ocean-pilgrim

It’s been a while since I wrote a postcard home.  Due to many things including a trip to Spain mid-season to see our family and a few land based visitors and a a whole load of computer issues that I have just sorted out (hopefully!).

While there is always a mix of busy times and quiet days on a boat there is also a variety of things that go wrong and a lot of time can be spent working out how to fix them, repair them or replace them.  The islands make all of these things a bit more complicated as everything comes in by ferry and they don’t always run daily. Anyhow I will wrap up the season with a little more about that next post.  For now, here’s more island-hopping magic which we wish was how our sailing life was all the time!

Arriving back into Leros in the Dodecanese once again made me realise just how beautiful this island group is.  Rugged mountain ranges surrounded by deep blue seas with a little more vegetation than the barren Cyclades makes for some spectacular scenery.  The towns, such as Lakki are quirky, the pace of life slower and the people are authentic and friendly.

We left the boat in Samos in the marina in a heat wave whilst we visited the family in Barcelona for a few weeks in August and on return hightailed it out of the marina asap as it was just so hot in there.  A local then told us it’s nickname was Tigani meaning frying pan. So we used yet another northerly to fly down to Leros to pick up some parcels being delivered to the marina there.

We waited for a good weather window to jump across to Astypalia.  When Rick asked me at the beginning of the season where I would like to go this year I mentioned Astypalia as the last (and only) time we visited was when we chartered a boat with the kids in 2014. I had loved the mix of Cyclades style houses and bare hills but with the attitude and friendliness of the Dodecanes islands. We arrived after about a 6 hour sail to an anchorage that was actually windier inside it than out however you can’t anchor offshore! So we made sure the anchor had a good hold and put up with it for the night.  We watched with alarm as another boat started to head off by itself out of the anchorage while it’s owners blissfully ignorant were swimming in a bay around the corner. They’d taken their dinghy but it had no outboard on it so when they saw their boat heading off out to sea it was painfully slow for them to get to it using their oars but they did rescue it before the boat got into trouble. There was also no mobile coverage which was also not ideal as no way to get a weather forecast, especially in a strong wind, so despite its wildness we were up early the next morning to find a better spot. 

Astypalia is shaped rather like a butterfly with lots of craggy indentations and small rocky beaches all around it which meant many anchorages to choose from. We stayed in a lovely bay off a tiny town to the east of the main harbour and loved it there.  Rick was able to foil and we took the bus into the main town called Chora and explored around this lovely area.

Last time we had stayed in the main port on the tiny town quay.  I remember we sent Nick off with the ships papers to the port police along with a 50 Euro note to pay for a few nights there.  He came back saying we needed change.  Perplexed we thought it wasn’t enough money but the price for a night turned out to be Euro1.50 and they couldn’t make change for 50. This visit there was no way we could get onto the quay.  It’s no longer an outlying island off most peoples itinerary as we saw a steady stream of both charter boats and Turkish flagged yachts coming in and out of the harbour usually disappointed as there was no room.  Turkish citizens have been given new short term visas which now makes coming across to Greece very easy. As the yachting costs in Turkey rise it’s no wonder the safe island cruising ground of these islands appeals to the many Turkish boat owners.

Luckily for us there was a lovely small but busy bay around the corner. There was room for plenty of boats so all of the overflow ended up here. The view of the castle on the hill was fantastic especially in the evening when it was lit up firstly by the setting sun and then with great lighting.

Walks up to the Chora and harbour to explore plus swimming in the slightly colder water and some wing foiling whenever the wind was strong enough happily filled our days.

Astypalia is in the windy belt towards the middle of the Aegean and with a deteriorating forecast we made the sloppy and very uncomfortable sail back to Kalymnos where we took our time doing a small circumnavigation of the island. It was great going back to places we hadn’t been for years and to discover some new ones.  There’s a lot of great anchorages protected from the prevailing northerly winds so we hopped our way around the island for over a week.

It’s really been a year of revisiting favourite spots so September was all about heading back to our favourites all of which are about half a day of sailing from each other so it’s easy to start the day and just pick a place that we feel like going. Firstly we headed to Arki for some excellent foiling opportunities for Rick and for tying back to the shore and when all the day trippers leave to be at peace in a pristine environment and to revisit the cute main harbour.

From Arki to Agathonisi. Such a beautiful place with friendly locals and 2 tiny towns above the harbour. It means we can do some great walking with views that seem to go on forever. Agathonisi has had more than its fare share of refugees over the past years. On past visits we’ve seen the detritus of these perilous journeys but this time we couldn’t help but laugh at the locals capacity to reuse and recycle. This time it was fibreglass lifeboat tops repurposed as goat shelters.

Patmos is always a favourite. With reliable winds for Rick to foil and a beautiful harbour for a night on the town quay and a great walk up to the cave of St John and to the Chora on the top of the hill. More windmills, more stunning views, more whitewashed alleyways but somehow I never get sick of the endless variety of sights and sounds here in Greece.

All of these places we have a few favourite anchorages and we island hopped from one spot to another yet we, like many others sailing in the Med this year were somewhat challenged by the weather.  Hotter sea temperatures has made the frontal systems more unstable with many thunderstorms which have led to a number of tragedies over towards the Western Mediterranean. Unseasonal southerly weather, storms, waterspouts and stronger than usual northerly winds have been prevalent this summer.  Fortunately for us it’s just meant a bit of ducking and weaving and careful watching of the forecasts. Having time and no big commitments makes this easier to do. The Med has recorded it’s hottest water temperatures since measurement began. Perhaps dodging the weather will become an extreme sport in the future  but for now are grateful to be in this string of islands that misses the worst of it.and then to Agathonisi and Lipsi and Patmos.  These islands are about half a day of sailing from each other so it’s easy to start the day and just pick a place that we feel like going.