Siros, Syros, or just Seriously Beautiful

The Greeks have yet to decide how to spell the names of the islands. Almost all of the Islands have two or three spellings. Some have completely different names that are used simultaneously. Santorini for example is also known as Thera. But however you spell it, we head to Siros, the capital of the Cyclades. We avoid the main port and instead choose two secluded bays to hang out in. Our guests rented motor scooters and crawled all over the island making sure they didn’t miss anything. When they came back to the boat in the wee hours of the morning, they raved about the amazing food at a restaurant on the top of the hill, the crimson skies of Greece at sunset and small villages tucked away in the tops of the hills of this rugged island.

A New Crew, and New Fun

We pick up a group of 6 friends on Mykonos who plan to sail with us to Athens. These are friends who have dreamed of a Greek island sailing adventure. Their special talent is making the most fun they possibly can as often as they can. Fortunately the winds have calmed down and the aggressive Etesian winds have dissipated. We have a week of smooth sailing and calm waters. Before we leave Mykonos, the gang does some exploring and visits the sacred nearby island of Delos. The next day we head for Syros. There is nothing like unfurling the majestic white sails as they grab the wind. You feel the power in nature take over as we shut off the engines. Blue skies and even bluer seas set the scene for a perfect course to the next island. And if that setting was not enough perfection we are rewarded with a brief visit from a playful dolphin that seems intent on making sure the gangs first visit to Greece is as magical as they envisioned it to be.

Aquatic Rodeo in Mykonos

The new Mykonos harbor was built by EU money and left for the Greeks to finish. So of course it has never been finished. There is water and electricity on the quay, but none of it is turned on. Mooring lines have been laid in some places, but despite the fact that they were laid only last year, they are still in a state of disrepair. With all of the dysfunction of this port, the main problem is that there is little to no protection from the strong Meltomi winds. When we came into the marina the winds were 25 knots. That strong of winds does not make landing a boat safely to the quay an easy job. To do it without incident requires a lot of experience and sometimes just plain luck. We call it harbor theater. Or sometimes harbor drama. One couple referred to it as Aquatic Rodeo. It is both entertaining and horrifying in a car wreck kind of way. Because Mykonos is only a couple day sail from Athens it gets a lot of sailors who sail maybe every couple of years renting boats for the week to have a holiday in the Greek islands. Mix that with forceful winds and you have a combination that can only be spelled d-i-s-a-s-t-e-r. One by one we saw boats running into the quay at full speed knocking chunks of fiberglass off their hulls, anchor chains crossing in an unbelievable tangled mess and boats being blown sideways into the bows of other boats. I would estimate that 80% of the boats in the marina were either the battering rams or the receiving end of the out of control boats. It was so bad, we felt uncomfortable to leave the boat to go do anything. We were more than happy to leave the marina after a couple of days of stress and wind. It is here also that we leave Carlos and Felix. It has been really fun having them along. We enjoyed their company and getting to know each other better. It was fun spending the evenings dining at the local tavernas, discussing European politics and playing games. Felix ended up being crowned best game player on the boat. We will miss them both and hope they come back sometime for another adventure with us.

Oh My Gosh, Armorgos

As we pass the narrow coastline of Armogos, the winds plunge down the steep cliff walls to reach gusts of over 35 knots. But it is the waves that continue to be the most punishing. We reef the sails down and make our way around the island. There is a small protected bay on the west side of the island that will be a safe place for the night. Along the bays edge, restaurants hang their octopus out to dry like newly laundered clothing and streetlights create a necklace that twinkles around the harbor as night falls. There are three other boats also anchored out. We bob up and down together in sync with the rolling waves that dwindle in strength. By the time they reach us the waves are no more than a gentle rocking. We should sleep well tonight. It is so peaceful in this lazy bay that we decide to stay a couple of days. We rent a car the next day with Carlos and Felix to visit places not reached by boat. The “you gotta see” thing on Amorgos is the Greek Orthodox monastery that clings to the face of a sheer cliff. Its whitewashed walls look more like a waterfall than something that was met for living in. There are shallow caves that extend no more than 5 meters into the cliff and the monastery façade in front of these caves tower 8 stories high. The wonder is how they managed to get the building materials up the steep sides and how were they planning to support this monastery once it was inhabited.. You have to wonder why they chose this cliff almost 1000 feet above the sea in a sheer cliff. Well the legend goes like this. In the 9th century numerous icons were destroyed in Jerusalem. The icon known as “the Dark-eyed Mary was broken in half and thrown into the sea by an old woman that thought it was safer than being burned by the heretics. One half of the sacred icon drifted to the shores of Amorgos where a chapel was build at the end of the 11th century. Later, the chapel was replaced by this monastery. But what of the other half of the icon? 
It drifted to the island of Patmos where another monastery was built. The two islands are therefore connected by the icon of Panagia Hozoviotissa. The two halves of the icon were reunited and… miraculously sealed together. We climbed up the steep stairs to this impressive fortress of a monastery and crouched through the tiny 4-foot door that would have been home to Alice in Wonderland. More steep steps in a narrow passage only reinforced its fictional feel of any real place. At the top of the stairs there is a small chapel with solid silver dragons used to support candles to light the chapel. Byzantine icons line the walls. Silver chandeliers with iconic dragons hold candles that illuminate the chapel. And if you look closely to the left of the alter, you will find a wooden box with a glass lid containing a bone from Saint George. I take it that is why the chandelier was of dragons. Then we head for some beach fun to soak up that famous Mediterranean sun. We stop at a few really beautiful beaches. Felix hears about a terrific nude beach just a couple of villages away. So we get back in the car and head for the promised beach. It turns out to be a wonderful sandy beach with a small group of people hanging out in the afternoon sun.

Fluttering through the Islands

We spend a night on Kos in a quiet well-protected bay. Then on to Astipalaia, the butterfly shaped island. Where the two wings touch together there is secure anchorage with strong protection. The winds continue to be strong and the waves seem to rise and fall in front of us like liquid fortresses. Sometimes they dissolve right in front of us like cotton candy on a rainy day and other times we crash through them with saltwater scrubbing our decks like a washing machine in its rinse cycle.

Castles in the Air

We skip through the islands with Carlos and Felix like a smooth rock thrown against the glassy surface of still waters. Yet the water is not even close to being smooth. As we come in to Simi, windsurfers are skirting back and forth at speeds that are nothing short of amazing. These are islands that we have visited before. Some we remember more than others. Simi is the island with the castle built at the top of a high peak surrounded by white squared houses that from a distance look like sugar cubes holding up the castle that served as its protection for so many years. Now the castle is in ruin and the economic difficulties of Greece are no match to the stonewalls that once could repel her enemies. The young people grow up and move away to the more prosperous cities like Athens, leaving the old to click their canes through the narrow streets and settle into café chairs to contemplate their past glory. What is left behind is a small village with tasty restaurants and decaying windmills on the hill that no longer grind the village wheat into flour. What time cannot take away from this island are the beautiful beaches, clear sapphire water and deep bays that still protect the boats that come to visit the shops and eat at the restaurants.

Meltimi is Upon Us

A couple of guys from Spain join us for this part of our journey. And things start off with a lot of excitement. This part of the Aegean Sea can have some of the strongest winds in Europe during the summer months. July and August can be particularly ferocious. And this week the Aegean delivered on its promise of these annual northerly winds. It is these winds that my boat gets her name. The winds are the results of a high-pressure system lying over the Balkan/Hungary area and a relatively low-pressure system over Turkey. You can tell when the winds are starting to form because the dew quits appearing in the morning and the boat deck is dry. As the week progresses, so does the wind strength. And where there are strong winds, big waves follow. We can reef down the sails to accommodate the increase in wind speed, but there is not much to do about the mounting waves. Given the right conditions these winds can strengthen even further on the leeward side of some islands. We watched on Amorgos as the winds plunged straight down the cliffs into the sea. A circle of wind would radiate out and within less than a mile form large waves. Fortunately the catamaran handles the winds and the waves very well. And when the waves get too rough we can go inside the salon area and literally sail the boat from in there using the automatic pilot.