Leros to Nisiros 20th - 23rd October
Spellbinder
Sun 1 Nov 2009 09:02
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Henry departed Leros on Tuesday 20th, to go to
Felicity Burbridge's wedding in South Africa, leaving Martin as skipper for the
leg through the Dodecanese to Fethiye, well supported by Eric, Jane and Peter.
There follows Jane's record of the cruise as far as Nisiros
Leros to Nissos Kalimnos
We pulled away from the jetty, some of
us -me -a bit rusty on Henry's standards of drill but with adequate
performance to give Martin confidence that we showed enough promise to be a
crack crew for the next fortnight.Now bound for Kalimnos, we cut the engine and
sailed under the main sail and genoa, all part of the shake down and
drills on a seven mile, short leg which got us all in to the spirit of
Spellbinder again.With a good wind behind us, we arrived in sight of Nissos
Kalimnos and began the search for a buoy.There were several to choose from but a
long hot summer had mostly obscurred the names of their taverna,and our
preferred option was already occupied. Undeterred we went for next best, moored
at the buoy and launched the dinghy to row ashore in search of food. Peter, who
immediately volunteered to demonstrate his oarsman skills, was to become chief
oarsman of the trip and thus assumed the name of Michael for the duration
of each dinghy passsage thereafter.To be brutally honest, Nissos Kalimnos was
already closed for the winter season - two shoreside restaurants had lights on
but only one served food - so we opted for the food one and enjoyed
our first evening meal of the cruise ashore, the experience somewhat
diminished for me by the appearance of a bucket full of floating fishheads
behind my seat. I had decided on pasta anyway but did wonder at the provenance
of the local fish on the plates in front of the others. Back on the dinghy, as ever I had my headtorch, but it wasn't
needed under the waxing moon and a bright night.
Kalimnos to Kos
We had agreed a sharp getaway and were
all up and ready to slip from the mooring at Emboris for 8am. The wind was
favourable again and we sailed to Martin's waypoints under a cloudless sky,
round the headland to a sheltered bay at Kamari on the south side of the island.
From a distance we could see that this had all the promise of Costa del Cos and
we were not disappointed.Once in and anchored Peter and Eric did their
bombdiving approach to 'hands to bathe', and then we all rowed
ashore for a meal and a walk along the seafront, the whole
place influenced by today's mass tourism, junk food and endless
promises of Happy Hours.
Kos to Nissos Nisiros
As we prepared to set sail, we watched a fishing
boat about to be launched from the shore. One man in a suit and another in a new
tracksuit watched the proceedings whilst 3 other men heaved and coaxed the
boat onto her maiden voyage, up to their waists in water.
Heading for Pallos Bay, a mere 10 mile hop to go,
we both sailed and motored, the watermaker on, and made good time to our
destination. Pallos harbour has been much improved from what was shown on
the chart, and provided an excellent and well sheltered stop. Nisiros lived
up to its reputation from initial sighting, and from the first step
ashore, we enjoyed every guidebook promise and more of this lovely,
unspoiled island with whitewashed houses and an array of painted blues,
with only a few of yachts and fishing boats alongside. Next day we hired a
car and toured the island under recommendations made by Micheal who owned both
the car and the internet cafe. Peter drove, Eric navigated and between us we
found the road to do our tour, to the volcanos, to Nikia where
we enjoyed a lovely lunch in the square of the very pretty village, and
to Mandraki, the main town. From there a 20 minute walk took us to
the seventh century BC Paleokastro, spectacularly located above the
town.
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