Kassos
Arwenofbosham
Rob and Jacky Black
Sat 19 May 2012 10:26
KASSOS ISLAND
17th – 20th May
We left the harbour of Pigadhia just after 0600 set the main up with two
reefs and headed out on our course for the southern end of Karpathos. We
had a southerly wind with little swell as we were still protected from the
NW by the island. Once past the reef at Ak Lingi with its ominous wreck
and the next very shallow patch (we had to alter course rapidly as the
depth came up to 6 metres from 45!) we were able to round the steep
headland of Ak Kastellos and set our course for the island of Kassos. The
open stretch of water is notorious for its confused seas and despite there
not being that much wind it did prove to be quite lumpy. We had a swell of
around 2 metres coming from the NW (the prevailing wind direction) and
wind waves from the South which gradually increased in size as the wind
developed and veered to the SW up to around a force 5 with gusts coming
off the high cliffs as we approached Kassos. I haven’t mentioned that we
have lost the windex reading on our electronics – it happened on the way
to Simi a couple of weeks ago. We don’t know what is wrong and hope to get
it fixed when we get to Crete so we are estimating the wind strength at
the moment! Having fitted a new top section all worked just fine for a
couple of weeks so it is rather frustrating to say the least. We think it
is a fault in the cable leading down the mast!
We made good time and were soon dropping the sails in the more sheltered
bay off the main town in Kassos called Fry. An alongside berth in
excellent shelter was available – we just fitted in behind a large modern
motor yacht which is based here and does trips to Karpathos and vice
versa. The rest of the new harbour was occupied by fishing boats. We were
able to connect to the one electric supply centre by attaching all three
of our cables together. This is a sleepy little place but does suffer from
a loud music bar which is close to the harbour so ear-plugs are required
at night. Poor Rob was kept awake until 0430. We explored the small town
and found several mini-markets and green grocers and a number of tavernas.
The church or ‘Cathedral’ which overlooks the harbour was open and is
really beautiful inside. It has a large clock tower next to it which
chimes the hours during the day (albeit slightly out of correct time!)
On the morning of our second day the motor yacht left and later on another
yacht arrived. They had sailed up from Sitia on Crete – a Jersey
registered 50 footer- called Freya. They had experienced some very
disturbed seas and were glad to get in to the relative calm of the harbour
here. A chap from the harbour office came down and explained that they
couldn’t stay where they were as the motor yacht was due back so it was
suggested they raft on to us but we weren’t happy with this as the wind
has been blowing quite strongly and setting us onto the rough concrete
jetty. We didn’t particularly want a heavy boat outside us! Fortunately
the very small fishing boat ahead of us on the wall moved so both yachts
were able to move forward about 15 metres leaving sufficient space for the
motor yacht which duly arrived around 1500. Malcolm the owner/skipper was
very friendly and we also had a good chat to one of his clients Tim,
sharing information about places we had visited and details about Sitia on
Crete, our next stop.
Hoping to leave on Sunday morning.