We waved a relieved farewell to Kythnos in the first light of the morning of Saturday 2 September and set off towards Sifnos as our first stop on the way to Kos marina. Weather permitting we wanted to get back to Kos as quickly as possible to tackle the tank issue and be able to continue sailing. And in the end, spurred on fast by Storm Daniel driving bad weather eastward, we covered a lot of ground – or rather, water – in a short space of time. We did 4 long trips, reaching Kos within a week, having enjoyed some of the best real sailing since we had been in Greece, but also with some quite rough conditions at times.
We reached Vathy Bay on Sifnos after a south/south-eastward journey of nearly 7 hours, and anchored there from Saturday early afternoon until early Tuesday morning when there was a weather window to leave. It is a lovely wide bay with a small pier on the left, and restaurants all along the front, directly on the beach. Anchoring on arrival did not go very smoothly; it was really difficult to find the sand and actually when Ralph swam out to check how the anchor was sitting, although we had managed to get it dug in, it was just at the edge of a patch of seaweed so if the wind were to blow very strongly the chances were that the anchor would slip.
Sure enough, at 2:45am Ralph woke me as the anchor alarm had gone off and for the first time ever it was not a false alarm. (We use 2 different anchor alarm apps on different devices. You set a radius beyond which the boat should not exit, according to the position of the anchor, the length of chain you have let out, and the length of the boat. One of the alarms goes off a lot because it loses the GPS signal from the boat and shows the boat on land.) On this occasion the wind was so strong that the anchor had actually dragged and the boat had already drifted 20m. We were getting dangerously close to another boat anchored behind us. There was nothing for it but to reset the anchor in the dark of night, a new experience for us, which tried our patience and our nerves of steel. After about four attempts we finally got a good hold and were able to go back to sleep.
Ralph kept a very close eye on the weather forecasts and particularly on the storm potential since further north west of us there was a major storm underway. On Sunday night in fact we saw spectacular displays of lightning in the distance in the direction we had come from. We planned to move onwards on Tuesday, so on Monday we went to the shore for a wander. We did not really mean to but we ended up having a really nice lunch under the trees on the beach. I went for a walk along the deceptively long beach and back, while Ralph made friends with the Canadians on one of the other boats in the bay.
On Tuesday morning, again at first light, we headed off towards Schinoussa where we had been earlier in the season. At times during the trip it appeared that we were not moving forward at all. Even with the engine on and travelling at 5 or 6 knots we seemed to be staying still. We secretly worried about overworking the port engine which was having to do all the work, as we did not want to use up the fuel in the canister feeding the starboard engine.,.but eventually after more than 9 rather gruelling hours we finally arrived. I would almost not have recognised Schinioussa Bay as the same bay where we had anhored at the end of May. Of course the sea and the season make a difference. There were now more people around and several establishments were now open, and some new structures had appeared. Also now a large swimming area was sectioned off by buoys, which meant we had to anchor quite far back where the sea bed is much patchier. We anchored successfully after 2 tries but after a while we decided to re-anchor as the boat was catching a nasty swell swooping round the corner into the bay. It took us a few attempts to find a sandy patch but once we had we were set well and knew we would be able to sleep. One additional change we took advantage of was that the restaurant on the beach was now open. Ralph had the best tuna he had ever eaten, and I had some nice fish. We felt as though after the previous days and the (for us) long sail we deserved a treat.
The next weather window meant we would try to continue our journey on Thursday morning, so on Wednesday we walked up into the village (Chora) to the place we had spent a couple of evenings with, with friends, earlier in the season. For such a small town on such a small and barren-looking island, Chora amazes me with the number of chairs out at all the eateries. However there is a ferry that comes into the harbour and so there are a number of visitors in addition to the sailors kept at arms’ length behind the buoys. Unfortunately our favourite café did not serve hot food until later so we had a light early dinner of salad and marinated anchovies followed by a delicious sort of cheat’s cheesecake (a biscuit base with Greek yoghurt and marinated fruit).
After 1.5 days in Schinoussa we rolled out of bed early again and set off at 6:40 towards Astypalea, another familiar spot. It was to be another long journey – nearly nine hours of sailing – of 2 parts. We had wonderful sailing at the beginning, no engine, just peacefully forging ahead at quite a good pace. Later on the wind picked up much more strongly than forecasted and it actually got quite rough. As we sailed south of Amorgos we were treated to 6 separate sightings of dolphins. They had no time to play; they were on serious hunting duty. We tried in vain to capture the magic on film. But it remains only magic in our memory. If the highlight was the dolphins, the lowlight was probably when a large screw fell down into the cockpit from who knows where. It was not manna though it did fall from the heavens. In Astypalea we did not go ashore; once anchored the rest of the day was taken up with trying to locate where the screw had come from, Ralph going up the mast.
No peace for the wicked! Directly the next day (Friday) we waited for the wind and waves to calm down before setting off on the long-ish journey to Kefalos around midday. We knew if need be we could arrive in the dark, as the bay is huge and anchoring is easy on a purely sandy seabed. The journey was a bit hair-raising, with waves and wind not behaving according to the forecast. The waves were easilly 2 and sometimes 3m high and we had strong gusts to contend with. We reminded ourselves several times that Opua is a class A (ocean going) sailing vessel. What a relief then finally to arrive in Kefalos, simply drop the anchor at 1.6m and then see that it was fully dug in. The water was a very warm 27degrees, and good food was within a 1-minute dinghy ride. We had a big old meal and then fell into bed exhausted, the back of the journey to Kos marina now well and truly broken, and the risk of being stranded on a distant island somewhere with engine problems no longer present.
After all the action and stress of the previous few days we promised oursleves to do on Saturday only what we wanted to do, or nothing at all. What a relaxing concept! There is always something you feel you ought to be doing. But giving yourself the liberty of a day off doing only what you feel like was a big relief. In the end Ralph cleaned all the chrome on the boat and I did some cooking and cleaning, but the great thing was no obligation. We must try that again some time!
On Monday we made the final leg back to Kos marina, on the other side of the island. It did feel odd to be returning so much earlier than planned, as if we had finished for the season, which is not the case. On the other hand we were relieved to have avoided the storms and to be back to somewhere where we would be able to get the tank cleaned. This promised to be a tiresome job, but it would have to be done. We ordered the necessary filters and waited for a timeslot when the engine mechanic in Kos could help us (mainly Ralph, with me handing him things) do the work.
Translated to German with DeepL (free version): DeepL.com, with some tweaks
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