Investigating the smaller islands of the Northern Dodecanese!

After leaving Leros on the 2nd August, we headed for a small island called Agathonisi and for a change, and a welcome one at that, there was very little wind as we anchored in this gorgeous bay. Having got there at 1pm and being the first to anchor, we realised how lucky we were to arrive there so early, as we ended up being joined by another 9 yachts, in what was a very small bay.

Agathonisi

The hamlet consisted of 2 tavernas, one bar and a couple of supermarkets. The only blip in the afternoon was an Austrian family in a smaller yacht, who having dropped their anchor behind us, proceeded to take a line ashore in front of us and right across our bow, which would have stopped us from picking our chain and anchor up had we needed to, as their boat was right over our chain.  So having asked the skipper politely to move 5 times, all of which went unanswered, I resorted to brandishing a very sharp knife and telling the skipper that if he didn’t move I was going to cut his rope, well at least it had the desired effect in the end!

We went out to dinner that night, and the inevitable few drinks, as when we got back to the dinghy, I pulled the starter cord and managed to punch Chantal in the side of the head as she lent forward at the same time as my arm came back at speed..Ouch…  But no black eye or concussion was noted, apart from apologies from me, and having a giggle about it afterwards. no doubt aided by the few drinks!

After a couple of days and with a mixed sail with initial strong winds and then almost calm, we moved to the tiny island of Akti.  A very quaint island, with a quay for about 10 yachts, there was nothing really there but 2 tavernas, even the mini market was actually just a kiosk, that did luckily sell milk and magnum ice-creams! There was however a great wide quay, plenty of room to pump up the paddleboard, which we duly did, and Chantal ventured off around the little harbour to make sure she still know how to do it!

Akti – Port Augusta

Lipsi

The following day and with little winds it was under engine we travelled the 8 miles to get to the island of Lipsi. The town also called Lipsi was delightful, and funnily enough seemed to be inundated with ex-pats, who ran either shops, accommodation or vineyards. The last of which we took a 10 minute walk up the hill from the town quay and went to a wine tasting event, which culminated in us getting a couple of cases of white wine from them, duly delivered to the yacht the next morning, well that wine-rack under the floor was looking a little bare. Chantal advised me that the Chora was well worth a trip, as each island normally had one, with tiny streets and great views, so after studying the bus timetable, we got into the Ford Transit,  bought our ticket and set-off to somewhere called Hohlakoura, well it sounded right!. 10 minutes later, we were told we were here, here being nothing but a dirt track down to a beach which we could see in the distance, so after another chat to the driver, we soon discovered that Lipsi doesnt have a Chora, and the only town on the island being Lipsi, so we stayed on the bus returning to the point we started from! Upon returning to the boat, Chantal informed me that it was the island of Patmos that had the Chora, perhaps one of her better blond moments! Overall an enjoyable island with very friendly people.

With for once a mild wind on our nose,  we decided to motor the 11 miles to Patmos, where we dropped anchor for our first night. That afternoon saw me use the paddleboard for the first time this trip, the seas were relatively calm and the winds were just a light breeze, I even managed not to fall off, but it was good to finally get some use out of it.

The only other notable point to make was the sight of a largish naked lady on one of the other yachts, notable because it is always the men, not the women that seem to bare all!. I think I saw a German flag hanging off the back!  The next day we checked out a couple of bays on the other side from the town of Skala, and had another night on anchor, which was all very relaxing until I was woken up in the early hours of the morning by  a sudden large gust of wind. I dutifully got up to check everything was ok, and  then went back to bed to get some further sleep. However, we were then awoken at about 8am with a Brit on the yacht next to us, clapping his hands loudly, followed by shouts of ‘wake up, you’re on the move’, so instantly we realised our anchor was dragging and we needed to lift and reset it even before we managed a cup of coffee.   So after resetting, and our well needed cups of coffee, we decided we may as well venture round to the town of Skala where, given the time of day, we would be guaranteed a slot on the town quay.

Patmos

Patmos Skala

So this was the island that had a lovely Chora and we made our way up to to see the wonderful views of the bay and explore the Monastery and Old town. Skala is bustling town, with a fair amount of tourism and clearly a more affluent clientele, as many of the clothes shops had more high end products, more aligned to Santorini and Mykonos, the houses had helipads and the yachts, well we could have been their tender!

On our way down we also watched with interest, the biggest ferry come in and effectively block off the port, no one was going in or out for a while!

Patmos was a lovely island so we stayed two nights, the highlight of the second day was a very large motorboat arriving with what appeared to be a single VIP lady, dressed up in what looked a gold silk dressing down, carrying a Pekingese dog, which was also blinged up. We watched a crew member, take it for a walk, it went for a paddle in the sea and then he carried him back to the boat to wash and groom it using pristine white towels ! The lady in question was picked up by car early evening and must have returned about 12.30am, as we heard the boat leave its mooring, much to annoyance of everyone, as it had woken up all the neighbouring yachts.

We even got to celebrated our 14th Wedding anniversary in style watching a beautiful sunset in a beautiful bay on the west coast of Patmos, which was only 15 minutes walk from the town on the east coast, watched the sun go down, and enjoyed a Italian meal, and whilst it was a little meagre on portion sizes, it did make a pleasant change from the usual Greek menu, but as neither of us were full, we stopped to finish our night in style at an ice cream parlour !

Finally we departed on the 11th August ahead of the forecasted Meltemi, for the 33 nm crossing to Samos in plenty of time to meet up with Danie, Annabelle & Nathalie.