Ó Áy Ioannis Teologos

Mr Mouse: 4    BV crew: Nil

This morning we had more indications of Mr Mouse’s dance routine on the sticky traps and he had also eaten bare two of the conventional traps. He’s a clever little chap! However, we now know that he prefers Nutella to peanut butter.

Looking towards the island of Evia

We left Karavómilos at 0930 on 31 July with not a breath of wind stirring the water.

As we approached the northern end of the Evia Channel a very light wind started to build but only 2 or 3 knots so not enough to sail by. ‘Stinky ferry’ came out of the channel and we adjusted our course to make for the small islands just off the northwest tip of Evia.

The small islands at the northern end of the Evia Channel    

Passing between these islands put us into the north-south channel between Evia and the mainland, which varies from 3 to 10 miles wide. We continued to motor except, at one stage, when we decided that it was so hot that we just stopped the engine and jumped off the bow to cool off. With BV stationary in the water we bobbed about for a few minutes before climbing back on board and continuing on towards Limni.

Approaching Limni

Our tourist book was quite complementary about Limni and so we wanted to stop there overnight. However, the pilot book warned that the water was very deep for anchoring and that the small harbour tended to be full. We hoped to slide in on the breakwater near the entrance but, as we made our final approach to the harbour, we saw that there was already a yacht moored there. The rest of the breakwater appeared to be full too so we closed with the shore to see if we could find a shallow spot to anchor. In places the seabed was 100 metres below us just 50 metres from the shore. In the areas where we could think about dropping the anchor it was still very steeply shelving and, if we put out the right amount of chain, we would find ourselves swinging onto the beach. We gave Limni up as a destination and headed to the opposite side of the channel and a large bay, Ó Áy Ioannis Theológos.

Entering Ó Áy Ioannis Theológos

Pleasingly, having started to get up when we first arrived off Limni, the wind built quite quickly. The track to Ó Áy Ioannis Theológos put us directly downwind so we unrolled the genoa and started to sail; our first sail of the day. A couple of hours later we rounded the headland and sailed into Ó Áy Ioannis Theológos.

Ó Áy Ioannis Theológos anchorage

The bay shelves very gently and there is a large area of water less than 10 meters deep at the head of the bay which was ideal for us to anchor in. The village on the shoreline looked less than impressive and so we didn’t bother to go ashore, choosing instead to swim and then prepare dinner on board.

Whilst the village and immediate coastline were fairly bland the hills to the west in the distance were very picturesque and perfectly positioned for some sunset photographs. We had a nice dinner in the cockpit and resolved that in the mornng we would take another look at Limni to see if a space on the quay had become available.

Ó Áy Ioannis Teologos, Greece