Léros (Part 1)

Leaving Emborios   

We spent most of the morning on 23 April sorting out admin with some e-mails to the UK and some online work on the HMRC website. Being able to organise things online is great but I sometimes thing that there is an assumption in the metropolises of better internet access than we yachties can generally achieve flitting between cafés and using tenuous wifi links at anchor. However, the admin morning was judged to be a success both because we achieved everything we wanted to and also because the wind had built. So at 1500 we let go the mooring buoy and watched the beautiful surrounds of Emborios slip away behind us.

Gybing through the islands between Kalimnos and Léros   

We had planned another short passage, just 12 miles, taking us north to the next island in the chain, Léros. Between Kalimnos and Léros there are couple of very small islands, some shallow water and a couple of narrow channels. We had a gentle 10 knot sailing wind and used it to pick our way through the channel. Here we were directly downwind so we rolled away the genoa to stop it flapping and gybed our way through the smaller channel to put us on the eastern side of Léros.

Sailing up the eastern side of Léros   

Once we were through the narrows we turned to put the wind on our beam and rolled out the foresails again. It’s a much more efficient point of sail and we sped up beautifully. It was a very pleasant sail north. The coastline is interesting and on some of the small off-lying islands we saw chapels standing out clearly with their fresh coats of white paint.

Pandeli, windmills and the Knights of St John castle

Based on the weather forecast we were aiming for Órmos Alindas because we thought that it would provide good shelter from the south and south-westerly wind. We passed the bay to the south with the town of Pandeli and got a fabulous view of the 6 white windmills on the ridgeline and on the peak the rather spectacular Knights of St John castle. There were a few large yachts anchored and tied to the shore in the bay but we stuck to our plan.

Approaching Áy Marina

We worked our way around into Órmos Alindas and closed with the town there, Áy Marina. Moored to the quay was a Greek customs cutter and, looking somewhat out of place, the bright red MV Vos Grace. Registered in Aberdeen she looked more like a powerful oilrig support vessel than the vessels we normally see in the Greek islands. When we eventually went ashore we saw that her crew all had UK Border Force uniforms on and so we concluded that the vessel had a civil support role and had been seconded to help deal with the refugee problem. Whilst we have seen both Greek and international ships out on patrol, we have not seen any refugees so far this year; a very different picture to Sep/Oct last year.

Safely anchored below the castle   

At 1730 we dropped our anchor just off Áy Marina. Pandeli is just over the low ridgeline to the south and above us on the hilltop was Pandeli castle, the Knights of St John castle we had seen earlier whilst sailing.

Climbing the hill and visiting the castle would be a job for the next day. For now the priorities were to relax with a glass of wine whilst enjoying the picturesque surroundings and the rather nice sunset.

Léros, Greece