Patmos Island

Skala Harbour, Patmos

After seeing Maree and Colin off on their ferry it is now back to just the two of us which did feel a bit strange for a few days. However we quickly recovered with a 12 hour sail from Naxos to Patmos Is a distance of 70NM. We are now cruising in the Dodecanese group of islands which lie against the Turkish Coast and are strategically important with a turbulent history. The Dodecanese Islands were finally included in the Greek State in 1948 after centuries of rule by the Crusaders, Ottomans, Italian’s and then occupied by Germany during WWII.

Novel sun shade

Although the plan was to spend a few days at Patmos the notorious meltemi winds have arrived and it has been 30kts during the day gusting to 38kts at night. The constant wind is frustrating but at least the sun is shining and temps are in the high 20s. We spent one night at a beautiful anchorage with crystal clear water – the only disturbance was a superyacht about 1/2 mile away starting up their band at 2030hrs!  At least you know you are in good location when the ‘big boys’ are there.

St John's Monastery

We then moved into Skala town quay which is the  main port and town on Patmos, spending six days waiting for the wind to die down. Skala has been a lovely town for an extended stay with a beautiful harbour with the fishing boats, ferries and lots of visiting yachts and an impressive fortress like monastery built on a ridge line overlooking the bay. The island of Patmos is known as the Jerusalem of the  Aegean and is reputedly where St John wrote the Book of Revelation (or Apocalypse) in AD 95 – living in a cave to achieve this. Patmos is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, with over 40 monasteries and chapels dotted along the maze of white narrow lanes. The most impressive is the St John monastery, an imposing 11th century fortification that resembles a byzantine castle which dominates the skyline, and is one of the most sacred Christian sites in the world. The fortified walls of the monastery were built because of the threat of pirates.

Three Windmills, built in 1588, are alongside St John's  Monastery and were impressive to think how the 12 sails were manually set for the wind direction and speed. The windmills are frequently seen around the islands and were essential to the food production of the island for several centuries.  These windmills had been restored, with one in use grinding wheat into flour.  

Our time in Patmos was productive with a couple of days polishing the GRP , polishing the interior wood /stainless and John removing the linoleum in the two heads.  In between there is the constant source of entertainment watching boats arrive and depart.  One of our 'neighbours' snagged another boat's anchor and an old mooring line on departure. This happens frequently on the Med mooring where you have to drop your anchor and reverse into your berth.  It was obvious the owner's (Italian) had no idea on how to extract themselves from this predicament and in the process blew there windlass circuit breakers (and didn't know how to reset them!). After about 15mins of watching John and our other neighbour (Turk) went out in their RIB to assist.  An hour later after resetting the windlass winch and cutting away the mooring line and dropping the neighbours anchor  the problem was resolved and no doubt international relations improved.  

St John's cave entrance

Now that we are closer to Turkey we are seeing more Turkish flags and our ‘neighbours’ for the last few nights have been Turks – who were most helpful in giving us some ideas of the good anchorages to visit along the Turkish coast.  We are both finding it a bit strange now as we don’t have any fixed plans!  Up until now it has been sailing to reach Gib in time for winter and then to make Athens in time for Maree & Colin's arrival.  At last we have no schedule or time constraints so we are now finally cruising.  We are planning to spend another 1-2 weeks in Greece and then cross into Turkey (and be out of the EU for a couple of months).  

Thankfully we have not been affected by the Greek financial crisis, we still have unlimited cash withdrawals from the ATMs. The Greek’s are limited to E60 per day and the banks are only allowing pensioner’s E120 per week withdrawal. Tourism has been affected as the local businesses on Patmos have advised numbers are significantly down.  We are finding the Greeks friendly, helpful and honest people – the island lifestyle looks idyllic but it would be increasingly hard to make a living. 

Below are some photos from Patmos.