Lipsi to Patmos
24 August 2019
Nerida Matthews | 31 degrees, water temperature is 24.5 degrees, wind 5-10 knots

Lipsi
19-21 August
We spent a couple of days in a bay at the south end of Lipsi island, a lovely place with plenty of options for somewhere to anchor. There are a few houses around the area, a good swimming beach and an adjacent restaurant. We went into the restaurant for lunch and had an excellent meal in idyllic surroundings. We had local Lipsi cream cheese with apple, mint drizzled with local honey, an orange and cucumber salad with olives, capers, samphire and feta, followed by freshly caught tuna with garlic and rosemary, all washed down with a local rose – probably the best meal so far.
The bay was very busy at times with many yachts coming and going. Some skippers seem to have very different ideas about how far away yachts need to be from each other while at anchor – especially in windy conditions. Some will stand on the bow of their yacht as soon as someone comes within 100 meters of them and try to chase new arrivals away. Others seem to think being 5 meters from another boat is fine and appear to have no idea how much a yacht will drift around when on the end of 30 or 40 meters of anchor chain. Yes, we did have to “advise” a couple of new arrivals on charter boats of their proximity being way to close to us.
Patmos
22-24 August
On Thursday we sailed across to the island of Patmos. We started out at a good rate with reefed sails in about 20 knots of wind. About half way across the wind dropped to around 10 knots and looked like it would stay that way. The captain decided to pull a bit more sail out, always looking to go a bit faster….. After about 15 minutes the wind was back at 20 to 25 knots so we were then well over-powered. As it is not so easy to roll up our in-mast furling mainsail in those conditions we stuck it out for a while until nearer the lee of Patmos island. A wet and wild ride! The second crew member was fairly quick to say “I told you so” when going for more sail area.
We were lucky to get a berth in the harbour on Patmos, this is a very busy and popular spot. Although the yacht harbour area is a bit sparse it is well protected and a comfortable place to be. The town is a thriving place that has many ferries and the occasional cruise ship coming in. One of the main attractions is the monastery of St John that sits high on the hill over the town and a small cave where it is reported he wrote the Book of Revelations. We visited the monastery last year, so decided to spend our time exploring the back streets and cooling off at the beach.
Today we have motored around to a nearby bay on Patmos island, another good spot. Just a few other boats here, a good swimming beach, a taverna ashore and as always beautiful clear water. The monastery of St John is off in the distance (see Gallery).