Unlucky and Lucky in Lipsi

Now a crew of four, we decided to take a break after a few hours of testing our options with the motor and clear our minds with a delicious lunch at Dilaila’s Taverna.  Being on the island for an important Greek holiday on the 15th of August, the Dormition of the Mother of God, we had little luck finding businesses that were open to help us find a replacement diesel pump. However, we were, thankfully, able to get in contact with shops that may have it on some of the larger neighboring islands the following day.

During our lunch, we discovered that our bad luck with the engine was also lucky in that we would be staying on Lipsi one more night coinciding with the Panagyeris in the main town.  We spent the rest of the afternoon preparing an external diesel tank that could use gravity to get the fuel to the engine and then made our way to town to dance and enjoy the music.  On our return to the boat under the star-filled sky we marveled at the clarity of the music following us back over the gentle hills to Papandria cove.

The next morning we were able to leave the busy bay with our external tank working nicely, and we made a short trip with the sails to Parthéni on the north of Leros.  Before gybing to make our way around some rocks and Archangelos island, we were very happy to be greeted by some dolphins who played in our bow wave for several minutes before continuing on their way. Once in Partheni, Hauke found a replacement diesel pump that he quickly installed, but due to the increasing north wind, we spent the night in this well-protected anchorage to head upwind with better conditions the next day.

Another brief stop in the town of Lipsi to fill our water tanks at midday and then we were once again on our way north.  Current between Lipsi and Patmos made for some slow tacking as we first got back underway. Eventually we found that taking shorter tacks to stay in the wind zone that was not blocked by tall islands Ikaria and Samos some 20nm away allowed for us to make our way to Fournoi with greater speed.  Arriving in the dark we dropped anchor in a bay that had a wonderful surprise for us in the morning.

In the morning, we took the dinghy to shore to the white stone beach and were delighted to discover that it was the site of an ancient marble quarry thanks to a tip from some Greek visitors on the island who were also enjoying the beach.  After a few hours exploring, we took up the anchor and had to use the motor to get past the small island of Thymaina and Ikaria behind that was contributing to blocking the wind.  Once north, we were headed with a strong funneling of wind between Ikaria and Samos, and we enjoyed sailing on a close haul with gusts of 7 Beaufort.

The strong wind turned slowly around Ikaria’s eastern point so that our plan to tack to the port town in the center of the north coast stayed just out of reach. Having pushed our way through the waves for about 8nm north and still not reaching a favorable tacking angle we decided to change course for Chios, allowing us to sail at a close reach increasing our speed to our next destination.  Seeing the southern shores of Chios come into view in the dark we dropped anchor by the town of Kómi.

With light wind behind the island the next day we set off with the afternoon thermals toward Chios town, and a suprising number of dragonflies tagged along with us.  By evening we were caught in a lull and we continued with the engine for the last hour in order to meet our next crew Janis, Axel, and Lia.