Maleas to Milos

We set off at 0400 from Elefonisos and in the event the feared Cape Maleas was a pussey-cat. Barely a breath of wind. There were lots of large ships though going every which way and several poorly lit fishing boats so I had to keep a sharp lookout. We had 2 hours of night sailing to start with. One boat played a searchlight over us several times nearly blinding me. I never did find out why and in the end he disappeared off at high speed. Maybe it was the coastguard checking us out.

With no wind, we motored for several hours - I took the night watch then L came up and let me doze. Later, I went down below to make L a cup of tea and noticed some splashes of water on the floor. I was just about to put it down to L having spilt something when some more splashed up betwen the floorboards. We were sinking! Well actually we had about 9 inches of water on board - but that's an awful lot! I quickly determined that it was the new siphon-break valve I bought at huge cost and installed while we were in Kalamata. I plugged the leak then we set about pumping which took about 15 minutes but seemed like hours. I blew and sucked the rogue valve and it seemed to work fine so hoped it had picked up some dirt - now gone.
There was some wind but it was right on the nose so we felt we had no choice but to keep motoring and check every 1/2 hour that there was no more water. There wasn't.

We eventually got to Milos at 1900 - impressive volcanic scenery and a huge set of caulderas left by the enourmous explosions that took out the heart of the mountain thousands of years ago. We tied up at the quay with tailed lines but nobody to help - quite a challenge as it was the first time we've done that - there has always been help before.




The first night was fine but the following 4 days we had a strong northerly and what with that and the Ferries had a vicious swell pulling us onto and off the concrete quay. One particularly violent jerk broke a mooring warp and I think has damaged a cleat as it's now moving a little and making an odd noise. Luckily we had put on redundant lines so we were safe.




We made friends with a local called Yorgios who sells diesel from a tanker. He invited me to have a drink at his place. I walked miles to find him - but when I did he was most hospitable. He was a seaman for 30 years and saved up all his wages to by an impressive smallholding, several houses and a garage. His extended family lives in the houses. He grows a huge variety of crops and gave us some wonderful herbs, artichokes and beetroots. His granddaughter Anastasia is 8 and has been learning English. She already speaks it better than I speak Greek.

We hired a car on the Wednesday and drove around the island. It has some pretty little Cycladic villages, a huge set of Catacombes, beaches and miles and miles of dirt road on which we got well and truly lost. A very good day. One particular find was an excellent chandler - quite unexpected - just south of the town quay.

We finally had enough of being thrown around and decided to brave the Meltemi and go to a south-facing bay on Kimolos. We struck up an acquaintance with a professional skipper who advised us to go the long way round the Island. It would never have occurred to me - but it seemed a good idea so we tried it. Big mistake! The first leg was a beat up the crater which we would have had to do either way. We then had a nice down-wind sail along the west side and part of the southern shore. Then we passed the highest peak and were hit with winds being funneled down the crater which gusted up to 38Knots. Very scary - particularly as the cooling water had now packed up again!. We dropped the main and sailed on Jib alone which worked well. Once we rounded the Eastern cape we were now faced with beating all the way up to Kimolos into the teeth of 25Knots gusting 30. We hoisted 2 reefs in the main and hit 7 knots! The waves were moderated a bit by Kimolos but still very uncomfortable. We finally anchored under sail at 1930 ready for a stiff G&T (or two).

If we had gone the other way, we would have had 3 hours of close hauled force 5 with a heavy beam swell. Uncomfortable but soon enough over.