Sailing Aglaya

After 40 nautical miles with partly heavy swells (the right wind, after all) we found the anchorage our boat neighbour in Astypalea had recommended - well protected against swells, but not against wind, and there really was enough of that. A tiny bay in the northwest of Amorgós, quite shallow, and when we were around the jagged rocks, we saw: there are already six sailing boats here and some fishing boats. So we had to get very close to the exit of the bay, and that in 30 knots of wind from the front and pretty close to the rocks on both sides. It was blowing all night, but the anchor held well. And it was a very dark night: New moon, no artificial light and hardly any stars as the sky was mostly cloudy. Almost a bit eerie, but that's probably a matter of getting used to it.

The next day we went on to Katapola, the main port of Amorgós. The town lies at the end of a wide hilly bay, with a tiny church on almost every hilltop. Behind the long pier, where the ferries also dock, a cosy little village with pubs, small supermarkets, bars and colourfully painted houses, mostly small hotels or studios, very pleasant. 

A bus takes us to the Chora, a place well worth seeing, to the east side of the island, and it's quite something: vertical cliffs hundreds of metres high, reaching down into the sea, with a white monastery halfway up the vertical cliff, a few metres wide and three small storeys high. You have to climb up stairs and steep paths, there is no road. The entrance door is just 1.60m high, you crawl up almost steep stairs, stabilised by stone arches, into the church, full of icons and wood carvings. Up one flight of stairs, you take a seat in the monks' "good room" and are served honey ouzo liqueur (rakomelo), water and this delicious loukoumi. The view is indescribable, you are suspended, so to speak, in the rock face vertically above the sea. We ask if the monastery always looks so white and learn that once a year six people, lowered from the top floor with climbing harnesses and ropes, spend a week whitewashing the whole building.

In Katapola there is something else very remarkable: a small botanical garden, directly behind the village. Mediterranean herbs and trees grow there, with explanatory signs. The garden is tended by young locals who also run the small taverna at the entrance and a herb shop. And: at the end of September, there was a jazz guitarist in the evening who played swing and bossa nova, and with great skill - the finest!

The island is touristy - but no mass tourism like in Kos, but rather individual tourists, with backpacks and hiking boots. The small Chora is also cosy, with tiny squares with bars under tamarisk trees. 

On the one-hour descent from the Chora to Katapola, we had magnificent views of the sea on well-marked paths along walls and terraces - an all-round beautiful island. Therefore we were able to cope with a slipping anchor, a change of mooring and an accidentally pulled neighbour's anchor chain …

We were on our way a good 40 nautical miles from Kardamena. Our destination: Astypaleia. We really wanted to visit this island. First we sailed along the south coast of Kos with a nice sailing wind. Then the wind shifted more to the north and a strong swell meant that we could not keep the direct course to Astypaleia. So that we could still arrive before nightfall, we motored the last stretch.

Astypaleia is certainly one of the most beautiful islands in the Aegean. It has the shape of a butterfly with a width of only 100m at its narrowest point and a total extension of about 25 by 15 km. The Chora, white Cycladic houses with a brown castle on top, towers majestically above the tiny old harbour (a maximum of 12-14 boats fit in). The castle was not built by crusaders or Ottomans, it was part of the village and protection against pirates. You can see this landmark from almost every point on the island. There are also eight windmills opposite, but they are no longer in use. 

We wanted to rent a car, but then realised that the landscape is so beautiful that it is best to walk: Rusty brown shining hills with many deeply cut dry valleys, now and then green olive trees, in contrast to the deep blue or turquoise green water in the countless bathing bays. Barren landscape, partly karst, overgrown with millions of silver thistles, now shining golden, and various hard prickly salt weeds. At the confluence of several valleys, a freshwater reservoir, dammed up to store water. All the hills (up to 500m high) are criss-crossed by gravel tracks and goat paths - sometimes it sounds like in the Alps: the goats carry bells. You walk on the gravel tracks and paths far up the heights with gigantic views. Only the old mill, which stands on a central vantage point and has been converted into a cocktail bar, was unfortunately closed due to the end of the season. 

The harbour is small and familiar, surrounded by a few bars and cafés where the locals sit - you hardly see any tourists here. In short: an idyll. We stayed for a whole week and it was hard to say goodbye.

Kardamena is located in the south of Kos, with long, beautiful sandy beaches to the west and east. However, since Kos has an airport with direct flights from many German and English destinations, there are many huge hotel castles near these beaches. The nice little village with its likewise small harbour is virtually overrun by tourists when the excursion boats leave for the volcanic island of Nisyros in the morning - the same picture back in the evening. But the village has largely kept its nice character and we liked it. 

Above the village, a 5km walk through olive groves and bare macchia-grown rugged volcanic landscape inhabited only by goats, lies the Johannite fortress of Antimachia, with a wide view over the sea - and over the hotel castles. At the entrance is a Greek man in classic Efzone costume who explains some of the history to us. 

Here in Kardamena, Claudia's sailing time with us was over, her friend Pepi came from Thessaloniki and they both went to Kalymnos to hike.

When we left for Astypaleia after a few days, we had to leave (early because of the long distance) before the excursion ships styled as pirate ships and it came as it had to: an excursion ship had laid its anchor over our chain when mooring the evening before and we were stuck. Gisela, who now has a lot of experience with anchor salad in Vathys on Kalymnos, directed our boat, which was stuck in the harbour, forwards, backwards, to the right and to the left until our anchor had slid out from under the other chain. Meanwhile, the captain of the excursion boat stood on his bridge and watched the spectacle. After half an hour we were free and off we went towards Astypaleia. 

Kardamena has a decisive advantage, which is another reason why we liked it here: You pay neither mooring fees nor water nor electricity - everything is free. It was easy for us to put up with the fact that all the big screens in the bars and kafenions were showing the celebrations for Queen Elizabeth's funeral for a whole day.

We would have liked to visit the island of Symi in the southeast of the Dodecanese. However, the wind forecast told us that the wind would first turn to the west in the next few days and then to the north a few days later with increasing strength. As we wanted to be back on Kos on 16.9, we decided to head north again from Nisyros sooner. With a south-westerly wind, we were able to reach the small island of Pserimos between Kos and Kalymnos in one day. In the large Ormos Vathy, which is well protected against north and west winds, we found a nice anchorage. Going for a swim in the turquoise, clear water, no artificial light in the evening, just the moon and the starry sky and in the distance the lights on the Turkish coast. Once again, pure idyll. 

But we knew that in two days the Meltemi would start blowing again. We still had one, at most two days to get further north. Next destination: the small harbour of Vathys in the south-east of Kalymnos. In the narrow entrance to the harbour, we had the feeling we were driving into a fjord, deep water, steeply rising rocks. When we arrived at noon, most of the excursion boats were about to cast off, but it was still very narrow. The anchor had to drop just in front of the rock face opposite the pier. At the first attempt we caught the anchor chain of another boat, which we only got rid of with a lot of strength and endurance. And then it was too shallow for our boat just before the pier. So we had to stay with long stern lines and wait until we could go alongside the small pier of the excursion boats in the late afternoon. "Tomorrow at eleven o'clock you have to be gone," the harbour master tells us, wearing a large natural sponge as a headdress. Kalymnos is the island of the sponge divers. We liked Vathys very much: the fjord, the small village, which becomes quiet after the departure of the excursion boats from Kos, the friendly, almost warm-hearted locals. A place to stay for a few days. But we were supposed to be gone by eleven o'clock and besides, it gets uncomfortable there when the Meltemi blows down the valley.

Actually, we wanted to go one bay further north (Ormos Palaios) the next day, before the north wind really got going, because there are mooringtons. But when we left the fjord of Vathys, we were met by 40 knots of wind with a swell of up to two metres. We didn't want to do that to ourselves, even for a short distance. So we turned around and headed for Pserimos, the large anchorage we already knew. The way there was short and hard, a roller coaster with broken glass. We will have to get five new wine glasses soon. With gusts to over 30 knots, but no swell, we were quite happy with our choice of anchorage. Now the wind blows unabated, but all is well.  

Pictures:

After welcoming our friend Claudia, an experienced sailor and area expert, on board, we set off south in a north-westerly wind between three and five bft. Our destination: the small volcanic island of Nisyros. Now there are three of us and setting and hoisting the sails, which is labour-intensive on Aglaya, is much quicker. After a beautiful day of sailing, we find a place in the harbour of Pali right next to the fishermen, from whom we can buy fish directly from the boat on one of the next days. It is Thursday and the harbour is already full of boats, mainly charter boats, which will probably all have to be back in the marinas tomorrow evening. And it gets even more crowded. Later, there are two more boats in the packet with us. The next day, however, it becomes emptier again.

The island of Nisyros is described in the guidebook as a natural wonder. We spend a day on the island, first with the island bus to the main town of Mandraki. Then we are allowed to ride in the bus of a Polish tour group and can take a look at the large volcanic crater (one of the largest in Europe). Mountains up to 700 metres high rise directly from the sea. Under the floor of the crater, which is only 120 metres above sea level, it is still bubbling. Here we learn a lot about volcanism in the region, to which Santorini also belongs. As we descend to the bottom of the crater, it gets even hotter than it already is, and there is a smell of sulphur. Back in Mandraki, we climb up to Paleokastro via a beautiful stone-paved and wall-lined path. Here, too, we are quite impressed: the well-preserved walls are made of huge stone blocks and the view to the surrounding islands and the Turkish mainland is magnificent. Archaeologists still have a lot of work to do here, because the inside of the castro has not yet been uncovered. It is not known whether the walls of an acropolis are here or whether they are fortress walls.   

In Kos we have two days until our friend Claudia comes on board. We have the Turkish coast in mind and decide to make a day trip there. We leave our boat at the marina, as the Meltemi blows strongly with up to 7 bft. So, together with many other tourists, we get on one of the small ferries that go to Bodrum. We had not imagined that we would get caught up in such masses. Leaving Greece, entering Turkey, long queues at passport control, everything a bit chaotic. And then, in Bodrum, the guests of two large cruise ships, who were being smuggled through before us. The crossing took barely half an hour, but the fuss took an hour and a half. Well, that is also an experience.

They say Bodrum is the Saint Tropez of Turkey. However, the town is much bigger, dominated by mass tourism and built up around the beautiful old town centre with ugly hotel castles and holiday resorts. Nevertheless, we liked the town centre with its covered alleys, the long harbour promenade along the two bays where many interesting boats are anchored, and the Kastro. From the Kastro we can see the whole impressive scenery all around. So our flying visit to Turkey was a good idea, despite the crowds.  

Now we are back on board and in the meantime we are moored in the marina of Kos between the north-eastern tip of Kos and the Turkish mainland near Bodrum in winds of up to force seven. Our two-month summer break at home was filled with many things that we also enjoy: making music, meeting friends, visiting mother, looking after "Wahlenkel", hiking in the Palatinate Forest and drinking the odd Riesling spritzer. However, we did not manage to escape the summer heat. At times it was hotter at home than in the Aegean.

In the night of 31 August, we climbed back on board Aglaya in the marina of Leros/Lakki. In the first two days we had to do maintenance work on the engine and make Aglaya ready to sail again for the onward journey. During these days it became clear to us once again that some places only really open up when you spend a few days there and take your time. So in Lakki, too, a bit of a "home feeling" has gradually emerged for us. This includes rituals that develop gradually or sometimes very quickly. In Lakki it was the evening beer in Marietta's bistro at the harbour - of course Mythos freshly tapped from the barrel.

Our plan was to head south on 2 September, with one or two stops on the island of Kalymnos, to arrive in Kos on 6 September. There a friend will come on board. After the past few days of humid, muggy weather without wind (up to 28 degrees below deck at night), the Meltemi announced itself - strong winds from the north from Sunday to Wednesday. You need a safe berth on Kos. But everything was full in Kos Marina and the town harbour. So we decided to stay on Leros for the time being and announced to our friend that she would have to take the ferry from Kos to Leros. But then came the surprise: we were promised a berth in Kos Marina for Sunday.

So goodbye to Leros, the diverse island that we really liked. The freshening wind from the northeast between 20 and 30 knots with a swell of about 1.5 or sometimes 2 metres (we always find it hard to estimate) blew us along the Greek-Turkish border to Kos within 6 hours. We only had the genoa set and always made 5-6 knots of speed. A beautiful first day of sailing after the summer break. Before we reached the marina in Kos, we had to circle a bit until we were guided into the harbour. Now we are safely moored and can calmly look at the wind indicator, which shows up to 33 knots.

Video: Nice speedy sailing only with the genoa

Video: Along the east side of Kalymnos

Viedeo: Along the greek-turkish border