Volcanic Nisyros Friday 3 October 2014

Well met with Silent Wings and a nice dinner out catching up on our respective travels. We hired a car and, following the recommendations and map provided by the proprietor (flawless English as he had lived in New York for many years before returning home), explored the whole of the island, including bits not visited by the tour buses. The calderas (5 of them) are semi-dormant (last eruption in 1422), there are still many fumaroles spewing out noxious smelling sulphuric gases and the floors of the calderas are hot with unstable areas that should not be walked upon.

I've put up loads of pictures, with few captions, just to give a flavour of what the scene was like - a real lunar landscape and quite eerie. We visited hilltop villages, a monastery and 4th C castle, little winding streets with some beautifully done-up houses, and many more projects in the making. The views from all points were stunning - back to Tilos, over to Kos and to Turkey.

Now we are weather watching. Sod's law states that as we near the end of our cruise, our carefully laid plans for a controlled departure are comprehensively scuppered. We have stayed in Nisyros an extra day already due to bright but difficult conditions. The aim is to arrive in plenty of time to manage the first part of sorting the boat out whilst afloat in the marina, then to make our way to the north of the island and the boatyard the night before the lift. Then a couple of days to put the boat to bed for the winter.

The wind has decided to be ornery. We have forecasts for strong NW winds (direction we need to go) and very lumpy seas. Timing our moves north, to Kos, then Kalimnos and Leros is difficult. Methinks we will get it wrong and have a "grit your teeth and bear it" horrible bash to windward with little slack in the system. Plus ça change! Next post hopefully from the safety of Leros marina or boatyard…..