Back to Lakki

Katapola harbour seems to be notorious for mishaps! After our hike on Sunday we decided to have an early night. It didn't quite work out. First the water man, who had promised to come at 7, then kept promising he would be with us in ten minutes, eventually arrived at 9.15, so by the time we had filled up it was almost ten before we got to the taverna for dinner. As we were finishing dinner another charter boat, who thought it was a good idea to arrive at night, came in, looked around and managed to run hard aground. They obviously had no idea what to do, so a heroic Frenchman swam out to help them, then a dinghy and a fishing boat arrived to help them lay out a kedge, while the Port Police stood on the shore, just watching. Eventually, with a lot of tugging and rocking, they got free and the Port Policeman was picked up by the fisherman, no doubt so that he could go and write up his report. Finally the fisherman brought the shivering Frenchman back to his wife and we could all go to bed.
We left next morning about 10, but not before two other boats had struggled to get their anchors up - the ferry had laid its anchors over them and they had no chance. We heard later that it took them three hours and a diver to get free, while when the ferry left next morning it pulled up the anchor of a Danish yacht and was about to steam off with them in tow.
We motored up the coast of Amorgos, in horrible seas but not much wind, to an anchorage behind an island at Kalotiri. Until a French yacht arrived in the evening we were the only yacht there.

In the afternoon we walked up to the very well-maintained church at the end of the bay.

And in the evening we were left to ourselves once the tripper boat had taken all the visitors home from the beach.

We left early next morning for Levitha. Along the north coast of Amorgos the seas were large and confused and there was only a little wind, gusting from all directions, which made it very uncomfortable. To make matters worse the shackle fell off the mainsheet block at the deck and the boom was thrashing all over the place. Simon managed to secure it with a stopper knot, which then smashed the jamming cleat, and got another line on the boom to hold it while he sorted out the mainsheet. Then he just had to untie the stopper knot - easier said than done.
Eventually we got under way and had a great sail, broad reaching away from Amorgos with a knot of current under us, so the GPS recorded a top speed of 9.1 knots over the ground.

There were only two boats in the bay at Levitha when we arrived, but it soon filled up during the afternoon, with every mooring taken. We walked up to the taverna for a dinner of that day's catch of grey mullet, beautifully cooked.

Next morning all the other yachts were soon on their way, leaving just us and Dennis and Gwen on a Moody 336 left in the bay.

We walked up the hill to what Dennis and Gwen had told us was said to be pirate castle, but when we got there the stonework looked too sophisticated for pirates.

The family in the farm didn't know what it was, and we haven't found out any more about it on the internet, apart from a comment that it is at least Hellenistic.
We left Levitha at 7.30 on Thursday morning and got to Lakki by 11, where we went back to our familiar spot in the marina.
Now we have a week of leisurely washing, cleaning and repairing before we go to the yard to lift out at the end of next week.