Mykonos

Far from deserted, this island is crammed full of tourists fresh off the numerous cruise ships that have made this island a travelers favorite. Like the sunbathers oiled bodies, this town has created a slick tourist destination. Just the right balance of sheik shops, abundant restaurants and thumping discos gives you plenty to do from morning to the wee hours of morning a day later. And just as slick are the smart beaches patterned with colorful umbrellas and coordinating lounge chairs. I want to be repelled by the commercialization of it all, but somehow I am still entranced by its whitewashed beauty and inviting shops selling a level above the normal tourist trinkets. We spent 4 days here mostly at the golden sand beaches, We do take a day stocking up with provisions at an island that has a grocery store bigger than the normal mom and pop closets with a cheese counter in the back, fill up our water and diesel tanks courtesy of the local tanker trucks that service the marina.

Landing on a Butterfly

We chart our course to the out of the way island of Astypalea, a butterfly shaped Greek island that sits alone bridging the Dodecanese and the Cyclades. Brightly blooming Bougainville and whitewashed houses wind up the hills and steep cliffs of this butterfly’s wings. We tied up to the quay and spent the day climbing to the top of the hills to the old fortified village that crowns the mountaintop where the walls of the outer houses protected its inhabitants for centuries. This small village was able to withstand sieges by pirates and invading armies since the 15th century, but the castle fortress was no match for a powerful earthquake in 1956. Now mostly crumbling rock walls of this historic village quietly tell the story of its once great past.

We follow the wind to a couple of more islands, Amorgos and Donoussa where our anchor digs deep into the sandy bottoms of pristine bays with few signs of civilization. We are surrounded by sapphire blue water and fish swimming around this intrusion into their sanctuary. A herd of goats gather at the edge of the island as if they are expecting a ferry to aid in their escape to greener pastures. But no ferry comes. The water is warm and I like to snorkel through it looking at the richness of the ocean floor. I spot a beautiful large shell, but it is just deep enough to escape becoming a souvenir. Maybe it is fortunate that we sometimes are content enough to just look at the beauty of nature from a distance.

Making the Most of Samos

We spent a week in Samos, a Greek island right off the coast of Turkey. It holds a long history of greatness and prosperity during the Hellenistic period. So it has lots of ruins scattered under all the dirt of later civilizations. We went to a museum and saw just a magnificent stone statue of a young athlete that was over 15' tall. Incredible. It is by far the biggest articulated statue I have ever seen. The statue makes Michelangelo's David look like a miniature in size. Most of the statue is still intact which is also amazing that it has survived so many years. Originally there were two statues, but not much is left of the second one. It is hard to believe that they were carved around 500 BC.

We stayed long enough in the little port city to get to know some of the people in the town. That connection always seems to be more important then the local tourist attractions. The boat was tied up right on the quay in the center of town. At this port we were the biggest sailboat. People would walk by, take pictures, and peer in to get a closer look. Many stopped to chat and ask us where in America we were from. We got to know a few of the locals. I knew we were the talk of the town when I went to the gas station to arrange some diesel to be delivered to the boat. He asked for the name of the boat and I told him the catamaran on the quay, he stopped writing and said, of course, I know the boat. I will deliver the gas at 1pm.

Two guys invited us to lunch at their home. One was from Iraq. His brother was assigned to protect the judge that sentenced Sadam Hussein to death. It ended up also being a death sentence to his entire family. All murdered by those that are fighting against the occupation. So he fled the country and has been wandering around without a country and without a family for the past 6 years. It was very touching as he proudly showed us photos of his brother. The other guy is half Jewish, half Palestine and grew up in Algeria. He spoke 4 languages, but English was not one of them. There was a lot of back and forth as his friend interpreted his friends life story. They both avoid politics and just live their lives generously sharing it with others. We were the recipients of that generosity eating oversized helpings of pasta and hot dogs. A humble meal but one they made sure we had more than we could possibly eat. The next day, Robert, a friend from Munich joins us and we are off again for new adventures

The Dodecanese

The Dodecanese are a crescent chain that follows the southeaster Turkish coast curving west towards Crete. These twelve islands banded together to protest about being deprived of their special tax benefits granted to them by the Turks in the 16th century. These people don’t forget a thing. Like most of this part of the world, they have flipped back and forth between foreign occupiers more than a pinball in a high point game. The Venetians, Genoese, Romans, Turks and a few other countries have all occupied this part of the world at one time or another. As a result, some of the islands look more Italian, for example, than they do Greek. Simi, our first stop is one of those islands. With charming homes all with pediments that give them a strong Italian look rise up the steep slopes of the harbor. It looks a bit like Positano, Italy. At night when the sun goes down, the lights seem to glow all around the quay that the town is built around. Doug, one of our charters was celebrating his birthday. So we got all of the surrounding boats to sing happy birthday to him while we lit a sparkler stuck in a lemon of the appetizer tray. He was politely embarrassed but took it in fun. We had a wonderful meal at a restaurant recommended by our new floating neighbors and then came back to the boat for a special dessert on the moonlit bay.

We spent a couple of nights on the island of Nisiros, one of two islands in the Aegean Sea created by volcanoes, Santorini being the other volcanic island. It is an almost square island with a steaming center crater that attests to its former eruption that blew the top off of the mountain. There are still steaming vents and boiling mud pots in the center. It is said that two gods were fighting with each other. One of the gods scooped up a hunk of mud and threw it on the other who got buried with it. The god that lost the mud slinging fight is still trapped beneath its surface and boy is he mad. He is still venting steam from the incident. We walked on the bottom surface of the volcano floor smelling the sulfur and checking out the crystallized openings of the vents that lead so far down to the depths of the earth being careful to not step too close to the small openings that have a tendency of collapsing.

Castles and Crosswinds

We sailed to Greece via express wind and made it to Rhodes in the early afternoon. There is a bay we like to anchor in, so we headed for our favorite spot. I went to the port authorities, customs, immigrations and port police to be stamped, certified, checked and stapled. I came out the other end surprisingly well. Not too bad this time. I think I am getting better at this. We ate within the castles walls in the evening as the sun set over this medieval town. The next day we moved the boat to the marina through the imaginary legs of the ancient Colossus that once straddled the harbor entrance. One of the 7 wonders of the ancient world, the giant statue to Helios was over 107 feet tall. It remained standing for only 56 years before being destroyed by an earthquake in 226 B.C. The original ancient harbor wall is still there however, keeping the force of the sea from hurling itself on defenseless boats like it has for centuries.

The marina itself is pretty small and antiquated. Boats are required to throw their anchor out in the middle of the harbor and back their sterns up to the quay to tie off. It is a pretty good plan unless the wind is blowing strongly from the side which was exactly what was happening. We had to set the anchor three times before we got a solid hold. Everyone on our side of the marina was having problems keeping their anchors set properly. We were also all concerned that we just laid our anchor on top of someone else’s anchor and in the morning chaos will break out as each boat tries to leave the port, pulling up his neighbors anchor along with his own. So we discuss it between the captains to coordinate departure times. First anchors laid are the last ones out. Typical of Greek ports, there was also no water or power. Fortunately, with the solar panels, needing to plug in to shore power is no longer important. But we did need some water to wash off the boat and refill our tanks. So we linked a bunch of hoses from the neighboring boats and we all got water. There is always a very co-operative feeling amongst boaters. We all know that we do better working together than trying to do it on our own. In the afternoon, we picked up 4 guys for our first charter of the summer.