Summertime Voyage

We sailed all the way to Tilos from Symi on a brisk North Westerly doing 6-7 knots hard on the wind the whole way. There were a couple of other boats on the same trajectory and I am pleased to say we acquitted ourselves very well. Symi to Tilos to Kos Tilos is a very attractive little place with purple bougainvillea cascading over the houses and walls in the approach. There were about a dozen boats anchored in the bay, but we motored into the harbour to take a look. Surprisingly it was very quiet with only four yachts moored there. However it is not a very attractive harbour made mostly of high concrete walls and black rubber rubbing strakes and tyres that can make a terrible mess of your hull if you come into contact with them. Tilos harbour So we went out to anchor. We dropped the anchor and motored back on it to test the holding. M’s body language indicated all was not good. We were clearly dragging. So up came the anchor with a clump of weed on it. Suddenly the windlass stopped lif...

So we are off sailing again. This is quite a short trip of 6 weeks with family and friends, so really just an extended holiday rather than an expedition of any sort. We had in fact wondered whether we should forego doing a blog for this trip but in deference to our dedicated readers (well, my Mum), we decided we should. And as always things turn out perhaps more interesting than expected. We set off from home in the wee small hours by walking to the Bus Station to get the 04.20 to Gatwick. Surprisingly not such a desolate service as I had thought with several passengers boarding with us. We passed various Swansea Jacks on the way home from the clubs and the kebab shops were doing a fair trade. Through boredom I often indulge in attributing life stories to unknown companions on such trips.  So there was a Chinese family probably off on a long journey back home to visit venerable relatives, a few in shorts and straw hats obviously off the Magaluf flesh pots for a bit of whooping it u...

M. As the end date of our time with Livianda approached we had to decide whether to have a jaunt further north and west, or start heading back towards the east. In the end we decided to pay attention to the weather forecast that predicted high wind and gusty Meltemi conditions settling in over the next week. It seemed to prudent to start a leisurely return, rather than face long downwind stretches in wild seas. Datca dogs,. They don't care. We chose Selimiye as a sheltered base for the evening. Its a pretty town on the south coast of the Gulf of Doris. On our only previous attempt to visit, we had been rather churlishly turfed out of the only remaining berth and found nowhere was safe to anchor in strong winds, with minimum depths of 20 metres and all best spots commandeered. We had retreated in darkness to our ‘ secret bay’ on the north coast. However we thought it worth another shot and set off in hope. On the way we read several accounts of others facing chaotic and unhelpful ma...