The Islands of Greece sit in 2 very different seas;
the Aegean and the Ionian, and are grouped into families of islands that share
similar looks, culture, history and climate. We had sailed the Ionian (islands) in the Ionian Sea and the
Cyclades in the Aegean Sea; but this was our first opportunity to sail the
Dodecanese-18 islands that lie in a crescent chain down the western Turkish
coast curving west toward Crete, like jewels upon an impossibly aquamarine sea.
The Dodecanese can be a challenge to sail. The dry northwesterly meltimi winds blows
from the NW-W at Force 4-6 from June thru September making it very difficult to
sail in a northward direction. In
the autumn, the winds “may” calm down and come from the SE. “Stressbuster” was waiting for us in
Kos Town Harbor and we were excited to be sailing south hitting 4 different
islands before reaching our final destination in Rhodes. (History: Kos actually sent ships into the Trojan War. In 460-377 BC, Hippocrates, the father of Western medicine was born and lived in Kos.)
Lost “yachties” take anchor here in Tilos as well as others who have
lost their compass. Tilos is known
for seductive beaches with no crowds.
Surprisingly, we found a large group of Syrian refugees fleeing their country
having been dropped off by Turkish Coyotes. The island is indeed beautiful as can be observed from this foto!
With the winds light and northerly, it was time to enjoy
Lynda’s delicious shrimp saganaki – and washed down with a glass or two of Greek
red wine! Lynda’s cooking is just
“fantastic”!
The sea was an unbelievable dark aquamarine. The night sky is black with crystals of
stars. And Greek skipper's caps help with difficult navigation.
Chalki (pronounced “halki”) is a very small island with not
much population. A sizable group
of the Chalki residents moved years ago to Tarpon Springs, Florida for sponge
fishing. Melissa & I have
visited the Tarpon Springs area several times before while cruising the west coast of Florida (on our Ranger tug) so we enjoyed seeing this special little island.
The Island of Symi has a picturesque harbor (Gialos) with
restored and tiered sea captain’s homes along the shore. Gialos has lots of tavernas and other
restaurants along the quay making it easy to enjoy great Greek food and wine.
Kostas Ghiokas is enjoying his Tsipouro and possibly
thinking about Greek mythology.
Melissa confused her personal water bottle with the bottle actually
containing Tsipouro and she had a big gulp of surprise.
The harbor entrance into Mandraki Harbor in Rhodes was once
the magical home of the Colossus of Rhodes-one of the Seven Wonders of the
Ancient World that once straddled across the giant harbor entrance until it was
destroyed in 226 BC. Homer wrote about Rhodes in 408 BC after the death of Alexander where a gargantuan siege machine was built to conquer Rhodes that was 9 stories high and weighed 125 tons. Caesar, Brutus, Anthony, Cicero & Tiberius all studied in Rhodes.
No comments:
Post a Comment