39:52.420N 25:03.404E

23/06/12

Quiet night in the anchorage. Vagelis went ashore at 09:00 to complete the check out.  He came back at 11:40 and we left immediately.  They managed to make a ten minute procedure last 2 ½ hours.  Doesn’t make you want to rush back to Turkey. Limnos is about 75 miles away.  We should have a good sail once we’ve cleared the shipping lanes.  Leaving so late, we’ll arrive after dark but it’s a large well marked bay so should present no difficulties. 

The battery dealer reports he has 11 x EXG 210s  in stock and promises to keep 8 of them aside for SPINDRIFT.  Meanwhile we’re doing very well with the  4 battery system which lasts well through the night before needing recharging, although you need to run the generator if you have  to do anything really serious like use the bow thruster.

We set the main and motor sail the last couple of miles. The Dardanelles spit us out into the Aegean at 12 knots.

In order to feather the prop you need to reduce the boat speed to  5 knots which a little difficult as SPINDRIFT just doesn’t want to stop. Soon we are broad reaching at 10 plus knots with a reefed main and yankee. There is no sea and suddenly there are no other boats of any description any where near us.

After a couple of hours the wind drops to NW5 and out comes the cruising chute. We have a slight hiccup setting it as the wind fills the sail  before we’re quite ready and opens the sock taking the dowsing line up with it well out of reach.  Boat speed rockets up again and we enjoy a short passage until it appears that bigger wind is on the way. As we can’t use the sock to dowse the Chute, Vagelis  feeds it  to Rania through the forward cabin hatch as I release the sheet and tack while Demetra lowers the halyard.  Very exciting. A few minutes later the  wind pipes up to 25 knots and I am really glad the sail is down in one piece.  We’re doing so well our current ETA is 20:36 with just over 30 miles to go.  Down come the Turkish Flag and up goes the Greek and Q flag.  There is no shipping closer than 20 miles from us which is a real contrast to the last few days.

As we were leaving  Turkish waters we were invaded by hoards of flies. Not sure if they were Turkish or Greek but Demetra and Rania spent a long time swatting them.  And they haven’t left yet.

At about 5pm as we reach  the North Eastern tip of Limnos and wind drops and goes West which is not on the menu.  So we start motoring again.  The Batteries were almost due for a charge anyway. ETA is still around 8:30.

We motored the last 25 miles and by 8:30 were alongside the dock using an old Ferry landing spot.  The check in took about ten minutes.  Welcome back to Greece.

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Galippoli War Memorial

 

Oops.  Spot the  dowsing line

 

Vagelis' new partner

 

Greece Again-Limnos

 

Limnos Sunset 1

 

Limnos Sunset 2