After resting in Fournoi, where we had a nice anchorage but it could be a bit wavy, we decided to head south to Patmos.
The winds were forecast to be light and from the north, so I was expecting a nice run (where the winds and waves are behind the boat). It turned out that the wind was quite variable so we couldn’t sail, but it was a pleasant trip not bashing into the waves.
We anchored just around the south-eastern corner in a bay with 2 large islands outside. We arrived around 6pm into dimming light. We dropped anchor in what looked like sand a few times but the anchor wouldn’t hold. Finally we had some holding and I put out as much chain as I safely could.
We stayed here a few days, but I was never comfortable having rocks literally all around the boat. They were about 100m away in all directions, but if the boat started to drag in the variably high winds it would be scary, so I lobbied to move to an anchor across the bay of the island that looked better to me: Meloi.
In Meloi we were very comfortable. It is very protected from the waves: we are very stable but again we had to try a few times to set out anchor. The bottom is soft mud in many places. We need to modify our usual anchoring technique when we have a soft mud bottom. We need to let the anchor sit longer to settle in the mud before we start to pull back on it to ‘set’ the anchor. I am doing my best to try out all the different types of bottoms in Greece.
We finally had the anchor catch, and I put out 50m of chain, and we have held firm in 30+ knots of wind, so all seemed fine…….
We anchored in Meloi for a few days. It got quite windy, and I wasn’t comfortable leaving the boat, so the plan was for me to drop off Victoria in the main bay using our dingy and outboard. It was about a 15 or 20 min dingy ride (maybe 2km) three bays over. Half way through, far from shore, our outboard stopped. It was very weird because it had been so dependable…and was still quite new! I tried to re-start it a few times and then went to the oars to row us into the closest bay. Luckily a local boat going by noticed our problem and gave us a tow back to our bay. Excellent! When we got back I rowed Victoria to shore and rowed back to the boat (it was quite windy so this was not that easy) and discovered that the gas connector to the engine from the fuel tank was not fully connected. Easy peasy.
After Victoria had returned, around 7pm, we had another adventure. It was fairly windy, maybe up to 30 knots, but it had been like this off and on for a few days. I was on deck and suddenly our anchor alarm, which runs on my phone, went off! I checked and we were dragging! Our anchor had stopped holding. Incidentally this had happened to a smaller French boat that was anchored in front of us earlier in the day. I noticed that they had pulled up anchor, had some animated inter-couple conversations, and then re-anchored. I’m pretty sure they must have started dragging.
Thankfully the engine started right away. Victoria went up front and pulled in the anchor, and we decided to head to another bay that Victoria had seen from town and looked very calm. The only problem was it was starting to get dark…..and the winds were 30+ knots….and we had our dingy beside the boat with the engine down and the dingy had picked up some inches of water when we were retrieving the anchor.
We motored the 20 or so minutes to the other bay which was quite full of boats, but there was a spot for us to anchor. It was dusky, and Victoria couldn’t really see the bottom. In 10m of water we dropped anchor, let out 50m of chain, and waited……and the anchor was not holding. This island is notorious for having soft bottoms that don’t always hold anchors well.
Luckily Victoria noticed a large mooring ball that was free! Only problem was we had never before anchored (probably moored is the right word here) with a mooring ball, but Victoria was not concerned at all (normally our roles are reversed). There were a line of mooring balls, and we would be attaching just in front of another boat. They were on deck watching to make sure we didn’t back into their boat, and of course I could see a few other people on boats watching the entertainment of the new guys in the bay trying to anchor in the big winds. We motored up to the ball, there were floating balls for the mooring lines (there were 2 of them) and as I held the boat near the ball Victoria picked up with a boat hook the lines and attached us. We were safely anchored! I was very proud of Victoria doing such a good job picking up the lines just as it was getting dark. Another successful adventure.
The next day we took taxies to the main town, the port, and the main monastery on the island. Patmos is where John dictated the Revelations in a cave. We didn’t see the cave, but I did see a Book of Job written in 600 AD, and a book of Revelations written in 400 AD which was very neat. Also I could read a bit of the Greek!
The only downer was I felt we were ripped off by one of the cab drivers: 15 euros for a 10 minute trip. Plus the bay we were in was very crowded. Plus some charter boat claimed we stole their mooring ball (they are not reserved). Plus Patmos is a busy island. I really prefer the quieter places.
This morning we sailed to Leipsoi, to a bay known to have a supply of good firm bottoms. It is windy, but I dove on the anchor twice and we are firmly embedded in nice sand. We will stay here for some days. It is a beautiful bay.
Adventures on Spruzzo 