After a noisy night in Lipso today was a free sailing day. Basically the flotilla breaks up for a day and we head off wherever we want to go. We are as far north as we are going so now the rest of the week is easier sailing downwind back to our start point. We stopped for a swin in a tiny bay, similar to a few others, it has a few moorings bouys, a beach and one Taverna. The water really is this blue. Another boat nearby radioed they had seen dolphins but we could not spot them.

We chose a place for the night with a good write up in the pilot book called Pandeli, back on Leros Island, but we are going down the east side having gone up the west side yesterday. It is a tiny fishing town.

Behind it you can see the castle above Alinda, which is actually the next bay North. Alinda was the focus of the battle of Leros during the second world war. The harbour was chock full of local fishing boats so we anchored in the bay. The pilot guide mentions this as a quiet place, but word has clearly got out. There must be 25 yachts in here and it took us some time to find a safe anchorage. Below we can be seen here looking rather scruffy with all our swimming gear out to dry, but the sky is rather less scruffy.

We got the dinghy out and headed for a Taverna on the beach. The first night we were kept awake by parties and fireworks. The next night there was a wedding party driving around blowing car horns… then in Lakki we had endless mopeds hurtling  up and down the quay…. here we have just the slap of water as the boat swings on it’s anchor in a gentle breeze.

Time to stop blogging and enjoy the peace.