Saturday 23^rd July – Mirina, Limnos, Greece

39:52.408N 25:03.562E

The serious west winds and swell have now disappeared from the forecast thankfully and so we thought it would be nice to go back to anchor.  Richard went out before breakfast with our boat cleaner which has oxalic acid in it and cleaned off the remaining rust marks from the deck and topped up our water tanks.  When one our fishermen friends appeared we explained we would go off back out to the anchorage and we left mid morning and settled back in the bay.

We’ve had a relaxing day swimming and it is cooler here as we face the wind and so it comes down into the saloon and cools us.  We took the dinghy into the inner harbour and went for provisions this evening and when we got back we went over to say good-bye to our other friends on the fishing boat as they had not all been there this morning when we left.  Obviously we took them some beers to say thanks for their hospitality; the young guy speaks some English and it sounded like their main concern was why we had moved, so I explained about the swimming and the ‘air conditioning’ from the wind and they seemed satisfied.  We said we would be back if the weather turns again – they seemed genuinely happy for us to be alongside (and not just because of the beer).

This evening a few other yachts have arrived and anchored around us; the character of the place is totally different to that of a couple of days ago when everyone was trying to get to the town quay!  The quay has attracted a few small motor boats this evening that has filled it up.