Leg 1 - Leros to Patmos (8th May - 21 nm)
It was a nice sunny morning as we finally left Leros on route to Lavrion (Olympic Marine) on mainland Greece. We are due into Lavrion on Tuesday 16th early morning for agreed boat works to start, which will take the best part of a week to complete.
We left the marina at 8am and were escorted out of the bay by a lone dolphin. It was a lovely sunny morning with F4-5 winds. As we leave the marina we notice that the wind instruments are not working and after some initial tests we have to add it to the jobs for the professionals when we get to Olympic Marine. We head off NW to the island of Patmos arriving four hour later and dropping anchor in the bay just outside the main port.
Patmos is a small island with a population of about 3,000.It is really beautiful and famous for the Christian pilgrimage, the Cave of the Apocalypse, where St John the Theologian wrote the Book of Revelations and the site of the very impressive monastery built in the 11th Century. We went up to monastery for opening time before leaving and to get ahead of the cruise ship crowd that arrived overnight. Very impressive indeed.
Leg 2 - Patmos to Ikaria (9th May - 40 nm)
We stayed in Patmos until 12:00 to visit the Monastery and they lifted anchor and set off for Ikaria. Unfortunately its just a night stopover at anchor to break the trip to Mykonos. First chance to get the Mainsail up but this did not go to plan with knotted reef lines and birds nests - sail definitely needs a good clean post winter store. Evetually get sorted and cruise along in a F4-5 until the wind drops to nothing by 16:00. At 18:00 we reach the little fishing village of Karkinagri and anchor just off the pier in 9m under high imposing cliff that give great protection from Northerlies due in overnight.
Leg 3 - Ikaria to Mykonos (10th May - 37 nm)
We raised anchor at 6:30 and although the winds are blowing F5 gusting 6-7 its all calm until we get out from the cover of Ikaria. Once out of the shelter of Ikaria, the swell is 1-2 m and plenty of wind which pushes us along a 7 knots. A bouncy ride and at one stage we notice the Rib is coming out of its cradle at the back of the boat - lucky we noticed before any damage done. Winds and swell continues to build until we eventually anchor in a bay (Platys Gialos) south of Mykonos port. We have to make a few attempts to get the anchor to hold as the gusts are very strong. We are all alone anchored in the middle of the bay. The wind is here to stay for a few days so we are going nowhere for a while. Time to hire a car.
Leg 4 - Mykonos to Syros (13th May - 22 nm)
After a stormy few days tucked away in Mykonos (certainly not a place we would have chosen to hold up - very commercial, busy and not really any feel of real Greece) we up anchor at 7.30am and head off for the Island of Syros. We still have F4-5 winds but the big gusts have passed so with 2 reefs in the main and jib we are making 8.5 knots. We still have a lot of swell from the last few days of heavy winds so rolling about a fair bit but the winds are dying off through the day. Eventually we anchor off the beach (only boat there) in a little bay (Ormos Varis) on the south of the Island just off Achladi beach in 4m - we are joined by ducks and a lone goose on the beach.
We then taxi up to the main town of Ermoupoli. Ermoupoli is the capital of the Cyclades and is a beautiful city with impressive mansions and public buildings and marble everywhere. Now this is real Greece with no visible tourist impact.
Leg 5 - Syros to Kythnos (14th May - 25nm)
We upped anchor at 7:30am in flat calm weather - not a breeze in sight and head for the village of L0utra (close to the oldest known habitation in the Cyclades 10,000 BC) on Kythnos Island. No space at the small port so we anchored in the small bay (Agios Irini) south of the port in 2.5m with two lines ashore and took the rib into town.
Leg 6 - Kythos to Kea (15th May - 22nm)
We up anchor at 8am and once again there is no wind at all and all is calm as we motor to Kea, arriving just before midday and anchoring in the north of the (Vourkari) bay opposite the port in 5m.
Leg 7 - Kea to Lavrion (Olympic Marine - 16th May - 14nm)
Our final leg of the journey, before leaving the boat with Multihull Group to get final works done prior to the summer sail around the Greek Island. With raise anchor at 6:40am and head north west is a chilly F3-4 from the north. Motor sailing we make just over 7 knots. After being put into two separate berths (the shore lines were not attached to anything in the first berth and there was a loose line in the second that caught in our propeller) but we finally get to settle in a t the marina and hand the boat over to Multihull Group.
Off to Amsterdam for a long weekend to give the yard time to get the boat works done.
The boat remained here until the 30th May, and then moved 5nm north to Port Lavrion unto the 1st June.
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