37:07.791N 26:51.189E
Muskrat
Chris and Alison
Tue 7 Sep 2021 16:22
Despite a rather rough forecast from the Navtex, we decided to leave Levitha. We have spent a week in a very quiet bay with only goats and cormorants and a single gull for company, no cellphone or internet. The forecast was for N NW 5-6 rough. We put on our life jackets and this time a harness as well. As we left the bay we were in the lee of the island but could see the waves on the cape ahead of us. We only put up a reefed Genoa and as we left the lee of the island we were in some quite confused sea and winds gusting to 30kts. With only 21 miles to go we stuck it out. The occasional wave came into the cockpit to soak us and tea and coffee was off the menu, 1. we were running low on supplies, 2. the gimballed cooker was at its limit so boiling water might have been a bit dangerous. We were though, making almost 8kts towards our destination, Leros. Nav warnings on the radio about refugees in unseaworthy rubber boats in the Eastern Mediterranean made my heart sink for them. NATO operations were in force. We arrived in Leros at 1300 to a calm bay and anchored between the two small marinas either side, one of which will be Muskies winter home. But before we lay her up we have the Dodecanese islands to explore, as we have now left the Cyclades. Leros is more green and lush than most of the other islands we have visited. The Island was associated in antiquity with the cult of Artemis, the worship of the mother-goddess when most of the civilised world had switched to the worship of the father god. This left Leros out of kilter with the rest of the islands and a bit quirky. The buildings around Lakki all date from the Italian occupation when the bay was an Italian Naval base. There are large art deco buildings arranged around boulevards. But as you walk into the back streets some of the buildings, that have not been refurbished, still show signs of shrapnel damage from WW2. Despite its green and lushness, the mains water is not drinkable, so despite all my efforts to make Muskie a non plastic and “green” boat, we have now had to buy drinking water in plastic bottles. So far we have drank the water from our nice clean tanks so we don’t want to put brackish water into them now. It is a very sorry sight to see so much plastic waste in the Mediterranean sea. Leaving Levitha in the calm lee of the island.  :)Leros Marina where Muskie will be over wintered.  Restored Italian buildings.    |