And we are off.......
June 10th was Launch day for 2024. We were the first boat in the water on the Monday morning and after a hot and sweaty week in the yard it was pure bliss to step onto Phantomas and back away from the jetty. As soon as we were on the water, everything felt cooler, and I couldn’t wait for my first swim. We motored around the island to a bay near Agia Marina and anchored up and jumped right in. The water was divine, but at 24 degrees not quite up to Tony’s preferred 28 degrees but I thought it was heavenly. We ended up in the sheltered bay at Lakki, the main town of Leros for a few days, finalising the necessary things with customs and Port Police. We did numerous shopping trips to stock up the fridges with fresh vege, meat and the all-important sundowner drinks and the last-minute spare parts/boat stuff.
We headed out of the bay at Lakki and pointed ourselves towards the island of Amorgos for an overnight stay in a pretty bay. We had to motor the whole way as there was not enough wind to sail. The next morning, we set off for the island of Ios and thought we would have a slow start, but the wind had other plans and we were soon putting up sails to then start reefing them in when the wind strengthened.
When we arrived in Ios, the wind had slowed down enough to make the stern to docking not too hard. I think we must be getting better at this sailing thing! We had come to Ios as a jumping off point to visit Santorini and to catch up with a friend from home. We would be leaving the next day on the ferry and leaving Phantomas in Ios.
