Chapter One: WINDY DAYS
Ingrid had slept in the cockpit where she’d been pestered by mosquitoes despite the repellent, and was up at 5.45am. We had breakfast, got Cordelia shipshape and motored away an hour later.
The wind came mainly from the West at Force 3-4 which was not enough to keep us going downwind at a respectable speed, so we motorsailed for the first couple of hours. We were about to clear the influences of Mount Athos and took advantage of the change in wind direction to North-East, Force 4 touching 5, at 9.00am, so stopped the engine and continued under full sail.
By 10.00am we needed a reef in both, the main and the genoa. Peter set the autopilot so we could sail 60° off the wind, which was off-course but meant we didn’t have too much heeling and had a comfortable ride. We also made good speed with hourly averages at the higher end of 5 knots and one of 6.4 knots. Peter contemplated whether he should put out the rod, but considering the consequences if he actually caught a fish in these conditions put him off, so it stayed in the cabin.
After lunch the wind changed to North and we could set George, our autopilot, on a more direct course to our anchorage. The waves were not that high but rather confused when Ingrid put the kettle on for our afternoon coffee, but she managed to keep everything upright and we enjoyed the little refreshment. When we’d finished we shook out the reef in the genoa and later also in the mainsail for our last hour towards Lemnos. At 4.10pm after 52.2NM and 9½ hours we dropped the anchor in Órmos Platý in 4m in mud.
We cleared everything up and settled in. When Ingrid nearly fell asleep during one of the YouTube videos she called it a day and prepared her bed in the cockpit. She fell asleep immediately despite it still being light at 8.45pm, but woke up again to a fantastic sunset. We were both fast asleep before 10.00pm when she suddenly heard the alarm of the depth sounder. We were in 2.9m, not allowing for the 1.9m of the keel, and a katabatic wind was building up, ready to blow us into the shallows!
Ingrid alerted Peter who first took in some chain which changed our depth to 3m. With the alarm still going off every time we reached this mark we decided to re-anchor. It was dark by then with only the stars and the lights from ashore for illumination and the wind was howling, but up came the anchor and with the help of Navionics, Peter manoeuvred us to a spot where we’d spent some days before, and down it went again.
We had no idea as to the conditions of the seabed but the anchor bit well when we set it in about 5.5m. By now the katabatic wind was in full force with bullets of gusts of nearly 50 knots. Ingrid stayed awake for a while trying to detect any undue movement that would indicate whether we were dragging. When she couldn’t she went back to sleep, but Peter was monitoring the situation below until 1.00am when he was satisfied all was good and the katabatics had eased off a bit. What a day!
After a mossie-free morning we had a leisurely start and after lunch prepared the windsurfing gear (iSonic , 6.0m2). Peter was rigging the sail when Ingrid heard him lamenting “oh no!”. His sunglasses had slipped off and had landed in the water. We finished assembling the windsurfing kit, then Ingrid put on her fins and snorkel and scouted the seabed in search for Peter’s sunnies. It was always an undertaking that promised little success with all the seagrass underneath us, but she nevertheless gave it a good try and even dived down to have a better look when she spotted anything half-promising. Alas, it was not to be, so she exchanged her snorkelling gear for the windsurfing one and blasted backwards and forwards, to and from the Mark Warner centre. They had some windsurfers out but none of them came to say hello, maybe they were put off by the Club Vass sticker on our sail.
The wind changed direction and Ingrid had a few runs around Cordelia until she was exhausted. Then it was Peter’s turn. As he couldn’t find his sunglasses either he had a go at windsurfing. It soon came back to him how it was done, only for the wind to drop. No sooner had he come back on board when there were some promising gusts from the original direction, so off he went again. He disappeared into the distance, and Ingrid saw him next whizzing back on a gust before he hit a lull. He was also encumbered by the wake of the waterskiing boat and found it difficult to get going in the fickle wind. Still, he managed to get back to Cordelia for a rest before we de-rigged and tied on the wet gear on deck.
The next day, after a shopping spree to Myrina first, we were at it again. It was around 2.00pm when we rigged, not convinced by the conditions. Ingrid had a good run towards the Mark Warner centre and lost the wind on the way back. Something fell off, so when she turned around she checked and found the mastfoot broken. She was some distance away from Cordelia, so she had to swim to get it changed. By then the wind had dropped, but she tried again after a little refreshment consisting of coffee and biscuits. The wind direction had changed again as it had the previous day and she only managed a couple of planing stints before it all calmed down. Mind, the people on the ringo still enjoyed themselves being towed around Cordelia with the speedboat leaving an unpleasant wake.
We had another great windsurfing session the next day, although another mastfoot gave up the ghost. We weren’t put off by the breakages, and Peter ventured out in big gusts of 38 knots. When the wind calmed down he had a good blast, and after a change in the wind direction it was Ingrid’s turn to find the gusts. She managed a couple of fast runs before the wind died and we de-rigged.
Having thoroughly enjoyed ourselves we prepared for departure. Ingrid had another go at finding Peter’s sunglasses but she surmised a vision-impaired mermaid had made off with them by now as she couldn’t see them anywhere.
When we turned out of Órmos Platý a cargo ship that had been nearly level with us and was doing around 10 knots slowed right down to 2.5 knots. We had already reduced speed to let it go ahead into Myrina, but now we took the inside line, cut it off at the pass, and raced ahead with 7 knots. We’d dropped the anchor before it had even entered the harbour area.
Without further ado we went shopping for cooking gas, then trundled to the Lidl, each time filling our 10l bottles at the water dispenser. Another day, another shopping trip, another water haul, and some snorkelling and spotting a surprising variety of fish, and we were ready to move on.
Chapter Two: WINDSURF PARADISE
We were ready to weigh anchor at 10.50am, motored out of the harbour and were met with a North-North-West Force 5.
We stopped the engine and sailed mainly downwind on the genoa alone, past our previous anchorages. After lunch the wind had a nap which resulted in a motorsail, but then we got some good gusts off the headland, and on we sailed again. At one stage we headed into the wind, so we furled away the genoa and used the engine, but in the end we got the wind back and all was well. We tacked our way up North into Moudros Bay, still only on the genoa, which made it an interesting experience when we sailed 40° off the wind. After around 4 hours and 18NM we dropped the anchor in 5.2m in sand at Paralia Chavouli.
A bar and a watersports place were open, but there weren’t too many people about, and apart from one pedalo and a couple of day launches it was still a lovely and rather peaceful anchorage. The water was still clear, turquoise and not too warm when we checked on the anchor and had a swim, the trees were still green and the air still smelled of pine trees. Only the landscape was not quite as lush and verdant as when we’d first arrived in May, with the summer temperatures having given in a more seasonally befitting hue of sienna.
The next morning we were off early to have our Transit Log stamped, wanting to make use of the cooler temperature. Still, by the time we arrived at the Coast Guard’s office we had built up quite a sweat already. The officer was friendly and efficient, and it didn’t take him long to send us on our way again. Before he did, another young officer entered the room – he was the one who’d stamped us out two months ago, and he remembered us! After their good wishes for our “holiday” and a “maybe see you next year” from us we walked back to Cordelia. The mission had taken just over two hours all included, and we were free to spend the afternoon swimming and relaxing, and Peter also got a bit of boat maintenance done.
We were underway at 8.20am, sailed on the genoa for about 10 minutes and motored the rest of our 35 minutes’ journey to Paralia Parthenomitos. As we’d already been there two months ago we knew exactly where to drop the anchor in about 5m in sand.
We were just celebrating our arrival with coffee and biscuits when Peter noticed two windsurfers. We started to rig as soon as we had emptied our mugs and decided on the iSonic and 6.0m2. By the time Ingrid was ready to go out the wind had settled for 25 knots, gusting around 35 knots. Ingrid still went out, found the sail and board stable and willing to accelerate, and was blasting across the bay of Paralia Parthenomitos. She was well powered up and enjoyed it so much that she went out again after lunch for another session. Then Peter managed to get a run in, but he wasn’t too pleased with the conditions, so he stopped and we de-rigged.
While we were having our morning coffee on deck we debated what windsurfing kit would be suitable for today’s conditions. The wind was building up and showed a spectrum from 15 knots to 35 knots. We agreed on waiting till after lunch, so it could stabilise.
Well, it didn’t and just increased in strength to 40 knots of gusts. Ingrid was still satiated from the previous day’s session and we both felt tired, so in the end we put the gear away and gave it a miss. We passed the afternoon with coffee, biscuits, crosswords and a bit of a doze, and when the wind wasn’t blowing a hooley we both had a swim and Ingrid cleaned Cordelia’s waterline. As Cordelia was bouncing and swerving the latter was quite an adventurous undertaking, and Ingrid didn’t spend a lot of time wiping off all the growth, though the keel and rudder would certainly have benefitted from some attention.
It was windy again from early morning (still very dark), so when it got light we rigged the JP 103 and the 5.0m2. Ingrid had some really good runs till lunchtime and Peter took plenty of photos. Ingrid was not sure whether it was down to the rosé we had with the leftovers from yesterday’s dinner for our lunch or because the wind had changed direction and calmed down, but she couldn’t get going in the afternoon and came straight back in.
We rested, did crosswords and tried to stay cool while we waited for the big wind to return. It didn’t, so we de-rigged and Peter mended some dents on the JP. In the meantime Ingrid wiped the rest of Cordelia’s hull, including the rudder. It was still bouncy, so the keel would have to be done on a calmer day.
Next day we used the same set-up and were out on the water again. The wind had followed the familiar pattern of building up in the early hours, having a little rest around 9.00am to 10.00am, and blowing again from 10.30am to lunch. Then it would slightly change direction, calm down and eventually die off. Strength and timing would vary by a few knots and maybe by up to an hour, but late morning turned out to be the most powerful. And that was Ingrid’s time, being the guinea pig. It also meant she had the biggest blasts and most exciting runs with gusts around 35 knots. Peter still ventured out after lunch, but he did not fancy the lulls nor the direction and was soon back on Cordelia.
Talk about pattern! If the wind followed one the next day we didn’t notice. It started to blow again during the night, so Ingrid brought up the bathing ladder and tied Buddy closer to Cordelia. The stars were shining aplenty and there was even bioluminescence sparkling under Cordelia’s stern. Ingrid didn’t get much sleep in her cockpit bed as the wind was increasing, but it was still a beautiful night.
In the morning the wind was howling and by the time we sat in the cockpit with coffee and biscuits we saw gusts of 50 knots. The sea had also built up, though not too bad, and whitecaps surrounded us. All day Cordelia was shaking and swerving from side to side when she was hit by those bullet gusts.
We sat it out in the cockpit where we were protected by the sprayhood. The Vin Doux (a sweet white wine from Samos) with our lunch put weight on our eyelids and caused them to close, and the heat helped it along to a lovely doze. When we woke up we listened to music, did crosswords and cooled off in the water holding on firmly to the bathing ladder.
The wind kept blowing during the night and finally settled between 27 knots and 32 knots with a few lulls in-between. We rigged the JP and 5.0m2 and soon Peter was whizzing back and forth like a good ’n. He still knew how to do it and proved it again after lunch until the wind had enough and dropped.
We de-rigged and let the gear dry, then deflated Buddy on the foredeck and secured him to the front of the mast. Next we installed the inner forestay for the “superjib” and cleared away the windsurfing kit. We just needed the wind to play its part, and we were all set for our crossing back to Lesbos.
Chapter Three: IN THE GERA GULF
We weighed anchor just after 6.00am. We had a Northerly Force 4 in Moudros Bay, so set both mainsail and genoa and were going along at around 5 knots. Ingrid made coffee (always a trigger) and we were just settling on our course for the next few hours when we came into the “proper” wind. We had cleared Lemnos and now had the wind from the North-East, Force 5, but for some strange reason we were barely making 4 knots. Peter re-checked the trim of the sails and played around with the settings, but it made hardly any difference to our speed. Surely there must be something wrong!
Peter got so concerned that he hove to, put on his mask, attached himself to Cordelia with a rope, climbed down the bathing ladder and hung on to it, stuck his head under the water and had a jolly good look at Cordelia’s underside. Finding no obstacles or detritus wrapped around any of her parts he surfaced, and we continued our journey with slow progress.
The waves had also increased to about 1m and Cordelia was rolling from side to side. If we carried on like this we would reach our anchorage at Lesbos at around 10.30pm, not a viable option! Time for the “superjib”! We had it up by 8.20am, and what a difference it made! Cordelia now cut through the waves, the whole ride was more linear, the speed increased, and at one stage we even had to put in a reef in the mainsail and still made an hourly average speed of 6 knots.
We were sailing along splendidly, shook out the reef when no longer needed, and had a fantastic ride till about 2.00pm when the wind changed to a Northerly Force 4, i.e. from astern, and the sails started to flap. We motorsailed for a while and doused the “superjib” an hour later. The wind abandoned us completely when we came within reach of Sigri, so Peter looked at anchorages nearby to spend the night rather than motor for another couple of hours. We opted for one called “Wild River” on Navily, and pulled in. As is normal in such instances the wind immediately started to blow when it was time to take down the mainsail, and Ingrid had to hold on to her hat when she dropped the anchor from the foredeck. Why not carry on, now that we had the wind?
We stowed away the mainsail while still anchored, and 15 minutes later were sailing downwind on the genoa alone in a North-Westerly Force 5. For a good hour and a half we enjoyed the most pleasant ride to our originally planned anchorage at Tavári. The anchor set in 4.3m in sand at 5.45pm, and while Peter cleared up the deck and then checked on the hook Ingrid made dinner.
We stayed on deck for tea and snifter and had a good view of the village. A few people were in the water, but the place itself was not very touristy. We saw a few taverns / restaurants with about a dozen sunbeds each, but no big hotels. There was no loud music, and the only real noise came from the engines of the few fishing boats that were leaving the harbour for their night’s work.
The next day we put the “superjib” back in its sailbag and recommissioned Buddy. Peter rowed us ashore and while Ingrid made off to the supermarket Peter rowed back to Cordelia. Tavári from the land was exactly as we’d seen it from the sea: very quiet with a couple of locals in the taverna sipping their morning coffee, and nobody on the beach. The supermarket sold beach wear, ouzo and very little food. Ingrid managed to find some tomatoes, but other than that and a melon there were no other vegetables or fruit. She also got some water, carried it across the road to the beach, and Peter came to pick her up.
Back on Cordelia we stowed Buddy on the foredeck and had lunch while we waited for the wind to turn up. By 1.00pm we were done with waiting and motored along the coast for a couple of hours. The little wind there was spent all its energy in creating ripples rather than filling our sails, but it eventually picked up enough to blow us downwind on the genoa.
We passed abandoned hotel buildings, James Bond villain-like houses, hamlets where there seemed to be no roads to them, chapels and other man-made creations. The area became more forested and the air hazier. Near Plomari (ouzo capital of the Aegean – and no, we didn’t stop there) we experienced a fog-like phenomenon extending from the land into about 50m to the sea where it dissipated.
The wind came and went, and we alternated between sailing and motoring until we finally made it to our anchorage in Ligonari at around 6.15pm.
The light was not too good by then and on our first attempt the hook did not bite properly. Ingrid jumped into the water to check on the anchor and discovered it to be in seagrass. Peter pulled it up with a big chunk of it still on the shovel while Ingrid snorkelled around to look for a better spot. On the second attempt we had less weed in 12m, but we also dragged along the beach. Ingrid was still in the water, so kept searching for a sandy patch, then found a promising spot and directed Peter towards it. He dropped the hook and it looked good, but when he reversed with 1,000rpm to set it properly we ploughed the seabed yet again. We had enough of this place by then, so Ingrid came back onboard and we motored back towards Tsafi.
Two boats already occupied the place there, so we checked out the bay next to it. We found rocks sticking out left and right where we wanted to drop, and we didn’t fancy it at all! We had been fuffing about for around an hour and there was nowhere near where we could stay for the night. Well, better a place you know, so we decided on heading to Avlonas where we had first made landfall on Lesbos. A boat had taken the perfect spot there, but Peter circled around and we finally dropped in 10m. The anchor bit straight away at 8.20pm and 10 minutes or so later we were eating dinner.
Peter had spotted the catamaran of Romina and Heri, friends from Leros Marina, on the opposite side of the inlet to the Gera Gulf, so we motored across in Buddy to say hello. We spent an enjoyable hour chatting, which gave the wind and waves time to build up. Peter, however, motored us safely back to Cordelia, and other than the occasional splash we stayed reasonably dry.
In the evening we went out to the Avlonas Garden Restaurant. Being creatures of habit we once again sat in the garden where we had a very tasty meal consisting of stuffed mushrooms, swordfish for Peter and grilled octopus for Ingrid, though we had to use the supplied bread to go with the main course as it didn’t come with any side dishes. There were plenty of cats waiting for scraps, and one kitten in particular was very persistent and climbed on a spare chair and nearly reached the table, but we ate up everything and left them with nothing. This time we got back on Cordelia without any incidents (Ingrid had “previous”), and after a snifter as a precaution against any potentially upset stomachs we went to bed.
We weighed anchor and motored out of the anchorage by 6.15am. Navionics guided us safely through the inlet on the opposite side until the bay opened up around Skála Loutrón. We had the wind on the nose showing up to 35 knots, but as there was no fetch it was still enjoyable. The sun crept down over the hill and found Cordelia entering the big bay. It was all quiet there with no fishing boats (or any other boats to that matter), and the wind weakened the further we progressed. At 7.45am we dropped the hook off Therma Spa in about 5m. The water was murky, so we couldn’t see what we’d dropped it in, but it bit very well on the first attempt.
After breakfast Peter rowed us ashore on Buddy and we walked along the main road, then on a dirt track past sheds with bleating goats and barking dogs to the “Jumbo” department store. It reminded us of Ikea, as we had to walk through the whole shop past toys, fitness equipment, beach paraphernalia, clothes, cooking gear, stationery and various other knick-knacks to reach the stuff we were interested in. We got some cushions for the cockpit and the navigation seat, not quite what we had envisaged, but at least any potential guests would now have something comfortable to sit on. We also had an ice-cream which we ate outside before we made our way back to Cordelia.
We also loaded Buddy with our bikes and took the main road through Larisos and turned off left near Larsos towards Skála Sykountos. We followed the road along the coast, and with the wind behind us it was easy going.
We made it all the way to Pérama, a very exposed place to wind and swell, and made a small purchase at the mini-market.
The way back was facing into the wind, i.e. more tiring, and it also made the waves crash over the embankment onto the road, which encouraged us to cross over to the left hand side and push the bikes to prevent them and us from getting completely soaked. We stopped at “Drosia”, a top rated café, for a frappé and a rest. Ingrid had to use her limited Greek to order the drinks, one with and one without sugar. Then, after 18.7 miles and around 100m up and down we were back on Cordelia for lunch. Afterwards we cleared away our gear and Buddy, and enjoyed the afternoon.
Chapter Four: MYTILINI MESS
We were up early and underway at 6.20am. We put up the genoa and were gently blown downwind in a North-North-Westerly Force 4. We were making just over 4 knots, and therefore it took us a while to get out of Gera Gulf from where we turned to port.
We could keep the sail up all along the South coast until we reached the lighthouse of Maléa Ákra with some big gusts accelerating Cordelia to over 6 knots. The rest of the voyage was into the wind, and waves with spray of salt water were coming over the freshly washed deck. Luckily it didn’t take too long with the 1,700rpm to motor to Mytilini, and as we had been told by the marina that they had finger pontoons Ingrid prepared Cordelia with fenders and lines for a side-on berthing.
A marinero guided us to our place, and we could see that everyone else had backed into their relevant spaces. Peter also wanted to comply, so Ingrid changed the set-up to stern-to. Cordelia, however, would have none of it as the wind blew her bow in any direction other than the one we wanted it to go. We had to give into her whims and ended up with a conventional “alongside” manoeuvre with bow in first and the rest to follow. Of course this involved some last minute changes to the set-up, but then the two marineros took our lines, handed us a slime line in return and tied Cordelia firmly to the cleats on the wobbly pontoon.
We checked in, then went to the port authorities for a stamp in our Transit Log. Next we walked to Customs where the non-English speaking officer fetched a nearby translator who informed us we would have to check out the same day we intended to leave (not the afternoon before as we had intended) and the office would open at 7.30am. There went our early start! On the way back to the marina we popped into the AB supermarket to commence our reprovisioning programme, then filled Cordelia up with water. A rest followed, Peter contacted our Turkish agent via WhatsApp and sent him copies of our documents.
We spent the next couple of days with cleaning, filling our water tanks, using the (free) marina’s Bosch 8kg washing machines, and marching back and forth to various supermarkets to stock up our supplies. We did, however, still find time to go out to seek historical enlightenment.
This involved walking up some steep backstreets to reach a crest from where we could admire our effort and had a great view down over the town and the harbour.
Next we took a path around a copse and could hear the singing of a priest from a nearby monastery during mass, it being a Sunday. Soon we saw a signpost proclaiming “Amphitheatre”, so we followed it, found the kiosk for the tickets, paid and entered the premises. We were in a cool wooded area with exhibits of columns, seats and rocks that had been excavated. The seating area of the theatre had no seats left as they had been used elsewhere for other buildings, but we could easily make out where they had once been located.
Apparently the structure dated from the 2nd century BC, and when the Romans came a bloke called Pompey was so impressed by it he had a copy built for himself back in Italy. Though it was quite amazing we didn’t go as far as that, but headed down and found remnants of a stoa and market place.
We crossed through the outskirts of the castle grounds and ascended through the woods at the car park to the Archaeological Museum. There we admired the usual stele, armour, pots and ceramic figurines, and were awed by the fantastic mosaics.
Back on Cordelia we packed Ingrid’s rucksack with the documents for Customs and the port authorities for our departure formalities on the next day. We left for Customs at 7.00am for their opening at 7.30am. The man there pointed us to Immigrations and their officer told us Cordelia would have to come to their dock to clear out. So back we trudged, untied Cordelia, and motored from the marina to the harbour.
We were shown into the building where a nice young officer was slightly confused with our two different nationalities and got completely disoriented when we asked for an exit stamp in Peter’s passport. The problem, it seemed, was that as we’d stayed in Greece for more than 90 days we were supposed to have a residency card. We explained we were not resident as we didn’t have a fixed address moving around in our boat, but had a transit log instead. By now the whole office got involved, each of about a dozen officers adding their sixpence worth, none of which helped our case.
One man in particular thought he was in charge, insisted on a card and wouldn’t let the issue go, whereas the others seemed to just wanted to get it over with and send us on our way. We guessed their attitude persuaded Mr Pompous to call his superiors for advice, and while we waited for an answer we had to move Cordelia to another mooring. When we returned to the office a friendly young police lady translated from Mr Know-It-All that we should definitely have a card (though not explaining how and where we could have obtained one) and that we could have been fined for not having one, but this time they would let us off with a warning and would complete our exit procedure. We were in no mood to argue, and were just glad to get out of there without having to prove the paradox of their rules to the over-zealous Mr Bureaucrat.
We legged it to the port authorities where our Transit Log was duly stamped and used for training purposes, then handed it in at Customs, and were finally free to go. We slipped the mooring at 9.45am and by 10.00am were sailing down the coast on our way to Turkey.
