We could have continued on happily through the Docadonese islands, but we decided this was just far enough north to be able to turn west-ish and start heading towards Athens and the Saronic Gulf, hopefully harnessing the winds across our beam. These winds, the Meltemi, come down from as far as the Ukraine, across the Black Sea, the Sea of Marmara which divides Istanbul into east and west, into the Thracian Sea and then rush rush all the way across the Agean Sea, squeezed between Greece and Turkiye.
In reality, the prevailing winds became the element we had to work around, rather than work with. Note - not that I am complaining, despite it sounding like it. I was and am very glad to have any sort of air moving around the boat to cool us off. Without it I would now resemble a sun-dried tomato without the lovely flavour but just as red.
The multiple choices of islands to visit as we crossed the sea was overwhelming, you could spend months, as many do, moving and staying at islands in each group. So, where shall we go?? Our decisions were based on time and wind. We also did not wish to visit busy tourist islands like Mykanos or Santorini: these do not necessarily have good anchorages, and if they do they are incredibly crowded, just like the islands themselves. We have a boat, let's go where the crowds can't...
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| Panagia Church, Nikouria Beach |
Our first island was Amorgos; I had never heard of it before, but it is shaped like a seahorse, so that seemed like a good reason to head that way (we missed out on Astipalia, referred to as the butterfly island, also due to its shape). In reality, it was about 45nm away, not too far south and offering good protection from 30+knot winds that were on their way. We were happy to be able to sail, even with only one sail, for just over half of the trip, but ultimately we motored the last 13 or so miles. It was really starting to whip up the water as we arrived, but inside the massive almost deserted space of Nickouria Beach, tucked behind a large islet, it was very peaceful. We and most of the handful of boats stayed solidly anchored for 3 days while outside it was white caps on the ocean and howling banshee winds. There was a small rustic beach bar on shore, with a fisherman's ferry bringing customers each hour from the shore of Amorgos. Apart from that there wasn't much else to do - watch the goats appear at dusk and go for a walk up the hill to visit the originally named Pangagia Church. We met Aussie/Pom couple Irene and Brian, which was handy as Irene has Greek heritage - with the help of her translation skills, we caught the bus over to the main town Katapola for a touch of civilisation (coffee and fresh bread), wide-eyed at the narrow hairpin bendy road.
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| Peace and quiet in Nikouria Beach |
A few days later we left this excellent spot thinking of making for one of the Koufonisi Islands - Ano or Kato, eenie meenie mynee mo - but Mike discovered a coolant leak had developed from the heat exchanger hose. Change of plan! We motored carefully around to the town quay of Katapola, one eye (each) on the engine temperature. Greek is obviously new territory for us, and getting parts throughout the islands isn't easy. Nonetheless, we mentioned our problem to the "harbour master" did he know a guy? With a hose? He did, and subsequently the local mechanic (fishing boats are aplenty) called Eric - yes that was his name - arrived the next morning, took some measurements, and returned with help and a hose. For those, like me, who thought it was a simple job, it took two sweaty Greek mechanics and one even sweatier Aussie to manhandle the new hose into place. The verdict was, replace all your hoses. Our new priority was to source the right hoses for our particular engine. Mike found a guy a few islands away, who could order them from the mainland, so that now dictated our passage planning.
Hose intact, and after freeing our fouled anchor (where someone else had laid their anchor on top of ours, and thus they become entwined) we left behind the quaint harbour of Katapola, we turned toward Ano Koufounisi and Pori Beach Bay. One night only, as we had our sights set on the next large island, Naxos, and then Paros where we hoped to pick up our new hoses. We had one day of ridiculousness, as the proteced anchorage of Kalantos made us think the predicted strong winds were incorrect, and headed out and UP into the wind, for a bay up the left hand side of Naxos. Stupid is as stupid does. It was a an exhilarating but very bumpy trip, taking hours to reach Moutsouna Bay, where we were of course, the only boat. After a short lunch break, we headed alllll the way back again (this time quickly, with the wind and waves behind us) to the other side of Naxos where we found Paralia Agiassos. And stayed there. For 2 nights, having learnt our lesson.
Naxos is quite a large island, with lots to see, so we hired a car. I screamed at every corner as usual, and fell a little bit in love with the mountain villages and stunnng views. ( An important industry on Naxos were /are the marble, flint and emery mines. The emery mines have been declared to be culturally signficant - a monument to the modern inustrial history of Greece - and are preserved by the Ministry of Culture.)
Naxos is where Ariadne was abandoned by Theseus, after she had helped him escape from the Minotaur (Cur!). Luckily, she was later discovered, asleep, by the god Dionysus, who fell in love with and married her. He also threw her jewelled crown into the sky, creating the Corona Borealis constellation. True story.
We made our way to the mountain villages of Filoti, Apeiranthos with the Panagia Aperathitissa Church, and then Chalki. The church is a good example of the importance of icons - normally there is a story where a local "found' the icon, left behind by Mary, or a saint, which dictated where that place of worship needed to be built. Anyway, it was indeed a beautful church from the 18th century, with striking marble triple bell tower. The day continued with a religious flavour as we then travelled on to the Temple of Demeter (no relation to Harry Potter and the Dementers, or am I the only one who thought this?). In fact she was a lovely goddess, responsible for the harvest, grain and fertility. This temple was built from local marble in 520-530BC, not quite a full century before the Parthenon. It was quite small, but we gradually discovered that most of the temples were like this. Finally we completed the day by visiting the magnificent Temple of Apollo, situated on the peninsular near the main port of Naxos. It is in fact, only part of an unfinished temple dedicated to the god of healing, poetry, music, archery, medicine and the sun. What I would call an overachiever, others call a God. It is a popular place for sunset photos, but it was equally outstanding when we visited, and with less competition from (other) tourists, and a great finish to our 1 day on Naxos.
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| Temple of Apollo, Naxos |
Sadly we had to keep up the momentum, and decided to meet the man-with-the-hose directly, so it was see-you-another-time Paros and hello Syros. We half motored and half sailed on a starboard tack the 28nms to Achladi Bay on Syros, where we stopped for only one night; despite it being pretty, the wind funnelled and rushed down in the bay, so more protection was required if we wanted to leave the boat at all. Next day we sailed a short distance to Parachia Finikas, a much larger bay that gave us more anchoring options and less in your face blasts of wind. Ahhh, one of my favourite places. Was it the slightly better roads? Was it the excellent tiny chandlery run by Poppy who provided a hire car, and practically everything else we needed? Was it the seaside restaurant where we celebrated Mike's birthday? No, it was the bakery. I love a good bakery, and this was the best in two seasons of sailing. Cakes, ice-creams, sandwiches, patisserie and confectionery delights, mmmm bread and cold drinks and coffee and... ..
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| Inside the small harbour, Finikas |
We spent Mike's birthday doing something he absolutely loves, driving through and getting lost in narrow streets looking for a tourist destination, so we can then climb up in the heat to look at a church on top of a hill. The Cathedral of St George was a little bit of a let-down, but it's main charm is that it is the decoration on top of Anos Syros, the old town of Syros, built by the Venetians about 1200. Anos Syrus was blindingly bright, a maze of seemingly deserted narrow lanes weaving up and down, reminding me of the moving staircases in Hogwarts. Luckily we turned into one 'street' to find actual people, plus small shops and bars; we settled in to the one with the most breeze for a cooling drink, with magnificent views overlooking the hillside and the capital of Syros and the Cyclades, Ermoupoli. Surprisingly Mike declined the opportunity to explore the hot streets of Ermoupoli, and chose instead lunch and a swim at a popular beach, before a birthday nap and dinner.
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| Anos Syros |
Having recieved the all important hose, Mike ordered the anchor be raised, we're off to Kythnos. I'm not happy, Syros was my new home. Mike is raising sails, singing to himself, wind is on the beam, and I'm sulking all the way. We pulled in 33nms later into Apokrisi Bay, and I think it's Apocalyptic Bay. Now, after staying here for a week, waiting for more favourable conditions, Kythnos grew on me, and it was certainly an interesting place. But the initial, strongest impression was, this is what happens when the vegetation is eaten or harvested or dug up or cut down, so nothing holds the top soil in place and it blows away. The whole island is covered by thousands - millions? - of miles of rock walls, and the land is the same colour as the rocks. Apparently the island used to grow and export barley, very hard to imagine now. And it's here that you really really get to see how desperate the islands need water, as indeed does all of Greece, having suffered several years of poor rainfall and scorching summers. (See my rant below).
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| Looking down on Apokrisi Bay. The road on the left is a main road... |
During our 'enforced incarceration', we watched the wind whipping up the sand aka dirt along the shore and onto the August holiday makers, who were determined to enjoy themselves. So gradually I began to appreciate this unusal place, particularly as it had a very smart restaurant in the corner of the bay, where we'd sit and enjoy an Americano (hot for him) and Freddo Cappuccino (cold for me), We hired a car, the most expensive in Greece with the worst clutch, so we could run some errands and explore. I have to say I don't think I'll ever recover from the terror of the roads on Kythnos. It was the only island we actually saw a donkey being used for transport, and it made total sense, but I did enjoy exploring this amazing landscape, including the Chora - main town - in the centre of the island.
Finally we got a break, and although we could have made it easily to the mainland, we deviated to Kea, only 10nms away, weighing anchor at Paralia Polo. This was such a pretty bay, with crystal clear water, and few other boats, so even Mike elected to stop and relax for an extra day, something we hadn't yet done. Ooohh, we're on 'oliday now!
To break up the monotony of swimming, reading, swimming etc we dinghied around the corner to visit the site of the Temples of Athena and Apollo. Once upon a time this was the site of the ancient town of Karthea, our bay is called Polo after Polis, or town. Little remains except the last surving structures of the temple of the goddess Athena from the 8th century BC and the Temple of Apollo, 530BC. Situated on a small hill overlooking the sea, it's a stunning location - it's easy to see why they were built there. In the small valley below lie some evidence of previous civilisations, and an ancient theatre from the 1st century BC, where Mike tested out the acoustics with a personal performance for an audience of one.
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| Temple of Athena |
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| Remnants of the Temple of Apollo |
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| Someone with a God complex... (this is where a statue of Apollo once stood) |
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| Ancient theatre in the shadow of the temples |
Then it was time to conclude our Cycladic journey and point our bow towards the tip of mainland Greece, a mere 18nms away, waved goodbye to the islands of the Agean.
PS.
This brings me to what I kept thinking about on this part of our journey : water, us and tourists in the Greek Islands. They/we are absolutely necessary for the continued survival of many of the islands, as there are limited fishing, agricultural or other industries to keep them 'afloat'. But ..... nearly everything is brought over from the mainland on the ferries you see criss-crossing the ocean in every direction. We were advised at one island that few of them, with the exception of Naxos, had sustainable supplies of water. Bottled water for drinking comes by ferry, as do most things to sustain the communities. We certainly witnessed the unloading and trucking of masses of crates of bottled water - in single use plastic - plus food, building materials, car parts, clothing ... you name it. If the ferries stop, we were told, the islands would last 12 days.
Then add to that the tourists. Tourism pushes up land values, making it hard for locals to purchase property, while agricultural land is sold and lost to the tourism industry. Recently we read an report that 17,000 cruise ship visitors visit Santorini EVERY day. Local authorities are pushing for this to be limited this to 8,000 per day.
Greece sustained the hottest temperatures on record in 2024, with temperatures an average of 2.3 degrees Celsius higher than normal. And very little rain. So we cursed ourselves for not installing a watermaker, and unfortunately are relying heavily on bottled water to supplement our tanks, rather than trying to get water from the islands themselves.
Ponder and rant over.
