The feeling of saying goodbye continues as we sail onwards, and northwards so that we can then cut out across the Agean with a good wind angle. The Thursday market is just setting up as we wake up in Palamut so we linger until late morning, finally departing loaded with fresh fruit,olive oil, bread and vegetables and a cotton sun dress for Pippy.
On we go to wonderful Knidos for a lunch stop. This site never fails to astound and seeing it for the last time brings a special kind of appreciation for the bustling hub of a port it was in ancient times. The water here is a crisp cool swim and very refreshing. It is easy to imagine the ancient marble columns and grand nature of the surroundings as they once were. The ghosts of past civilisations are very evident here in the atmosphere.
The afternoon breeze fills in as expected and we have a fresh 25 knot breeze for our sail to Kos... nooo ... Bodrum overnight, where we anchor close to the castle as the sun goes down.
Friday morning we call in to Kos Island hoping to find a spot to stay overnight, but unfortunately the old town harbour is full and so is the Marina. Thank you to Thomas, our favourite marinara who comes to the rescue and puts us into a berth for a couple of hours while Pierre assists Richard with the fitting of a new Rocna anchor we have had couriered from Lefkas (a good Kiwi brand).
Pippy rushes off to get some Euro out of the hole in the wall and to organise a Greek sim card. She is also mysteriously spotted coming out of the ice cream shop on the waterfront with one of those cherry and yoghurt monsters which instantly melt and dribble down the side of the waffle cone!
It is so nice to be back to this familiar place with so many familiar faces. Before the two hours are up, Thomas has found us a berth so we can stay overnight which is fortuitous because we really want to catch up with Werner and Hannalore on board Zaijan and they are up on deck waving to us as we relocate the boat and take our lines as we berth. It is just like old times and even more so later on as we walk along to the Yacht Cafe for happy hour cocktails, then get ‘finished off’ with some peach schnaps on board Zaijan. Auf Wiedersein indeed ha ha!! We do hope we will meet again one day.
Saturday morning is busy with no time for hangovers and lots of last minute little jobs to be done – cannot recall what they were now as we have moved on and now find ourselves in magical Patmos and its Monday morning!
The sailing is superb – all uphill at the moment with a brisk and very long sail on Saturday, when we finally give up on our goal of making it into Emporio on the western side of Kalymnos, and stop to anchor overnight in southern Leros. We choose the inside route and that is our mistake. Maybe if we had motored and gone outside Kalymnos we would have been tucked up into Emporio earlier. As it is, the wind howls around us and Richard is on anchor watch until 11pm when it all quietens down. Our new Rocna is doing the trick.
Saturday brings a magical 18 knot north westerly and as Patmos approaches we enjoy sandwiches made with Prosciuttu from Italy, Cheese from Turkey and fresh bread from Greece.
From now on we are in ‘new’ territory. Patmos is gorgeous. We are anchored and reversed on to the town wall. Yesterday we explored the chora on top of the hill which is delightful. Maybe we will go back today and try to see the monastery and museum which was closed yesterday.
It is hot again - very hot and the weather forecast is threatening a big bit of wind on the way.
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