Petronella's Voyages: Nisos Dhenoussa to Nisos Levitha

Had a wild night with wind rocketing down the mountains and into the bay. Don’t like this place much. We planned to get to Levitha as quickly as we could and hole up there for a day or two so were off at first light in a murky cloudy day. The forecast for the day was north easterly 4 rising to 8 in the afternoon. As we left the bay the waves were over 2 metres high and very lumpy, and the first wave of the trip joined us in the cockpit! Great! Fairly undecided as to whether this is a sensible idea but we only had 30 miles to sail to Levitha so thought we would go for it. And it was fine – romped along at around 5½ knots with the wind behind the beam, first of all Levitha and then the Dodecanese islands coming into view. The wind dropped briefly then swung round to the north and the seas got really lumpy and confused and quite unpleasant. We put the engine on and motorsailed as we threaded our way through the islands to the west of Levitha, then into the flat calm along the southern edge of Levitha. We arrived at the anchorage just before 3pm and picked up a mooring buoy. Fantastic place. A T-shaped bay like a fjord cut into the steep sided hills and with good anchorages in both ends of the T. The island has only one family living on it and they have installed moorings in the eastern arm of the T next to the jetty. Really picturesque and sheltered.

We launched the dingy and rowed the 20 metres or so to the jetty and tied up. Then we followed a rocky path which led up to the houses on the skyline and soon we were talking to the lady and her son that lived there. It is 6 euros a night for the mooring. Would we like a meal in their taverna? Yes please. Goats liver followed by goat stew? Sounds pretty good to us. Feel free to roam all over the island – just close any gates you go through. Fine by us. So that night we stumbled up the track in the dark to the taverna where there was just one table laid for 2 people in the doorway of a barn - sort of out of the wind. The food was just delicious – could she cook! It was a cold night but we were wrapped up and had a great meal. Then back along the rocky track under clear skies in pitch black. Another boat had tied up near to us so we were not alone that night.

All that night we were blasted by wind funnelling down into the bay. It was forecast force 8 all day so we decided it would be a good idea to stay put for the day – and it was such a good place to stay we did not really need an excuse. The French boat left early but we had a lie in then climbed up to the old fort on the top of the highest hill on the island and sat in the sun for a couple of hours watching the white horses race across the sea and texting friends and speaking to Ali – it’s the only place on the island that there is any phone signal. We could see Petronella being buffeted by the winds far below us in the anchorage and on the horizon were Kalamos and Kos with the mountains of Turkey in the background for the first time. Not far to go now. Then that night we had another of the family’s delicious meals – John had fish and I had a mutton stew – again just delicious, this time in the living room with the family as it was just too cold and windy outside. Had a long chat with them – only 4 people live on the island now and it gets pretty lonely at times. A fantastic place and I’m sure that we will come back.