Turning cold.. (Amorgos - Anafi)


 

19th Oct 2020 (Amorgos)


Having been disturbed in the night by the dropping and raising of the local ferry’s anchor chain, when the actual time to get up and go came around, we were both ready to get going. 

We’re tied back onto the town quay at Katapola on the island of Amorgos. Our neighbours here are Carl and Jenny, with whom we’ve made a firm friendship over the last 10 days or so. Both those two, and Debbie and Lachlan (who were anchored in the harbour here last night) are heading down towards Crete today. After picking up some pies for brekkie and lunch from the nice local bakery, we let go the lines and headed out, with Carl and Jen close behind. Debbie and Lachlan must have left pre-dawn and we’ve since heard they plan to overnight until they get to Crete.. that’s too long for us, so we’re planning to break up the journey into two legs, stopping overnight at the island of Anafi. 

The initial sea state as we left the harbour was quite choppy, and having put both sails out to their full extent, within half an hour we’d reefed them both back. Once we’d cleared the island, the surf and wind turned behind us, and should have made for a decent ‘wing on wing’ sail South. It wasn’t bad, but there was sufficient swell for the sails to annoyingly flap here and there, and gradually through the day the wind tapered off to nothing and the sails were put away. We motored into a good looking bay at the South of Anafi, dropped anchor and dived on it to make sure it was set - it was. The weather has now taken a suitable turn considering the time of year, both of us wearing jumpers for the last hour of our journey. Also in the bay tonight are another couple from B Pontoon in Ag Nik: John and Jane, a nice older couple who’ve circumnavigated in the past, but don’t go out of their way to make a song and dance about it - as some others we’ve met tend to do. 

On channel 72 our 3 boats agreed that 5am would be a good time to start in the morning, as the journey back to Crete is estimated at another 12/13 hours, and we’d like to arrive before dark if possible. 

That’s about if for now. 

Early night for us tonight.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

My heart lies waiting over the foam... (New Caledonia - Australia)

Image
Day 1. 10 Oct '23 Like two excited children on Christmas Day morning, we jumped from our bed as the sun came up. There’s an unfamiliar tingle fluttering in my stomach.. an air of anticipation.. What’s the reason for all this excitement? Has Santa been? Did it snow? No… Better than that: We’re going to Australia! We’d prepped the boat yesterday, checked out and provisioned. All that was needed to do this morning was slip the dock lines and glide out of the marina. This was a task made significantly easier as a couple of days ago Capt. Chez had decided to turn the boat around to be facing bow out. We’re away from the marina before 6am and on our way to Bundaberg. Within the first ten minutes, we had a visit from two dolphins - surely a good omen for our last passage (… again I must stress: I’m not one for omens and portents… I do however seem to keep mentioning them. Funny that). The dolphins sedately circled the boat then headed on their merry way. We made our way through the pass
Read more

Your happiness is our goal (Tahiti)

Image
  26 June 2023 (Tahiti) Having left Rangiroa yesterday morning, this morning finds us over half way towards Tahiti. We’ve sailed throughout at 5knots + in a large beamy swell that has made life interesting, and walking around hard. It’s been a good sail, despite us both having moments of partially rounding up overnight. Usual tale of fishing: tangled line, stolen lures and swearing, further details of which I will not bore you with. The next day that turned around, after an uneventful rolly day on the water, at sunset I hooked a small yellowfin tuna. Just dished up dinner, so that can wait til tomorrow in Tahiti to feed us. At time of writing (7pm) the island of Tahiti is visible as a glow in front, but still some 30 odd miles away. We’ll be arriving after dark, and probably after the moon has set into Venus Bay (of Captain Cook fame… and subsequently learned also of Robert Louis Stephenson and William Bligh fame! - all apparently fond of topless Tahitian woman… what’s not to like??!).
Read more

Nice times (Lady Musgrave Island)

Image
A mere 10 hours after leaving Bundaberg, we arrive into the turquoise waters of the anchorage at Lady Musgrave Island. It’s all but empty - just us and one other monohull. We take a mooring buoy at the first attempt, a cause for celebration - well, a good excuse for me to have one of those Wayfarer tropical pale ales I’ve previously mentioned. The wind is sufficiently strong to keep the tripper boat away from the island. This gives us the place to ourselves for for our first explore. Very reminiscent of the Tuomotos. Lots of birds - and an underlying whiff of guano hangs around the interior. We wander through the undergrowth to the beach on the other side where a large group of black tipped reef sharks are gliding around in the shallows - a great sight… at least from the beach it is! Spent another day there, joined by the tripper boats. We ventured ashore again after they left mid afternoon and walked around the whole island - seeing lots of turtles sculling along the shoreline. The wi
Read more