Author: Gisela Wuerfel

Now we are back on board and in the meantime we are moored in the marina of Kos between the north-eastern tip of Kos and the Turkish mainland near Bodrum in winds of up to force seven. Our two-month summer break at home was filled with many things that we also enjoy: making music, meeting friends, visiting mother, looking after "Wahlenkel", hiking in the Palatinate Forest and drinking the odd Riesling spritzer. However, we did not manage to escape the summer heat. At times it was hotter at home than in the Aegean.

In the night of 31 August, we climbed back on board Aglaya in the marina of Leros/Lakki. In the first two days we had to do maintenance work on the engine and make Aglaya ready to sail again for the onward journey. During these days it became clear to us once again that some places only really open up when you spend a few days there and take your time. So in Lakki, too, a bit of a "home feeling" has gradually emerged for us. This includes rituals that develop gradually or sometimes very quickly. In Lakki it was the evening beer in Marietta's bistro at the harbour - of course Mythos freshly tapped from the barrel.

Our plan was to head south on 2 September, with one or two stops on the island of Kalymnos, to arrive in Kos on 6 September. There a friend will come on board. After the past few days of humid, muggy weather without wind (up to 28 degrees below deck at night), the Meltemi announced itself - strong winds from the north from Sunday to Wednesday. You need a safe berth on Kos. But everything was full in Kos Marina and the town harbour. So we decided to stay on Leros for the time being and announced to our friend that she would have to take the ferry from Kos to Leros. But then came the surprise: we were promised a berth in Kos Marina for Sunday.

So goodbye to Leros, the diverse island that we really liked. The freshening wind from the northeast between 20 and 30 knots with a swell of about 1.5 or sometimes 2 metres (we always find it hard to estimate) blew us along the Greek-Turkish border to Kos within 6 hours. We only had the genoa set and always made 5-6 knots of speed. A beautiful first day of sailing after the summer break. Before we reached the marina in Kos, we had to circle a bit until we were guided into the harbour. Now we are safely moored and can calmly look at the wind indicator, which shows up to 33 knots.

Video: Nice speedy sailing only with the genoa

Video: Along the east side of Kalymnos

Viedeo: Along the greek-turkish border

After tying up everything well on Aglaya, we took the ferry from Leros to Kos on 4th of July and flew home from there. Aglaya will stay in the marina of Leros. We hope to see her again safely on 30th of August.

We are looking forward to beautiful summer weeks at home in Heidelberg and reuniting with family and friends.

So that we don't only get to know the marina, we rent a car for a day to explore the island. We are amazed at how beautiful the island is, which looks so barren from the sea. Bays that are also good for anchoring, beautiful beaches. And every place is different. We climb up to the Kastro from Agia Marina, look out from the bay of Pandeli to the windmills and visit the small crab church in the south of the island. It is built directly into the rock by the sea. Here are some pictures from our island tour:

Lakki, the largest village on the island, on the edge of which our marina is located, is architecturally out of the ordinary. The Italians occupied the island from 1913 to 1943 and used Lakki as a military base. During this time, they rebuilt the place in the Art Deco style of the 1920s and 1930s. Much of this can still be seen. However, only a few buildings are well preserved.

When we read up on the history of the island, we were struck by how it was "misused" again and again for various purposes: Although the island had taken part in the Greek liberation struggle, it was reassigned to the Ottoman Empire. After the Italian-Turkish war, Italian occupation (the whole island became an arms depot), Italian military and naval base, British occupation after the Second World War. In 1948 it was integrated into the Greek state.

Leros was also a place of exile for a long time: first a leper station, later during the 1967-1974 dictatorship an internment camp for political dissidents and a re-education camp for the children of communists. In 1957, the largest psychiatric clinic in Greece was set up here, where people were locked up in undignified conditions. From the 1980s onwards, the EU campaigned for qualified treatment methods.

Since 2008 there has been a camp for refugees on Leros, for many years it was overcrowded. Probably not any more. And today? We can see the camp from our boat mooring. It is fenced in and brightly lit at night. We can't find any information about it. We don't see any refugees in the town. It is obviously to keep them away from the tourists. But they are there anyway. And what is the EU doing?

There is just not only sailing, beautiful bays and picturesque villages. Leros has many faces, not only beautiful ones.

"A low over Taurus hardly changes." That's what the marine weather report has been telling us for days. And that's how it's supposed to stay for the next few days. A low over Taurus together with a high over Turkey causes the strong north wind Meltemi in the Aegean. Normally it blows strongest in July and August. Now we have it already towards the end of June. In the harbour of Lipsi it blows into our cockpit and the resulting swell makes our boat rock violently - even at night. This strains our nerves a little.

As the wind is supposed to get even stronger in the next few days, we decide to go to the marina in Leros a few days earlier. 15 nautical miles in a strong swell - after three hours, Marinero Jannis welcomes us with the dinghy even before we enter the marina and guides us to our berth. "Please give me the mooring," says Gisela, after she has tied down both bow lines. "It's already fixed in the back," says the marinero. From the dinghy, he had handed the mooring line directly to Walter, who was standing at the helm. Great service! We've never had that before. However, the boats at this jetty are packed so tightly that we can only deploy our fenders with a lot of effort. Something has to change there.

Now we have been in the summer quarters for our boat for two days, the Leros Marina Evros in Lakki. After so many small town harbours and anchorages, we have to get used to the marina flair again. But a warm shower and a washing machine are not to be scoffed at either.

We had already seen Volpert and Anja on their boat when we entered the marina. We knew that we would most likely meet here. We sailed together with Volpert about 25 years ago. A nice reunion after a long time. Now we have a few days to prepare for our departure on 4 July. And Walter can cure his back, which suffered during the exchange of the heavy batteries on Skyros.

The wind has been blowing from the northwest at over 30 knots since yesterday. We are moored in the harbour of the small island of Lipsi. As the inside of the pier is now fully occupied, boats that have fled the even stronger wind outside in the open sea are now trying to moor on the outside - a very challenging manoeuvre that most do not succeed at the first attempt. The bow anchor needs a lot of chain and must hold immediately, the boat must not slam across and be pushed onto the pier. "Harbour cinema" for those who are already moored, they sometimes say. But this is no fun. Some boats turn away again and look for a bay to anchor freely.

We sailed over from Patmos the day before yesterday with a nice half wind. That was a pleasure. Then the Meltemi came. The strong wind blows directly into the cockpit and there is no balmy summer evening on deck. But we are lying well, the anchor is holding and we have deployed our heavy lines with the jerk fenders to spare the other ropes. 

It's no punishment to be stuck here in Meltemi. Lipsi is a beautiful little island with agriculture, viticulture and fishing. Things are quite tranquil here. While walking, we see bays with beautiful beaches, countless little blue and white churches, and on the heights we always have wide views over the many small surrounding islands. We can also see over to Leros, our next destination.

Manolis, in a white chef's waistcoat, comes onto the pier with his little daughter and hands us the menu of his restaurant in the village. We see very interesting dishes on it, for example "Grilled vegetables with honey vinaigrette" or "Tenderloin stuffed with dried tomatoes and cheese". We can't resist and go to "Manolis Tastes" for dinner one day. Simply delicious!

While walking, we discover Dimitris' farm. Here, Dimitris' son, Kostas, runs organic farming and winegrowing. We tell him that we also come from a wine-growing region and that, due to climate change, completely different grape varieties can now be grown there and the grape harvest is starting earlier and earlier. This is also the case on Lipsi, he reports. In the past, the grape harvest would have started towards the end of August, now it starts in July. We taste his wine, which he grows without using herbicides and without adding sulphur during pressing. The strongest one we taste has 16 alcohol percent. We take two bottles with us and decide to drink it only in small quantities. At Dimitri's farm we also meet three young women from Germany. They are doing a four-week voluntary service here to help with the local agriculture.

Back on our boat, the wind blows unabated and we wonder if we will be able to make our last beat to Leros tomorrow to the summer place for our boat as planned.          

More pictures from Lipsi:  

We look out over a rugged island world from the main village of the island of Patmos, the Chora, and can well imagine that there was a volcano or even several here in an earlier earth age. Today, the peaks rise out of the sea - a sunken caldera, a beautiful island with many headlands and wonderful anchorages.

The panoramic view also extends to the surrounding islands: Arki, Lipsi (that's where we want to go next), Leros (our mooring for the summer break can be guessed at in the haze), to the north the Phournoi Islands and Samos, to the west Ikaría (that's where we came from).

Video: Panorama

Above the Chora of Patmos towers the great monastery of St John, one of the most important pilgrimage sites of the Greek Orthodox Church. This attracts not only believers, but also otherwise many tourists.

We also walk to the three windmills on the Chora hill. The wings turn in the wind. They look much nicer than the modern windmills. In the past the farmers brought their grain there to be ground.

Video

Our boat is moored in Patmos Skala, the harbour town. There is a lot going on here. Ferries come, many sailing boats, also large exclusive cruise ships such as the Club Med ship that we have already seen in Saint Tropez. The harbour town of Patmos Skala seems a little oriental. Yes, we are not far from the Orient. And in the eventful history of the islands in the eastern Aegean, there were also times of Ottoman domination.

By bus we drive to Ormos Grikou, a totally protected bay with an imposing rock. Here there are mooring buoys, which are all occupied in the evening, and beautiful beaches. Summer has begun and it is already really hot. It's good to be in the shade under the trees on the beach. The water is crystal clear and not as cold as it was a few weeks ago. Before the bus takes us back to our boat, we have a cool draught beer in one of the beach tavernas. Ormos Grikou: an idyll.

More pictures:

"All good things come in threes", they say. Does that also apply to bad things? We hope so! Yesterday on the way from the island of Icarìa to the island of Patmos, our engine didn't start. We had sailed, but then the wind took a break for lunch. It was like déjavu: the same thing had happened to us in April near Monemvasia. We then sailed into the harbour with our small sails. Lots of mud in the diesel tanks had blocked our fuel line. After the tanks and lines were cleaned, everything was OK again. Then a few weeks later at the northern tip of the island of Euboea the same thing. So, in the harbour of Oreoi, we put in an additional pre-filter. This third pre-filter was supposed to catch additional dirt. Well, that's what it did. After we couldn't start the engine for the third time and had ruled out all possible causes for the problem, we replaced the new filter in zero wind but a little swell. A bit of a mess. But with success. The engine started again and ran perfectly. And the removed filter was totally dirty. Where does all the dirt in the diesel come from? 

In any case, we were able to reach our destination on Patmos relaxed. One thing is clear: we will buy a family pack of these pre-filters. And: All bad things are hopefully only three.