On Friday, June 19th, we completed the customs work and went to the police. They told us to come back on the day of launch which is Monday. So, we had to go back and check out of the port on Monday. Launch day was on a windy day but it was smooth. The operators knew their job. Everything worked well except the fresh water pump was leaking under the sink. So, we decided to move on to Lakki and address the problem there.
Once at the Lakki bay, we found a good anchor area. Unfortunately, our dingy's line wrapped around the propeller while I was backing up. I had to dive more than ten times to untangle the line and get it work. Nearby boat owners helped to keep the boat where it is and finally we had a good anchor. The next day, we checked out of port police and on our way to Xirokampos.

Once at the Lakki port, I decided to tackle the leak project myself. The picture shows a metal replacement of a plastic T connection, after a bit struggling, I think it is fixed for good.

After the Lakki port, we stayed at Xirokampos Bay, well protected from all kinds of weather. After 2 days, we decide to head for Kalymnos. Once we reached the Kalymnos island from the west side, we stopped at Emporios Beach, a lovely place with a few restaurants and a mini market. There, we ate grilled fish at the restaurant, enjoyed swimming and good weather. A little wavy at night but calm sea otherwise. Following the trail, we then moved to a very quiet beach called Kefalas, virtually no one was there.

My daughter enjoying the moment of sunset at anchor.

Youtube: --->> click here to be updated soon!

 

Vathy was an interesting place. Due to high winds, we spend extra few days at berth. Approaching to dock was directed by Manolis, the sponge guy.
videos to be updated soon

Another restaurant we ate dinner, I asked if they would sell some of their eggs to us. The next day, the owner delivered a dozen eggs, free!. Appreciated the hospitality and friendly gesture.
On the way to Kos, we stopped at Pserimos island, nice anchorage after a windy passage.

Our next stop is Eristos Beach in Tilos. We decided to anchor on a beach that was protected from SW winds. It turned out that the beach had a small hotel, a few houses and many campers along the beach. We took a public bus to go to the hills where the markets were in the town of Tilos. There we had dinner and did our market shopping and returned to the beach by the same bus, 1 Euro each way per person. On the boat, we caught and released this "trigger" fish. Later at night, we had strong winds upto 28 knots, our anchor held well.

The next bay in Tilos island was also well protected bay, called Agia Sergios, so we thought. At first, we anchored on the East side instead of recommended West side. A super yacht came and anchored there. As soon as they left, we moved to the west side. However, there was a fisherman's boat. We managed to anchor besides it. At night, the wind was so strong that pushed us to the rocks about a few feet away. I stayed up until 3 am to watch the distance in case anchor slipped and ready to motor out. The wind was upward of 35+ knots but the anchor held really well. Below some pictures from the area.

Chalki (or Xhalki) is one of the best places we visited. We watched hundreds of trumphet fish under the lighted boats, ate at restaurants with reasonable prices, took a lot of pictures and videos. The best part, you can swim right from the boat, very clear waters. The only surprise we got the pier responsible (Yannis) charges us 60 Euros per day x 2 days, but we had plenty of water and electricity.
From there, we sailed to Alimia islets, where Germans had a military post during the WWII. A very nice an quite beach, visited the barracks, stone defense battle walls (barricades), visited an abondoned but orderly church, lighted some candles, and had a lot of swimming.

Pedi bay from the hills

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