beautiful walk out towards the distant entrance to the bay there is a sombre plaque reminding us this was not always so serene a place.

One of the positives for Lily here is the supermarket stocks her favourite treats which she goes absolutely crazy for at her feeding times.

“Kalimera – is that the pet shop, can you send some treats these B’s don’t feed me”

This is her stock of goodies  – belying the above plea, but  now I have nowhere to stow my goodies.