With our delayed start, we realized we wouldn’t make Lesvos the day we left Cesme, so we hatched yet another plan and headed across to Khios to check back into Greece, before a short sail up to Oinoussa, to check out the birthplace of a lot of Greek Shipping magnates (except Onassis – he was born in Turkey and then moved to Argentina evidently).
The wind picked up as soon as we left Cesme and with two reefs in, it had soon hit 30kts. Khios was nothing to write home about so as soon as we’d finished with the formalities, we left and headed back out into the windy straight that separates Turkey from Khios. We now understood why Cesme was such a popular windsurfing spot.
It took us 2 hours to battle the 10nm into the wind, which at one stage hit 44kts (50kts apparent). I was very happy to pull into Oinoussa, past the statue of the mermaid perched on a rock in the sea, to the town wall where we parked. It was too cold to swim so a walk was in order. Sleepy little town with some friendly people and lovely colorful traditional Greek fishing boats. Met some kids from New Orleans who Mum owned a place on the island – they come back every year for summer break.
Next morning, it was up at 6am and off to Lesvos, some 50nm away.
For photos of Ionoussa see https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10203935460019779.1073741964.1620379103&type=1&l=db557a8f6c
For photo of Khios see https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10203935464779898.1073741965.1620379103&type=1&l=46b6104b18
A Little Bit of Mischief 