Thursday 17 September 2015

Thursday 17 September 2015 – Vathi, Kalymnos

We had our rental car yesterday and saw some more of the island.  The most impressive was the Asklipieion.  This is the ruin of a 3rd Century BC temple complex to the healing god.  There isn’t that much left, but they have rebuilt the steps which shows the scale of the place, enormous.  We also went to see some of the beaches on the tip of the island.  They are supposed to be spectacular, and were quite nice, but not a patch on say Hawaii, or even the New Jersey coast.  I guess we have just been spoiled.

Today it was the plan to make it to Leros.  Richard looked at the weather forecast last night and all seemed well.  The wind, as ever, is due to be on the nose, and we knew that would be the case here because we are travelling north west, which is where the prevailing wind comes from.  But as it is only forecast for 7 knots, that shouldn’t be such a problem.

We meant to leave quite early, but again it was 9:30 before we got away.  Just as we were leaving the couple on the boat next to us asked where we were going and when we said Leros, they said they were headed that way, but were not leaving today because strong winds were forecast.  So a hasty look again at the weather forecast, and yes, the winds are going to be more than suggested last night, but should only be a 4 or 5. So we set off.

We put up the sails right away and get a reasonable wind of about 10-11knots.  Although the wind is blowing from the direction we want to go, we can take long tacks and sail, not motor into it.  This all starts very well.  I have said I hate tacking, but that is only when we go back and forth in short bursts and hardly make any headway.  This kind of tacking, where we go for 3-5 miles on each tack and are making good progress is fine.

As expected the wind does build up and soon it has settled in to 15-17 knots.  We are still pointing up wind well and making good progress.  But the sea is now becoming rather lumpy and I decide it is time to take a seasick pill.  On we go and so does the building wind.  We are not going to try to get to Leros.  It will take too long in these conditions.  Our current tack is taking us towards Kalymnos.  We were there at Pothia on the way out.  So we will aim for another port.  R has identified one or two and it all depends where the wind takes us.

By lunch time the wind is really up.  It first started blowing 20 knots, so Richard took in a reef.  For myself, I would have done it earlier as we have been heeling well.  Then, within half an hour the wind was up to 26 knots and it was beginning to get rather challenging.  There is spray all over the place (we haven’t put the spray hood up in weeks) and I am so cold in the strong wind that I have to put a long sleeved top on!  So we wanted to go into the first safe harbour.  As we approached the island the wind went down at bit and the sea flattened a little.  So we could take the sails down OK.  Then, as we approached Vathi, the wind disappeared.  It is down to 2 knots, the sunning is shining and it is very hot and the sea is flat!

We go into the port, which is really just a little fjord type inlet.  There is a very small village and a quay where you moor on anchor, stern to.  As we approach the quay, a boat leaves and it seems a perfect spot for us.  However, we are warned by the man who seems to direct all the mooring to wait until a tripper boat leaves, because he has put his anchor down right across where the moored boats have to put theirs!  That takes about 10-15 minutes and then we have to wait for another two boats to leave, but finally we are in.  We hope we have put the anchor down safely, but the pilot book does say fouled anchors are common here.

We have a late lunch on board and then we are so hot we have to swim.  Luckily there is a little corner of the harbour buoyed off for swimming and it even has a shower.  So we cool off.  By the time we have done that the harbour has more or less filled up!  We didn’t for a moment think it would get full at this time of year.  We are pleased we got here when we did.


We had dinner out in one of the restaurants.  There isn’t much here, but there are 5 tavernas!  We hope the winds will be a bit kinder tomorrow and we will get to Leros.

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