End of a great big Aegean loop
Thursday, 30th June 2016

We have been off radar for a bit and are now about 260nm from our last report having closed the loop of our Dodecanese, Cyclades, Crete, Dodecanese circuit. Our timing has (more by luck than judgement?) been good - we got out of Crete before the Northwesterly winds came blasting down. We sailed to little Kasos from the eastern side of Crete, about 35nm away. Here we rafted alongside an impounded sailing yacht in the port of Fri. It was Turkish flagged, not that much bigger than us, but was caught with apparently about 40 smuggled migrants on board and now sits abandoned on the breakwater here. Fri it is a friendly, pretty little port, very quiet, but also very safe and sheltered from the battering of winds and high seas the area gets in the Karpathos Sea.

With such winds in the offing, we did not linger, nor go down the strait and up the east side of Karpathos to visit its main port, Pigadhia. Instead we sailed up the west side of Karpathos and what a barren, craggy, desolate length of rock it is. We viewed it through the binoculars as we went past on the 60nm trip to Khalki - good sailing for about half of the 11 hour trip. We stayed in a beautiful little bay, with beach & tavernas, and an easy walk over the hill to the main harbour. We had been here last year, when visiting Rhodes. It is a really colourful port climbing up the hill, with a wonderful little folk museum showing life as was lived over the last centuries. The guide belongs to the family whose house it was and most of the displays were her family heirlooms.

Wendy had half her birthday here - we had bought croissants and cake, so had the croissants (treat) for breakfast and opened cards and presents after a swim in the turquoise clear blue water. Afterwards, we headed for the island of Symi (a favourite) and one-time home of Rick Stein at the time of his filming his Mediterranean Odyssey. The first evening we went into Panormitis Bay - a sheltered enclosed bay with nothing but a famous monastery for company. It has now become very hot, so it was swimming time again and chocolate cake time. We walked out to the little lighthouse on the entrance to the bay and Wendy was adopted by an unusually tame and friendly goat that wanted to follow us back to the boat. Now dogs and cats on board are liability enough, but a goat? Methinks not.

Symi town later, or the next bay to it, catching the local bus up and over to have a wander round the posh little shops and find Rick's house. Which we did. He apparently sold it this year, but we met his neighbour (whose wife used to look after the place) who said they got to sample the food for the programme - although most of the food bought and used or not used was distributed to the refugees then on the island. We saw hundreds of refugees last year throughout all the islands - this year very few….

We met up with another British couple and joined them for a meal in a little place halfway up the hill (there by bus, back on foot) where there was live music - not your traditional Greek, but guitar and a blues singer, who actually wasn't bad. Here we also met an older British couple who keep their boat in Turkey; amazingly they were 85 years old and still completely with it and sprightly! It turned out they were also the parents of the chap whose mooring (for a catamaran imaginatively called Little Cat) we used whilst in Rethymno on Crete.

Again, staying ahead of adverse winds, we carried on north and east, first to Nysiros (fabulous volcanic island - see pic and/or first Nysiros blog), and on past Kos (boisterous and windy sailing now) to islands of Pserimos, Kalimnos (famous for mountain climbing and sponge diving) and back to Leros. In Vathi on Kalimnos, we bumped into the son of the 85 year-olds - Little Cat himself - small world! In fact we struggled in the narrow, extremely picturesque fjord that is Vathi, to get our anchor to set. We tried laying out a second anchor by dinghy - that refused to comply and do what it is meant to. Little Cat offered to dive down (experienced diver) to see if he could "set" our main anchor. He dived, Richard with mask and snorkel next to him signalled to Wendy on the boat to haul the anchor up a bit as Cat flipped ours over - it all bit nicely and we were well dug in. Hurray for Little Cat and thanks.

We met and had drinks on board our neighbouring German boat, Renate & Gunther on an enormous Amel 54. They were an interesting couple, who bemoaned the result of our referendum to leave the EU. There is a great fondness for our awkward little nation. We have been shell-shocked by the result and dismayed. In this global world, working together seems a much better option; financially, diplomatically and politically. Nothing is perfect, the bureaucracy and format desperately needs improving, but would rather fight for better on the inside. Neither side did themselves any favours with their scare-mongering tactics and blatant falsehoods and inaccuracies of forecast outcomes. We have deprived the younger generation of exercising their considerable talents across Europe to make the EU a better, more balanced and accountable edifice. End of. I'll go back to sailing!

Back to "home port" of Leros. We had a problem with the furling gear on our genoa, just as we wanted to take it in approaching Leros. Thankfully, it wasn't too gusty and we managed instead to take it down entirely, so that we could unravel the problem later in safety. Which we did. We are here really just to stock up again and to meet up with and have dinner with friends Colin & Shirley of Silent Wings. They fly back home today. We follow in just about 11 days' time. The forecasts are for strong winds (meaning lumpy seas) for the duration, but still hot and sunny. We aim to explore the little archipelagos north of here, but not get so far that we can't make it back for our lift out and flight home in good time. So having done the "jobs" here - Richard has also replaced the engine water pump - we are, once again, good to go.