We left Patmos heading North for a 20 nm sail to Fourni, with a 10 knot wind from dead astern we sailed with just the genoa up It's a big sail, 140% for those interested, so it almost performs like a gennaker alough it's a bit heavy.
Heading to Fourni - definitely colder up North!
We made good time but the sheltered bay we were aiming for turned out not to be so pretty so we tried another spot a mile away, that bay was full of rubbish blown in by the meltemi winds over the years so we went back to the first bay. We only wanted to stay one night anyway and didn't go ashore. From there we set off for Chiros, a further 55 miles North again. Again we had just the genoa up, but the wind was much stronger and the waves much larger, the autopilot started to behave a bit strangely, probably partly because of the unbalanced sail plan but also we think that we may have lost a few strings when we did a major firmware update on our return to Turkey. Essentially we had a couple of minor broaches as the boat was turned 90deg so we were broadside to the waves. Watching the autopilot carefully, it was definitely turning to port occasionally when Nigel would have turned to starboard to counteract the wave action. Anyway, some experiments to be done next time we sail in a stronger wind. Unfortunately, due to the wind direction, we couldn't anchor off the capital of the island but moored alongside the town Quay for a few days in Langhada, just North of Chios town. We were welcomed into the bay by a pod of dolphins who obviously didn't want to play and were engaged in feeding. Nice to see them though, we had begun to think that the Eastern Med was devoid of them.
Alongside in Langhada
Langhada was lovely, well protected from the southerly breeze with sunny and hot weather. We went for a walk around the treeline bay and through the small town, ending up in a harbour taverna where we were saw lots of people celebrating Greek Independence day. Having not seen many people for weeks, we excitedly sat down for a meal, suspicious that the crowd was rapidly thinning, only to be told that they were closed. It was only 6pm! Obviously saw the English coming....... just up the way was a bar so we headed there for a drink before dinner back on the boat. Once there we were introduced to the local craft beer brewed on the island, Chios Fresh. A tasty beer to be recommended. The next day was baking hot and we went for dinner a bit earlier in a different taverna, the owner was great and sadly confirmed that we couldn't buy Chios beer in any shop in town, however when we had eaten and drunk our fill, we paid the bill and he gave us two bottles as a gift.
We moved on the following day, meeting the dolphins pod again on the way up the coast, again they weren't playful but once astern one of them did a huge jump out of the water to say goodbye as they disappezred.
Rainy Marmaro
We arrived in Marmaro bay with a north easterly blow straight into the bay, it was supposed to be a southerly, and we were now anchored on a lee shore in 4m of water, 25m off the beach (rocks). Knowing that the wind direction was not even close to forecast we took a chance that it would change and stayed in place. Sure enough, as the afternoon progressed it eventually did, but we stayed on board and didn't go ashore that afternoon. Saturday and Sunday was a bit wet, the first rain we have seen since we left the UK. There didn't look to be too much, or anything, going on ashore, bar 4 lasers training with a rib in the distance, so we stayed on the boat doing boat jobs until a break in the rain on Sunday afternoon when we decided to get a mother's day lunch out. Like most places seem to be at this time of year, Marmaro was deserted, literally. We eventually found an empty, but open, bar serving club sandwiches which formed our meal out! We did get the opportunity to sample the Chios beer again though.
We have been joined by another yacht in the anchorage! We last saw them anchored in Kos island a few weeks ago and I think we must have been leapfrogging each other since then. They are the only other boat we have seen since we left Tilos. We will go and say hello in the morning.
