Leros to Bodrum

Now in Bodrum in Turkey, Jacktar has sailed from Lakki on Leros via Emborios on the northern end of Kalymnos island and the beautiful village on Telendos island, just offshore from the western side of Kalymnos. Thence to Kalymnos town, also known as Pothia, where we secured alongside a charter yacht which had a small problem having lost its rudder, and on to the old port in Kos townon the island of Kos, a lovely place to berth our yacht. There we re-acquainted ourselves with the town and visited the ancient site of Asklepieion [try pronouncing that]. In Bodrum Lin & Tery departed and Al and Joanne have joined. We plan to slowly make our way to Marmaris wher we will end the season.

The Northern Dodecanese

Jack Tar is now once again in Lakki on the Greek island of Leros. We returned to kusadasi in Turkey and then sailed on to Sigacik, a small town with a walled village on the harbour front, before picking up Lin and Terry in Kusadasi and returning to Samos to re-enter Greece. From there we have sailed via Agathonisi, a delighful small island; Arki, another very small island which we last visited in 2006; Patmos; Lipso and Pandeli on Leros. The northern Dodecanese islands are a wonderful sailing ground and even though we are late in the season it is common to see as many as 20 yachts under sail within our range of visibility. In Patmos we encountered a flotilla of 16 charter yachts whose skippers entertained us with crossed anchor chains, chains wrapped around propellers and near collisions. Although the meltemi has returned we are bound downwind and so have had some beaut journeys with the wind. People smuggling is also popular here and we have seen illegal immigrants rounded up by both the Turkish and Greek Coast Guards, and also the cheap Chinese inflatable boats used to make the crossings between the coast and islands.

Chios, Ikaria and Samos

After Kardhamila we decided to travel down the west coast of Chios and called at Volisos, a small fishing harbour below the town set on a high hill adjacent to an ancient fortress. The town was small and sleepy and, as the pilot described, largely ruinous with many of the buildings in a derelict state. However, it seems to have been recently discovered by tourists, and there is much renovation taking place and some trendy bars and accommodation houses are now the go. Then a great downwind sail to an anchorage at Emborious on the southern tip of Chios before a crossing to Ikaria, the windy island. A long tall slab of rock, we found Ikaria to be a wonderful place. The scenery was magnificent; high almost alpine valleys, rocky moonscapes, golden sandy beaches and attractive towns seemingly undiscovered by mainstream tourism. It was a genuinely Greek island experience and great to find a place not catering to the “package tourists”. We did have to contend with the wind which accelerated over the mountain and blew “bullets” down into the tiny harbour at over 35 kts on occasions. So, despite long lines across the harbour, we had a few broken berthing lines and shock absorbers. When the wind relented we sailed on via Fournoi Is. to Pythagorion on Samos and an unexpected rendezvous with Marmaris yachting mates. Here we will spend a couple of days before returning to Kusadasi in Turkey for a crew change.