We decided to sleep in a little and left Limnos by noon. We thought this would be enough time for the weather to calm down and it was only 25 miles to the island we were stopping at to break up the trip to Skyros. We pulled right out and had no problems getting out of the harbor which was nice.
What wasn’t nice is once we got out of the harbor there was no wind and a nice size swell that had built up from all of the wind the days before. I can officially say that this was the worse day on the water the entire time I’ve been on the boat. The wind was coming from behind so we were being pushed over the swell and the boat was rolling from side to side instead of just going over the waves. The sea was super confused and the lack of wind made a slow sailing day.
It was a good day to try out the cruising spinnaker that has been tied to the deck of the boat for the past two + years but has never been used on the Pipedream.
Dad and I raised the sail while Mom controlled it from the cockpit. The way it’s designed is that is comes in a “sock” which you can see on top of the red sail in the picture. We hook the top of the sock and sail up to a halyard and I was in charge of raising the halyard which is what I’m doing here. Dad tied the bottom of the sail to the front of the boat and then he uses a blue rope attached to raise the sock off of the sail like raising a curtain. There is a line that Mom had in the cockpit to actually control the sail and she had the power to tighten or loosen the sail. Aside from having to hang on and not fall overboard, it went really smooth.
Dad and I were really proud of ourselves when it works and we didn’t fall overboard! I know the waves don’t look big in the photo, but that is the deceiving part of swell. It just rolls from every direction and makes the boat rock and roll like a fishing bobber which makes it very difficult to stand on.
This is Mom and Dad back in the cockpit. Sadly the wind shifted so we only kept the sail up for about 30 minutes and then we couldn’t fill it anymore. Ideal situation for the sail is when the wind is from behind and there isn’t a lot of it. Well of course the wind shifted and we never put the main up (which was a mistake!) and so it was a super rolly trip into Ayios Evstratios. Dad was actually at the helm trying to ride over the waves while Mom and I were bracing ourselves in the cockpit green as shamrocks.
We thought we would be coming into an anchorage… nope there is a harbor here! This is Ayios Evstratios which is a small island between Limnos and Skyros. What you see is the entire town. During the winter they apparently have a population of 200 because the elderly flee to neighboring islands or Athens to escape the strong winds. There is no bank on the island and two open restaurants to choose from. It was actually a really pleasant surprise. Note the cemetery at the top of the hill to the left of the photo.
Of course we walked up the hill to the cemetery! We learned where the cemetery is, the helipad, an old wind mill, and the island dump. It was a very educational hike. The cemetery was closed of course, but we were ready for some time on land and it was a pretty view.
It was only natural we walk up there since we had started the trend of climbing to the highest cool thing on an island. On the walk there was an old school building which we could’ve sworn was a prison. Apparently up until recently they would exile political prisoners here. Fun little fact.
We stopped at restaurant number 2 for a beer and snacks which ended up turning into a couple of beers and dinner. The couple that owned the place spoke great English and it was a lot of fun to sit and watch half of the island’s population walk by. The food was delicious (tzatziki, Greek salad, fresh bread, homemade fries, fried zucchini, and saganaki) and they had Amstel on tap served in frosted mugs. Heaven.
We made it back to the dock in time for the sunset and this is Mom and I Greek dancing while watching the sunset. Dad had spilled half a beer in the cockpit before we went for our walks and when we got back to the boat there were flies of all sizes swarming around where the spilled beer was. This was a gross moment, but nothing a little water and bug spray didn’t take care of.
We were in a bit of a hurry to beat the ferry out the next morning since we were “parked” pretty close and there wasn’t a whole lot of space for the ferry to move around us. Ayios Evstratios was a terrific stop with wonderful people and I don’t think it gets more authentic Greek than this.
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