Límnos, Órmos Vourlidhia

Leaving Límnos Mirina   

We’d enjoyed visiting Mirina but there were 2 other areas we wanted to take a look at on Limnos. There are a couple of archaeological sites on the north east side of the island which are what is left of the main Bronze Age city on the island, Hephaestia. Also, the large bay on the island’s south side, Órmos Moudhrou, is a huge natural harbour which was used as the main base from which to mount the ill-fated Gallipoli campaign. Around this natural harbour the chart shows some interesting looking anchorages and ashore are 2 Commonwealth War Grave sites from the Gallipoli campaign. However, the deciding factor for our moving onwards on Friday 13 May was the forecast westerly wind which was likely to make our anchorage in Mirina quite rolly (the harbour is open to the west).

Last view of the almost perfectly camouflaged castle   

So at 1300 we left Mirina and headed anti-clockwise around the island. The wind turned out to be very light and there was a surprising amount of swell from the south and so it was a disappointing passage, more under power than sail. Tucked under the south coast cliffs we saw the wreck of a tanker which had broken up with just the large stern superstructure visible. There was no wreck marked on our charts there but it has clearly been there some time.

Approaching Órmos Vourlidhia   

Turning north into Órmos Moudhrou the scenery completely changed. Instead of the steeply rising cliffs and jagged hills we’d become used to in the Aegean this was gently rolling countryside with green fields and rounded hills far more like a scene from the north or west of England, but without trees.

Looking west from our anchorage   

We ghosted along under just genoa enjoying the contrast. We’d picked Órmos Vourlidhia as an anchorage expecting it to be surrounded on the west by cliffs, instead there is a flat isthmus of farmland to the west and some higher ground to the south. The bay itself is very shallow in places and so we made our way in carefully, picked a spot with enough depth to swing in and dropped the anchor.

Looking south from our anchorage   

By now it was 1630; too late to get everything sorted out for going ashore so we put all the covers on BV and then turned our hand to changing the fuel filters which were due a replacement; what else do you do in a remote anchorage! That took us nicely into early evening when we were able to relax in the cockpit and try some of the Limnos wine we had bought in Mirina; it is very good.

Feeling more like we were anchored in England than Greece, we planned what to do next. As always, the forecast played a big part in our deliberations and here too the unusual weather was affecting our thoughts. The latest forecast showed another unseasonable brisk wind from the south which would be a really good wind for sailing the 55 miles north to Samothraki. Thereafter there was nothing really useful for about 6 days. We could cover one of the Gallipoli cemeteries from this anchorage but the other one and the archaeological sites would mean moving. Essentially, if we did all the sites on Limnos that we were interested in seeing we’d be motoring north to Samothraki. We concluded that the Sanctuary of the Great Gods on Samothraki might be a more rewarding archaeological site and that sailing south to get back to Limnos later on would be very easy in comparison with flogging north to Samothraki directly into the normal prevailing wind [Ed: and a lot more interesting than motoring 55 miles north in virtually no wind!]. The unusual southerly wind was, we decided, an opportunity not to be missed and so we’d take advantage of it to move on to Samothraki.

Límnos, Órmos Vourlidhia, Greece