Chapter One: HEADING FOR LEMNOS
After some last minute provisioning we prepared Cordelia and at 8.20am we untied the last line and slipped our mooring. We motored out of the harbour, and while Ingrid tidied away the dirty fenders and lines Peter pointed Cordelia along the coast towards the North-East cape at Adrapánon. At last the wind picked up, so we unfurled the genoa and at 9.15am we stopped the engine. The wind increased to 30 knots and Cordelia was flying towards the North. At one stage we even managed an hourly average of 6.7 knots with a top speed of 8.8 knots!
We were sailing along splendidly for 3½ hours until we hit the “Blue Zone”. This is what we called the windless area shown on Windy (a weather app) in blue that now stretched all the way to Chios. The genoa began to flap, so down it came and the engine was switched on. The swell that had followed us turned more towards the beam, and Cordelia shook from side to side when Ingrid tried to make a brew. She succeeded but not without spilling some of it when the mugs developed a life of their own and refused to stay where she’d put them.
Windy had indicated that the wind would return near the strait between Chios and Psara, but when we approached it all we were presented with were a few wafts. We needed a Plan B if we didn’t want to motor all through the night. Peter checked on Navily (a real-time app for selecting places to stop) and found an anchorage at Potamoi Beach near Mesta on Chios. This meant a detour from our route which we were reluctant to make, but turned out to be the perfect solution. When we reached it and had found a patch of sand to drop the anchor in, it was 6.15pm.
Peter cleared up and Ingrid heated up our dinner. We ate on deck amidst stunning views and protection from nearly all directions. We stayed in the cockpit afterwards for a cup of coffee and enjoyed the scenery, and only adjourned when the sun had disappeared behind the hilly surroundings. We agreed we deserved a snifter to toast our arrival at this lovely bay, and did so while watching YouTube. We were getting quite tired by then, so opted for an early night.
After a peaceful sleep we got up at 6.30am. It was calm in the anchorage, but the wind was due to build up during the day. We had a leisurely start, as we had calculated a departure time of around 11.00am for our 20 hours’ journey to Lemnos. Until then we sat in the cockpit and listened to the tweeting of swifts, chaffinches and other birds and the lapping of the wavelets while we bathed in the sunshine.
When the time came we weighed anchor and 10 minutes later we sailed on the genoa. We were not going very fast and the sail was flapping, so we were helped along by Arthur, our engine, until we reached the top of Chios’ western coast. There the wind finally found our Cordelia, and at 2.30pm we retired Arthur and enjoyed the peace. This was briefly interrupted by a hail from “Ninova”, a Cameroon flagged cargo ship, who duly altered course when they found out we were under sail.
The wind picked up in the late afternoon, so we put in a reef. The waves also increased in height and Cordelia heeled over to one side, then the other, then back again to repeat the process. This was obviously the time to prepare dinner (pizza) which Ingrid cut into slices to be eaten as a finger buffet on deck. Afterwards she cleaned it all away and promptly started to feel queasy. She quickly returned back on deck for some fresh air, and Peter went below and made us a lovely cup of tea despite the challenging conditions. It did help with Ingrid’s recovery, still from then on she felt rather light-headed.
It got dark, but we’d both already decided to stay awake for the night, yet follow our watch pattern. It was just as well, as we were both needed to shake out the reef in the genoa and to keep Cordelia happy. The moon made an appearance, though was briefly obscured by some clouds. It was still relatively warm, but then again we were fully dressed up for off-shore sailing, inclusive of woolly hats and gloves. Peter’s “shift” had started at midnight, and Ingrid had fetched her blanket and snuggled down in the cockpit. During the next three hours she managed to have several naps, though with frequent interruptions to attend to the sail. The wind kept veering and backing from South-South-East to South-South-West and vice versa, and every time we had a windshift we needed to gybe and move the genoa to the opposite side. In addition, the wind picked up again and the waves followed suit. Putting in a reef calmed things down a bit, yet still Cordelia was rolling heavily. We had enough moonlight to observe the waves breaking around us, and the related actions kept us busy.
At 5.30am the sky in the East finally got brighter and the wind decreased. We continued under full genoa until the wind left us and the sail was flapping in the waves. At 6.30am we were motoring again, which also helped to recharge the batteries that were down to 72% and 11 Volts. By that time we were entering Moudros Bay at Lemnos, and at 8.20am we were anchored up at Nea Koútali.
After a night of rolling around and many sail adjustments but luckily very little traffic we were both exhausted, and after securing Cordelia we hit the sack and caught up with some Zs. Outside, it had cleared out and warmed up in the sun, and the wind was blowing consistently around 25 knots. However, we were too worn out to use these conditions and go windsurfing, and just relaxed in the cockpit and recovered.
We ate our dinner on deck, then drank our tea/coffee and watched a couple of fishing boats lay out their nets. The tranquillity only got disturbed occasionally as we were directly under the flight path to the airport. We adjourned for a snifter and started to watch YouTube. We grew so tired though, that we stopped halfway through a video and went to bed just after 8.00pm. Not long after, we were completely oblivious of our surroundings and dead to the world.
Chapter Two: NEW EXPERIENCES AND FAMILIAR PLACES
We slept well till 7.15am, had a leisurely start and cleaned up after the previous day’s exploits. Later in the morning we hauled Buddy out from his winter residence in the locker, put him back together, inflated him on the foredeck and launched him into the water where he was bobbing happily behind Cordelia. Then we put on the outboard which started with the first pull, and Peter motored us ashore to a (closed) café near a little fishing harbour. We picked up a track along the coastline that took us into Nea Koútali. We found it quite a pleasant settlement with a harbour, tavernas and some nice houses.
Our first errand was at the mini-market on the other side of it. We couldn’t get the hummus we were after, so we substituted it for ice-creams, and filled Peter’s rucksack with 1½l bottles of the local red, rosé and white. After we’d consumed our icy refreshments on a (dry) drain outlet next to the main road we continued along it until we found a sign pointing towards our main object of interest – a family owned winery. It was open and we had a little look around the equipment before we acquired two bottles each of red and white.
The lane we were on conveniently took us back to the village, and Peter guided us to the bakery. The lady there spoke no English, but we soon made her understand that we wanted two cream pastries which she called bougatsa. It was more difficult when it came to the savoury ones. Ingrid knew the words for ham and cheese, but the lady didn’t understand what she meant with them. Ingrid pointed enquiringly to some buns and the lady said the Greek word for it, which was totally unfamiliar to us. Peter then employed Google, but when she spoke the word into it the translation into English was the same as Greek. A lady customer who spoke English came to our aid and established that these “pineirli” were indeed filled with ham and cheese, so we added two of those to the sweet ones. While Ingrid paid Peter had a look around and discovered that they also sold wine. In a bakery? Yes, it doubled up as a café, but wine? Really?? We love Lemnos!
The sky that had been overcast all morning developed some darker clouds, so we walked back to the beach and Buddy to take us home to Cordelia before any potential rain could reach us. We did get a few drops but not enough to spoil our lunch of pineirli on deck.
Given the conditions we re-checked the weather forecast and decided to move on to Platy Bay today rather than the next morning. At 1.15pm we weighed anchor and motored out of Moudros Bay. There were the occasional puffs of wind but not enough to set sail. We were followed out by an Austrian flagged catamaran “Morgana”, but they never caught up with us. The wind died off completely after we’d rounded the corner, so we motored all the way and dropped anchor at 4.45pm. The wind came in the night as forecast, and Peter got out of bed for an anchor watch during the worst of it. It was still blowing when we got up, and we were glad we did not have to sail today and had spent the night in a better protected bay for these wind conditions.
When it had warmed up sufficiently Ingrid changed into her “water action” clothes, jumped into the 14°C water, checked on the anchor, cleaned Cordelia’s waterline, then dived down to continue the job on her hull. She made it from the bow to the keel before she got cold and tired. Peter made cappuccino which warmed her up a little, then she sat in the sun to raise her body temperature to what is considered normal for humans. After a rest, admiring the scenery and watching a few sun worshippers on the beach and fewer braver souls in the water we had dinner with the red wine from the winery. A cup of tea/coffee followed, so did a snifter (purely for medical reasons to stave off any potential long-lasting effects from the cold water).
The remedies worked, and on the next day Peter rowed us ashore, then we walked the familiar route past the rubbish bins and the military base up the hill and down into Myrena. We found only four boats on the town quay and none at anchor, so felt very much out of season. We headed for the supermarket at the roundabout and two bakeries for a top-up and a few goodies. Back on Cordelia we devoured some of the latter for lunch.
After a little rest Ingrid donned her wetsuit and the rest of the paraphernalia she needed to continue the work on Cordelia’s hull. She finished the port side and left starboard for another day before she got too cold. Peter in the meantime had done admin jobs, filled the tank with 20l of diesel, and made us a nice cappuccino. He dished it up with bougatsa from the bakery. It helped with the warm-up process, but Ingrid was worn out. She therefore stayed on board when Peter motored to the western promontory. Ingrid saw him clambering up the hill through undergrowth and followed him for a while through the binoculars. We also did a radio check, and Peter took pictures of the bay. After a while the well-known sound of Buddy’s outboard announced Peter’s return.
We spent another couple of days in Platy Bay sitting out 40 knots of gusts and spots of rain. When the last clouds had dissipated Ingrid carried out more cleaning work on Cordelia’s hull. The water felt even colder than on the previous occasions and it took her a good while to recover and get warm. A hot drink in form of cappuccino sped up the process, and so did the ensuing walk along the beach to the Mark Warner Centre. They had laid out their dinghies earlier that day, so we checked them out (Lasers and Toppers), then returned to Cordelia. It was calmer on our side of the bay, but the little wind we had was still rather nippy.
Chapter Three: CIRCUMNAVIGATION (OF LEMNOS)
The forecast predicted strong winds from the South, so we looked for a more sheltered place to stay. We were underway at 8.10am and pulled into Myrena first to replenish our food reserves. At 9.00am we’d secured Buddy near the steps at the harbour and headed for the Lidl. Amongst essentials like pizza, pineirli, doughnuts and Haribos we also bought two enormous ice-creams which we licked outside the shop before we returned heavily laden to our Cordelia.
After an early lunch we weighed anchor at 12.00pm. The wind was wafting from the South, but had just enough strength in it to keep the genoa flying. We ghosted up the coast making around 2 knots until we turned at the cape where the wind left us.
Shortly afterwards it was playing silly, coming from one side then the other, in gusts or not at all. We put on the engine to keep control and also to heat up the water, and after motoring between the islands we turned starboard to Gomati Beach. We dropped the anchor at 4.05pm in sand and let out 30m of chain. For a while we had swell on Cordelia’s side and were concerned about rolling all night, but after we’d had a hot shower we found the wind direction had altered and we were now pointing into the remaining waves which left us quite comfortable.
The wind returned in the early morning and was later accompanied by rain. Peter let out more chain, and we spent most of the day below deck. We watched YouTube videos, then Peter took to admin tasks and research. Ingrid, in the meantime, annihilated a conference of flies. Not that the massacre made any difference to their population. One deceased creature was swiftly replaced by two even more annoying ones, and Ingrid was losing the battle while they invaded Cordelia. There was only one option to fight them – the dirty way! So after coffee and biscuits we sprayed the cabins and saloon with insect killer, and evacuated into the cockpit while the enemy was gassed. When we returned we found their bodies and buried them in the rubbish bin (= fly heaven).
It got windy as forecast with gusts of up to 48 knots. We also had rain, which, as it turned out the next morning, was full of sand. The wind peaked at around 11.00pm, but Ingrid didn’t go to bed till 00.30am and Peter stayed up till 1.00am to be sure. Given the late night on wind and anchor watch we didn’t get up until 8.00am, but as neither of us had any schedule it did not matter. The weather started to clear out for our second cup of coffee, but we still drank it below despite having cleaned Cordelia from the sand. The reason for staying indoors was that the dead flies’ friends and families had congregated on the other side of the washboards for their requiem and were just waiting for the doors to open. This, plus the swell that rolled Cordelia from side to side, caused our departure just after 11.00am. We waved farewell to this visually beautiful but fly-infested bay, and motored out through the gap between the shallows.
Outside we were met with a West-North-West wind, Force 4, so we unfurled the genoa and stopped the engine. We had a slow and pleasant sail for a good hour, but had to motor again for the last hour to our new anchorage. We arrived at Kotsinas at around 1.15pm and dropped the anchor in a nice patch of sand between the seagrass in 4.5m. The wind was blowing again (a reoccurring theme when anchoring), and it looked like a great place for windsurfing. However, on this occasion we gave it a miss, and instead relaxed in the cockpit for a while and had a good look at our surroundings. A few houses met the seafront, the rest of the scenery consisted of green hills with a few lush trees and bushes. The water was very clear, and when Peter checked the anchor he could see it perfectly well all the way down.
Ingrid rinsed some clothes and hung them out in the diminishing breeze, Peter cleaned the sprayhood windows from the sand, we listened to music, enjoyed the sunshine, did crosswords and generally took it easy. A welcoming committee of a few flies had arrived to greet the stowaway hitch-hikers of the same species, but they were not bothering us too much. As for the ones that did – swatted!
The next morning we launched Buddy and Peter motored us to the slipway under the church.
From there we walked to the restaurant, dumped our rubbish in the bins behind it and followed the road out of Kotsinas. A sharp left took us along a dirt track with wonderful views over the bay and the countryside. An array of colourful flowers and the scent of chamomile followed us along our way. We also discovered where the Limnos grapes came from, though some of the vines looked neglected and rather sorry for themselves. We also passed the ruins of a few long-abandoned houses, and Ingrid developed a soft spot for one bungalow cottage with a crooked chimney as yet another “fixer-upper”.
After 1½ hours we finally reached the site of Hephaestia, one of the two most important ancient cities of Lemnos (the other one being Myrena) which had been inhabited uninterruptedly from the Late Bronze Age to the early Byzantine times. Excavation was still ongoing, but (bearing some new discoveries) not much is left of it, other than a few stone walls and a small(ish) but impressive amphitheatre. It was our lucky day, as the entrance to the site was free today due to some special Greek museum promotion, so we had a good snoop around and took many a photo before we headed back.
It was a lovely walk, the birds were tweeting, we made a brief detour to a charming chapel, encountered three cars, saw some sheep, and were accompanied by buzzing flies.
We made it to Buddy and decided to check out the church on the hill which had been built on top of a derelict fortress. Mass had been celebrated there in the morning, and the inside was still festively decorated.
We found the sign to the “Holy Water” and descended the 64 steps to a small underground cave with a well and some obligatory icons.
Back up in the sunshine we admired the views and took pictures of the local heroine “Maroula” with her father’s sword in the foreground, and our heroine Cordelia in the background. By 2.00pm we were back on board and had cappuccino and a swim as refreshments.
Best laid plans, and all that! We had hoped to go windsurfing, but the wind had decided on a rest day. We, however, kept busy. Peter wiped off the sand on Cordelia’s sides and polished away the black streaks left as a souvenir from Ikaría. Ingrid geared up and scraped Cordelia’s keel. The water temperature was 16°C, so quite pleasant, but it seemed a long way down to the bottom end, and she tired quickly. The wind checked in on us just enough to make her job more difficult, and satisfied with its achievements it disappeared again shortly after she’d finished. She’d given up after she’d cleaned off the worst as her chest and back became tight and quite painful. The wiping off for the small stuff would have to be done on another day when she’d sufficiently recovered. Nevertheless, Cordelia’s keel had lost its beard and was presentable again.
After a quiet night and a beautiful sunrise we packed up and at 8.00am we motored out of the bay and headed North-East.
A couple of hours and a brief encounter with dolphins later we rounded Plaka Cape with its lighthouse. We now had a light breeze, so set both sails and managed to keep them flying for nearly 3 hours in an Easterly Force 3-4.
All the hull and keel cleaning finally paid off, and we had a pleasant sail down the East coast of Lemnos. When the wind decreased to a Force 2-3 we motorsailed, but later furled away the genoa when it was flapping.
We were passing the South-East cape, and Peter was below entering the 2.00pm log and checking the course when the fishing rod made a familiar but all too rare sound – fish on! Peter reeled it in and Ingrid tried to land it in a bucket, but after a couple of unsuccessful attempts Peter just heaved it on deck while Ingrid shoved from behind. The skipjack was of a decent size, and Peter harvested 2.5kg of fillets from it. While he was below dissecting it Ingrid cleaned up the mess in the cockpit.
All this work took us nicely into Moudros Bay where we took down the mainsail and motored towards Moudros. Outside the harbour we found a lovely looking anchorage to drop the hook in. We cleared up and had a cup of coffee and biscuits with our short rest, Peter prepared the tuna, then Ingrid chopped up the other ingredients. We had a feast and enjoyed it with a cold glass of white wine.
After a windless day for rest and recuperation the wind returned with 30 knots of gusts. We stayed on board with YouTube, crosswords, books and admin work, both below and in the cockpit. The next day at around 10.00am the wind subsided enough for Peter to get all excited. Ingrid had to drop whatever she was doing, and we launched Buddy. She finished typing while she downed her coffee, then packed her rucksack with the recyclable rubbish and emptied the bin, locked hatches and lockers, and put on clothes for “going to town”. Peter had by then finished his coffee, so when he was ready we stacked our stuff into Buddy and motored to the harbour. There we noticed a mooring place on the pontoon together with an approaching sailboat. We went to ditch our rubbish and headed for the supermarket up on the hill. When we returned to the harbour the previously empty space had now been occupied by the yacht, and the room still available behind it did not look right for our Cordelia.
We’d hoped that at least one of the boats on the visitor pontoon would leave, but none did. The forecast predicted for the wind to build up from the East, change to South in the afternoon and North at around midnight. We’d already agreed to seek better protection when we’d checked the forecast, so after our second cup of coffee we upped anchor. It came up with the chain full of mud and with its hoop full of the stuff. It had been well dug in!
We motored across to Nea Koútali and dropped the hook in 5.5m with 40m of chain in preparation for the predicted weather. We’d travelled all around the island and were now back at the place where we’d first arrived on Lemnos this year.
