Stormy Days in the Sporades

Arriving back in Greece as a crew of three, we spent most of the day waiting in offices for our paperwork to be completed and docume

nts to be stamped.  Finally leaving the customs quay as the sun was setting.  We moved into the large inner harbour of Mytilini which was nearly empty.  At the request of the port authority, we moored next to a 28m sailing boat along the city front.

Happy to be back in Greece we went for some celebratory snacks at a taverna and walked around the city.  Upon returning to the boat our neighbors invited us aboard for a drink and we shared some stories of the sea before calling it a night.

The next morning, we said goodbye to Lia who was catching the ferry back to Athens in the afternoon, and then made our way out of the large harbour to sail around the northeast of Lesvos.  Smooth sailing on a close reach brought us to the northeast corner of the island before the wind changed to come from that direction and we at first had a slow time tacking against the current that was coming from the west between Lesvos and the Turkish mainland.  Several miles passed the corner we were able to continue on a close haul without being greatly effected by the current and we took down the sails outside of the small harbour of Mythmna on the northwest of Lesvos.  We were surprised and delighted by the unique beauty of this village that made its way up the tree-covered hillside with a very different feel than villages we have seen so far in the Greek islands.

With more than 60nm of sailing ahead of us the next day, we set off early for Limnos.  Expecting the wind to change from east to north over the course of the day, we made our way north up the Turkish coast for the first several miles. Following the slowly shifting wind, we continued on a very fast close reach aided by the current that runs south out of the Bosphorus.  At speeds between 7 and 8 kts, we quickly passed through an area of ships coming and going toward Istanbul and the Black Sea and saw Limnos appearing in the distance.

Sailing south of the island,  the winds shifted completely to the southwest and we slowly came around the west side of the island where the wind came back from the north and we tacked into the main port of Myrina in the dark.  Mooring alongside, we found our next two crew members, Willy and George who had arrived just before us on the evening ferry.

In the morning, we finally got to do laundry, after almost one month, in the city and decided to make only a short trip that day, being tired after a full day sail with just the two of us on board. We made our way back around the southwest of Limnos, seeing dolphins along the way, to a deep finger bay on the south near the town Kontias.  The wind was also gusting over the island at 7 Beaufort so we took this chance to warm up our new crew as we tacked up the bay with small reefed sails.  Once in this well-protected anchorage, the wind reduced by late afternoon and we went to shore in the dinghy.  We were very surprised by what Limnos had to offer with a great deal of farming and irrigation that made the inner fields lush and green while other areas appeared totally desolate.

Well-rested and with another 60nm to the Sporades we set off early with the wind shifting from a beam reach to a broad reach on our way southwest.  We heard some interesting chatter on the radio as this island chain that is part of a nature reserve came into view.  Having received a call from someone on land that a ship appeared to be on fire, the Coast Guard called all freighters in the area asking them if the smoke from their stacks was a normal color.  Confirming that it was likely a trick of the light with sunset approaching, all was silent again, and we approached the island of Kyra Panagia and took down the sails to enter the narrow entrance of the bay Planitis on the north of the island where we dropped anchor.

The next day we walked around the island which is home to only two residents, a monastery and many goats.  The rain was already starting to fall and we new that much more, as well as strong thunderstorms, were forecast for the next few days so we made our way to Skopelos in the afternoon where we would be able to stay in the harbour to wait out the storms.  Leaving the bay the waves and wind were already strong and we put up small sails to tack around the northwest of the island before taking our course on a close reach to Skopelos with the waves rocking us around on our way.

Once in the harbour, we found it difficult to find a place to moor because most boats had put spring lines blocking the berths on either side of them.  Although the harbor was not full we had to squeeze between boats and lines to find a spot with the stern to the quay.  With strong winds already whistling in the masts, we tied up with all the lines we could find in the holds in preparation for strong weather that night.  While in town that evening the drizzle quickly turned to a downpour that lasted most of the night and flashes of lightning kept the sky bright all night long. Adding snatching lines and the passerelle hitting a railing behind us on the quay made for a mostly sleepless night.

Weather warnings, ferry and flight cancellations, and severe flooding on the mainland were some of the immediate results of this storm, and we stayed in Skopelos for three nights waiting for the curfew to be lifted and the seas and sky to calm as spray from the waves outside splashed over the breaker behind us and old ropes snapped in the light swell coming into the harbour.