BLOG 1 / Spring 2019: LEROS Sea Trial, 5 Mar to 14 Apr 2019

We are now back in LEROS in Greece on our yacht Island Drifter (ID).  Indeed, we have been here since 5 March when we flew from the UK via Athens to Partheni where the runway is adjacent to the boatyard. 

Looking north over Partheni airstrip and boatyard

LEROS

We’d again left ID in Agmar Marine’s (AM) boatyard at the end of November 2018, having sailed in 2017 to Greece from Portugal and cruised Crete and the Dodecanese Islands before exploring both the East and West Sporades and the north mainland coast of Greece in 2018.

 

Aegean sea areas referred to in our Blogs

During our first two years in Greece we left ID each year from mid-July to mid-September and again over the three winter months in AM’s boatyard in LEROS.  The yard offers security and support services, while the island itself has good provisioning facilities and both frequent air and ferry connections with Athens.  Added bonuses included in our 2k€ annual boatyard contract are 30 ‘free’ days berthed in the company’s quayside marina in Lakki harbour and ‘free’ lifts out/in twice a year.  

 

Google Earth view of LEROS

This year we’re planning to explore the Cyclades Islands and hopefully recce, on the west coast of the Aegean, the Peloponnese east coast including the Saronic Gulf.

Overview of the Cyclades Islands (in green)

During our winter in the UK we visited family and friends and generally sorted out life (in so far as that is ever possible) and our administration. 

 

Family get-together in Suffolk

While in the UK we were formally advised that AM’s boatyard in Partheni and marina in Lakki had, in our absence, been ‘taken over’ by Moor & Dock s.m. (M&D), a newly formed company ‘owned’ by the founding partner of AM!   We were not totally surprised since we’d been aware for some time that ‘something’ was happening.  It would appear that AM has been closed down, the second ‘partner’ (shareholder) has gone his own way and the new company has taken over the old company’s assets and selected liabilities, in particular those relating to boat owners.  From our viewpoint, nothing has changed.

We were encouraged, in the circumstances, to find that almost all the issues we’d left with the boatyard had been completed by them.  One is never sure until one actually arrives and checks!  We allocated three weeks in March to work on and recommission ID in the boatyard before launching.  This period proved adequate and even gave us some ‘spare’ time.

While based in the boatyard we did some serious walking around the island, something that we had always intended but never got round to.  With Helen’s new Dell laptop’s decent-sized screen, we were also able to follow the Six Nations Rugby with fellow enthusiasts in the yard.

Looking north from the summit of Mt Klidi over the Matronas Bay,
the hurricane hole in which we anchored last year to shelter from the Medicane
and in which Mike took cover during April (see below)

There were not many other boat owners in the yard in March – most start to appear in April. Not surprising really, since March can be a bit windy at times and chilly at night. From our viewpoint, however, the weather was ideal for working on the boat.  

During March we got to know and enjoy the company of a number of cruisers in the yard:  Phill Evans, an experienced sailor and boatyard engineer from Perth in Australia, who owns a 47’ four-cabin Beneteau (Helios) which he’d just purchased from Simon Bain, whom we had met last year;   Heikki Asujamag from Finland, who owns a 47’ Malo (Kastehelmi) and took 6 years to circumnavigate the globe with his wife before starting to cruise in Europe; and Phil and Sandy Wise from Brisbane, the designers, builders and owners of a 60’ catamaran (Southern Wing), which they recently sailed to the Med through the Red Sea, after 5 years cruising in Asia.  All of them very interesting people and good company.

In M&D’s Lakki marina, some ten miles south of the boatyard, we were, after launch, able to bend on the sails.  There is no way we would have tried to do so while on ‘stilts’ in the boatyard – indeed, it is not allowed! 

 

ID secured bows-to at Lakki Marina loading (if you can see it)
an orange gas bottle with the aid of a halyard!

Since Helen was due to return to the UK for a week from 5 April, we decided simply to complete a short sea trial and explore one of the nearest Cyclades Islands (LEVITHA) and LIPSI, a Dodecanese Island to our immediate north, which we always felt warranted a further visit.

LEVITHA

LEVITHA, the most eastern island of the Cyclades, is only 20 miles west of LEROS.  There we entered the deep, almost land-locked bay at the south of the island and picked up a mooring buoy in the narrow, shallow east arm.  It afforded excellent shelter and was a delightful location.

 

Google Earth view of LEVITHA with our anchorage to the south of the island

             

ID on a mooring buoy in Levitha Bay

The small, 2-mile-long island is inhabited by an entrepreneurial family of six adults, one (at least) of whom, Tassos, spoke good English and even wanted to discuss Brexit!  They have a self-sufficient life style, selling and living off fish, goats, lambs and chickens and their own vegetable produce, in addition to income from the buoys (7€ per night) and a seasonal taverna run in their beautiful white-washed complex of farm buildings.  The ‘taverna’ serves excellent simple, traditional fare at very reasonable prices.  The two younger wives alternate between LEVITHA and PATMOS where their children go to school.

Power needs are met by a bank of large solar panels and a wind generator while drinking water is pumped from a nearby well and rainwater is collected in barrels over the winter for use in the summer on their market garden.  Since the farmhouse and taverna are a 15-minute walk through rocks and maquis along an indistinct track, one is strongly advised to take a good torch for the return trip after eating at the taverna at night.   In the total absence of light pollution our view of the heavens from the boat was magnificent.

 

Earth view of the family’s farmhouse complex with surrounding walls
designed to keep the goats out

Possibly because we’re making an effort to trek more this year, we have noticed in particular the amazing array of wild flowers that appear in spring in both LEROS and the two other islands we’ve visited.

 

Buttercup and poppy fields which wither by mid-April

 

Interesting giant fennel plants [ferula communis]

LIPSI

We had visited the island of LIPSI, north of LEROS, in November 2017.  We concluded then that the dog-legged town port at the head of Sokora Bay in the south-west of the island provided good protection from the strong northerly Meltemi wind – as indeed do the two attractive anchorages in the bay of Kouloura at the southern tip of the island.

 

Google Earth view of LIPSI

Well-protected, albeit currently empty, anchorages in Kouloura Bay
at the south of LIPSI, looking west

In Homer’s Odyssey, LIPSI was home to the Nymph Calypso, who, local tradition has it, waylaid Odysseus while he was returning from Troy to his home in the island of ITHACA and imprisoned him as a sex slave for seven hard years.

Historically LIPSI has never been strategically important since it lacks defendable features.   Until recently it simply existed as a Dependency of the Monastery and nearby island of PATMOS.  This maybe explains why there are some 34 blue-domed churches on an island only 5 miles long.   We visited the Church of Panagia Tou Charou, which houses the island’s unique icon.  The unwatered, rootless lilies on the altar with the icon are said to ‘miraculously’ bloom anew every year on 23 August. This event is celebrated around the island by a procession through the streets, followed by partying and dancing into the early hours.

 

The Church of Panagia Tou Charou which houses the island’s famous icon

The interior of the church, with the island’s
priceless icon and lilies. (Much to our surprise, the church was not only
open but also unattended!)

Quite a few of today’s inhabitants of LIPSI had at one time emigrated to Australia and have now returned (although many haven’t). Returnees brought with them a more sophisticated outlook and affluence than one can encounter in other islands.  The only significant population centre is the town of Lipsi itself, which radiates up the small hills surrounding the port.  This church-crowned village is comprised of well-maintained, white-washed, blue-shuttered buildings within a maze of narrow back lanes.

Looking east over Lipsi village from the port’s long inner breakwater.
The island’s principal church dominates the town and skyline (to the right)

On our arrival at the quay we were immediately met by Manoli, who owns one of the many tavernas in the village. Clearly a pro-active salesman! His taverna and cooking do, however, live up to the great reviews they receive on TripAdvisor and cruisers’ forums. Our two-course meal including wine cost only 11€ per head.

 

Eating out in Manoli’s Tastes taverna with Phil and Sandy Wise from Australia

Tourism has reduced the island’s dependence on agriculture and fishing, although both continue to go some way to meeting local needs.  Indeed, wine from the island’s southern vineyard is very drinkable.  A combination of a pleasant, laid-back, more cosmopolitan yet still very Greek environment, a ‘get away from it all’ atmosphere, quality well-priced tavernas, some excellent small sandy coves throughout the island and walking opportunities have all combined to make LIPSI an attractive location for many people.   For cruisers, its well-protected harbour and two southern anchorages add significantly to its attraction.

Walking the coastal route around LIPSI

While most visitors come on day trips from LEROS or PATMOS, the island has acquired a following of those ‘in the know’ and hence has developed a surprising number of regulars who come to stay in rooms and apartments around the island. We’re told that downtown Lipsi can, in season, have quite a pleasant buzz to it.

Looking west across Lipsi harbour
from the island’s principal church at the top of the village

LAKKI

We returned south to Lakki marina poled-out in a northerly F5 – the first decent sail we’ve had this year, having had to motor sail up until then.  While in Lakki we finally got around to replacing our 25-year-old (inherited) aft cabin zipped double mattress.  Its replacement, a new ‘open sandwich’ of foam topped with a layer of memory latex and the fabric cover were made by a small upholstery and sail-making business run by the Sifounis family in Lakki. On reflection we should have replaced the previous mattress much earlier.

Yannis Sifounis presenting his handiwork in respect of our new mattress

During our brief 36-hour stay in Lakki we were joined on separate occasions by two cruising couples whom we met last year and whose company we enjoy:  Jupp and Maria from Germany and Hungary (SY Walkabout) and Sten and Rita from Canada (SY Shantaram). The latter couple had just returned from Viet Nam at the end of a 5-month tour of Asia. 

On 4 April Helen caught the enormous Blue Star overnight ferry to Athens, a bus to the airport and a Ryanair flight (25€) back to the UK, to attend the Ocean Cruising Club’s AGM and Awards Dinner.  This was held at the Welsh National Outdoor Centre at Plas Menai.  At the Dinner Helen received the Club’s Water Music Trophy for our contribution to the OCC in respect of navigation information, our Blog and articles published in Flying Fish, the OCC’s bi-annual magazine.

Helen being presented with the Water Music Trophy 

at the Ocean Cruising Club’s annual Awards Dinner 

by the incoming Commodore, Dr Simon Currin

Helen holding the Water Music Trophy (named after the award donor’s yacht)

This event coincided with the start of our granddaughter Emmy’s Easter holiday, hence Helen was able to enjoy the family’s company and look after Emmy for a few days, having missed her fourth birthday while we were in Greece.

Emmy at the Mount Pleasant Post Office Museum activity play area

The day after Helen left for the UK, Mike headed to Partheni Bay at the north of LEROS to take shelter from a forecast strong southerly gale, since Lakki Marina is untenable in such conditions. While the waves outside the bay were over 2 metres and the wind gusted at up to 45 knots (although averaging at 25 knots), there was very little fetch in Partheni Bay where the gusts were less strong. 

Fellow UK cruiser Mohammed Sharif in the well-protected anchorage at Partheni,
while the wind was blowing at over 40 knots

Mike rotated between anchoring in Matronas Bay during the day and berthing in the boatyard’s launching dock at night where, with the number of lines he had out, ID looked a bit like Gulliver in Lilliput.

Mike moored in Partheni boatyard’s launching dock – also in 40 knots of wind

Now that Helen is back, we plan to continue with our exploration of the Cyclades Islands.