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.
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