Month: October 2013

We are anchored in Mandraki Bay on the small island of Kastellorizo (officially known as Megisti but also referred to as Meis in nearby Turkey), the easternmost island of Greece.  Kastellorizo is only one mile from Kaș, Turkey, where we will leave Sabbatical III for the winter.

We left alone from Symi for the island of Rhodes on October 19, leaving behind our friends on Sassoon who were soon to head north to Datca, Turkey.  Since the city of Rhodes did not promise secure anchoring places, we planned to head down the eastern shore of this very large (80 km. long) island for the small bay in front of the ancient town of Lindos.  We expected that the high island of Rhodes would block any wind but were pleasantly surprised by gusty winds of 15-25 knots that enabled us to sail along the entire coast.  Along the way we passed “Eclipse,” the second largest private yacht in the world and owned by the Russian oligarch Roman Abramowich, while shadowed by his security boats.

Lindos, founded by the Dorians in the 10th century BC, is a very pretty town of stone dwellings set on narrow, winding alleys leading up a steep hillside.  At the very top is the old “Acropolis” that most tourists reach on donkey.  The tourist season may be almost over in much of Greece, but not in Rhodes.  They come on ferries and buses every day to Lindos to sunbathe and swim, have lunch, buy souvenirs, and ride to the Acropolis on a donkey.  The ferries come at 10 am and are mostly gone by 5 pm.  The bay offered a great view but indifferent anchoring for Sabbatical III on a mostly rocky bottom and some hours of incredibly bad rolling.  The roll could be so bad that we made it a point to be off of the boat as much as we could. 

Twice we walked up to the coastal road and took the public bus to the city of Rhodes for the day, a one hour trip.  We spent our time exploring the old walled city and really enjoyed it.  We were particularly moved by our visit to “La Juderia” – the Jewish Quarter – where a Jewish community dating to ancient times lived and thrived.  The Romaniote Jews who arrived in the second century BC were joined by Ladino speaking Sephardic Jews escaping the Spanish Inquisition in the early 1500s.  The Sephardic Jews were welcomed by the Ottoman Sultan to Salonika, Izmir, and other places under Ottoman rule, as well as to Rhodes.  In 1930, the Jewish population of Rhodes reached 4000 but quickly fell as economic times worsened and particularly after the imposition of racial laws by the Italian government which ruled Rhodes and the other Dodacanese Islands starting in 1912 (after the Turkish-Italian War).  The leading destinations of the migrants were Rhodesia, Belgian Congo, and the USA.  In 1943, Rhodes was occupied by the Germans, and on July 23, 1944, 1673 members of the remaining  Jewish community were arrested and then deported to Auschwitz, along with the Jews of the island of Kos (Cos).  All but 150 were murdered.  Forty or so of those arrested held Turkish nationality and the day after the mass arrest, the Turkish Consul-General protested vociferously that his nationals, some of whom had only the remotest proof of Turkish nationality, must not be deported.  They were not deported and most survived the remainder of the war in Rhodes, and the Turkish Consul is honored at Yad Vashem  The oldest Torah scrolls of the community were hidden in a mosque by the Grand Mufti (whose grandfather-in-law was Jewish) and returned to the community at the end of the war.  The Kahal Shalom Synagogue, built in 1577 and one of six synagagues that once existed in La Juderia, is beautifully restored and still in use by the handful of Jews that remain.  It also houses a wonderful museum detailing the centuries of Jewish life in Rhodes.

When we came to shore in Lindos, we always anchored our dinghy some distance off-shore. I would let Laura out of the dinghy in shallower water, and then would walk the dinghy out further to knee deep water and set an anchor.  Wading to shore one morning I felt something catch my ankle and lower leg – probably a derelict rope I thought.  I lifted by leg out of the water and discovered all eight legs of a good-sized octopus holding tightly to my lower leg.  That was a bit of a shock.  I kicked my leg to get him off, but he stayed put and I almost lost my balance in the effort.  I tried again and he let go and fell back into the water.  The owner of the Skala Taverna saw what had happened and asked me to catch the octopus.  He offered me a long pole that was like a hoe and encouraged me to look for him near where I was standing.  I looked down and there he was, his color camouflaged to blend in with the rocky sea bottom, but still visible in the crystal clear water.  So I grabbed him with the business end of the pole and lifted him out of the water.  He immediately hit me with a stream of water and fell back into the sea.  I tried again with the same result.  Not wanting to miss our bus to Rhodes and get any wetter, I handed the pole back to the restauranteur who was in the process of rolling up his pants and removing his shoes.  I doubt that the octopus was caught because I saw him jetting away along the bottom.

On October 23, we did an overnight passage to Kastellorizo.  This small island is so remote from the rest of Greece that it is about the same distance to Israel as it is to Athens.  The small town is very cute with brightly painted houses and a ruined castle.  The water is perfectly clear and large sea turtles prowl in the bay.  Kastellorizo once had 10,000 inhabitants but the first half of the 20th century was very unkind, and most of the homes in the town lay in ruins at the end of World War II and most of the inhabitants wound up in Australia.  There has been a resurgence in the past couple of decades as many “Kazzies,” as they are known in Australia, have returned to fix up their family properties on the island.  There are now more than 200 permanent residents, some small hotels, and a small daily ferry from Kaș, Turkey brings groups of tourists for the day.  On Monday, we will check out of Greece and head into the marina at Kaș, Turkey just a couple of miles away.

 

M.

 

 

We have spent the last three nights anchored in Panormittis Bay on the southwest coast of Symi Island  It is a lovely spot and well protected from wind and seas from any direction.  We knew that there was a bit of a storm coming, so we decided this was the place to ride it out.  It blew through Wednesday night and Thursday bringing moderately strong winds from the south and the first heavy rain we had seen since April.  The skies began to clear yesterday evening the wind dropped to less than 10 knots but, just as we were finishing supper, it suddenly came up 35+ knots from the north without any warning.  Two boats dragged anchor instantly and three more within the next 10 minutes.  They all had trouble resetting their anchors, dragging repeatedly, and one just put to sea rather than risk grounding ashore.  What looked like a lazy evening turned into a two hour sh*t show.  Fortunately, Sabbatical III held firm, as did the two boats directly in front of her, and our friends on Sassoon.

On Wednesday, we took the local bus from in front of the monastery here to Symi town  It was a 45 minute ride on a spectacular road winding around the mountains overlooking the sea.  We had a good look at the harbor in Symi town and from what we saw, we would never go in there with our boat.  It was a mess of tangled anchors, frayed tempers, and roll.  I cannot imagine what it was like when the 35+ knots came through the next evening.  Apart from that, Symi town is the cutest Greek town that we have seen, and the island is the prettiest.  We had Constantino the taxi cab driver take us back to Panormittis with our bags full of groceries.

Tomorrow, we split away from Sassoon and head to Rhodes and then to our Turkish marina at Kas.  It has been great to travel with David and Melinda and since they will end their season at Kas as well, we will certainly get to see them again.

 

M.

 

 

 

 

 

We left the lovely little anchorage in Andiparos (or Anti-Paros) a week ago (October 7^th) and sailed over to Lévitha, an island inhabited by a single family but pretty conveniently located for us as we progress southeast on our way back to Turkey.  Unfortunately there was no internet or 3G service there so we were pretty much incommunicado there for a whole 5 days until we finally were told that if you climb up the hill to the family’s taverna, and then continue around the corner from the WC and go behind the goat shed and walk up the hill facing south, you can get pretty good 3G!  Who would have thought?

  Anyways we went to Lévitha to meet up there with our good Australian sailing friends Dave and Melinda from Sassoon who are also sailing back to Turkey.   At first glance the little harbor seemed bleak and barren, but as with all the Greek islands we have visited so far, we soon decided it was quite an enchanting place.  The nice place about Lévitha is that the enterprising family  has put in good sturdy moorings so that the small bay can safely accommodate many more boats than it could hold if everyone was anchoring.  They have put in 10 or 11 moorings and the day we arrived we were thankful that we had arrived early as by 6:00 p.m. every spot was taken and several boats had to drop anchor and tie a line to shore.  That was the only night that it was so crowded.  It must have been partly due to the fact that the previous week there were such strong winds and no-one was moving anywhere and then when the winds died down and everyone started moving at the same time.    

We managed to pass several days there in totally calm conditions which was lovely.  The water was crystal clear, but a bit too cold for me to swim (since I am still fighting a cold), but it was perfect for kayaking. Dave and Melinda managed to swim at least twice a day.   The taverna on the hill was excellent and it was a lot of fun to go up there in the evenings and sometimes meet up with sailors from other boats.  Most of them were charterers, or short term cruisers, and almost no-one spent more than one night there except Sassoon and ourselves.   It was a great anchorage and we would highly recommend it to other sailors. 

 L.

 

 

 

 

 

We are back on the boat and at anchor in the small bay between the small island of Antiparos and the smaller and uninhabited island of Despotiko in the Cyclades groups of Greek islands in the Aegean.  We spent two days in Athens before returning to the boat in Kalamata and doing a 30 hour sail in rough conditions to Antiparos.  The wind was been blowing hard for the past week but should calm tomorrow.  On Tuesday we will leave for Amorgos Island.

M.