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AUTUMN CRUISE 2021

LEROS TO KARPATHOS

13 to 30 October 2021

We are now in Tristoma Bay at the NW tip of Karpathos. The island lies in an open stretch of the Aegean Sea between Crete and Rhodes. We sailed here from Leros via Kos and Tilos. In 2017 we gave the island a miss when we sailed directly north from Crete to Rhodes.

Route to date

We always intended in 2021, on this, our first visit to Greece in two years, to concentrate our time and effort on the maintenance and servicing of Island Drifter (ID), our 37ft Countess ketch. We also hoped to investigate the practicality of continuing to cruise in Greece, the EU and Med following the restrictions brought about by both Brexit and Covid since our last visit. Any sailing we could fit in, we accepted would be a bonus. The fact that we have now reached Karpathos evidences the fact that we’ve made good progress in respect of the above issues.

LEROS

As covered in our first Blog, we returned to Greece on 25 September 2021 and spent the following fortnight working on ID in the boatyard in Partheni (at the north end of Leros island), before launching and continuing to service ID at the boatyard’s marina quay in Lakki harbour.

                            Leros island

Because of a rapidly approaching southerly gale, however, we had to leave Lakki prematurely to seek shelter in Blefouti Bay at the north of the island because the marina quay on which we were berthed becomes untenable in strong southerly winds. Although, since it is near the boatyard, we have visited its excellent taverna on foot, we had never anchored there.

View from ID of the shoreline and Artemis Taverna 

where we’d hoped to have lunch – after the gale

The seabed of Blefouti Bay proved to be a mix of sand and weed (therefore it could provide good holding for an anchor). The bay faces north and is bordered by hills. Fetch (waves), one’s biggest concern when at anchor, should therefore be minimal in a southerly gale, albeit the wind strength was likely to be approximately as forecast.

 At anchor in Blefouti Bay awaiting the gale with fellow cruisers

[photo courtesy John Fowler]

The gale arrived as forecast within 24 hours of anchoring in the bay and took nearly two days to pass through. During that time, we experienced Force 8 conditions with gusts at times over 40 knots, rain which stung and some spectacular lightning which is always a concern when in a masted yacht.

The rain was powerful enough to flatten the sea

Fortunately, our anchor held firmly throughout and the fetch as anticipated proved minimal. Although outside a howling gale was blowing, it therefore remained reasonably comfortable below deck. Helen was even able to complete the digital proofread that she had been sent by one of the publishers for whom she freelances.

We nevertheless maintained a strict anchor watch, both day and night. The consequences of our anchor breaking out and ID drifting onto the rocks fringing the bay would have been catastrophic. The GPS anchor alarm, which detects the boat’s movement beyond a pre-set distance, proved as ever particularly useful in the circumstances, as did the chart plotter which helped us orientate ourselves at night, when ‘monitoring’ our position.

Helen on anchor watch

Helen celebrated the magnificently hot and sunny day that followed the gale with a swim! The water temperature was 25°C. Mike settled for a cold G&T…

 

 A welcome swim after the gale

Since we had to date not been able to get our outboard engine to start, we didn’t go ashore to enjoy a taverna meal after the gale but decided to return to Lakki. Initially we berthed on the quay to allow Sotiris, the local sailmaker and upholsterer, to fine tune his work on our new saloon cushions.

Helen sitting on the new cushions working on a proof

While still on the quay we were joined by Iro Kaoukaki and her partner Nikitas Markantonis. We’d sat next to Iro on the flight from Athens to London at the end of November 2019, after our Autumn cruise of the Peloponnese. We have remained in touch and were delighted to hear that she was working in Leros, helping asylum seekers with their applications. During the summer season, her parents, who otherwise live in Crete, run their Taverna Delfini in Karpathos. It is a favourite of the Greek Prime Minister! Iro had inspired us on the flight to the UK to visit her island home – which we intend to do next.

Iro and Nikitas

We had never anchored in Lakki Harbour, once the base of Mussolini’s Mediterranean Fleet, having always previously taken advantage of our thirty ‘free’ days on the boatyard’s marina quay. Like the marina, the bay is well protected (by the town’s buildings and hills) from the prevailing northerlies. So, we gave it a go, if only for a change of view while completing the balance of our maintenance and servicing tasks.

Lakki harbour (facing west) from anchorage at the head of the bay

While at anchor, we asked Michalis, a local marine engineer who had worked on our boat before, to service and repair the outboard engine. It would appear that the engine did not appreciate being left alone for two years – or at least its carburettor didn’t.

Mike rowing ashore to meet Michalis, a marine engineer, on the town’s quay

Once Michalis got the engine working, we were able to motor ashore and again enjoy the company of John and Maggie (Lazy Pelican) and meet Ed and Linda Spurr (Skylax). The latter, as we do, live in Harrogate in Yorkshire. Although we’ve been in communication, we’d never met. Popi’s bar, the town’s excellent pizzeria, and the new souvlaki joint on the seafront, all gained our custom.

 ID at anchor seen from Popi’s bar (Café Murano). In the background is Evros Marina (which claims to be of ‘international standard’ and charges accordingly)

RESIDENCY

By this stage, having already obtained [see Blog 1] an Unlimited Transit Log (UTL) from the Customs for the BOAT, allowing IT to stay in Greece for an unlimited period, we had concluded that WE should seriously follow up this success by applying for temporary (5 year) Greek residency visas, which would give US as individuals more flexibility, as compared with the restrictions of the Schengen 90/180 day rule that we would otherwise have to comply with. John and Maggie Fowler in particular gave us good advice on how best to achieve this objective, having recently successfully done so themselves.

For the record, to obtain temporary residency we had to go to Kos to prove to the Regional Immigration Officials that:

• We were who we said we were (passports helped!); Mike was the owner of Island Drifter (ID) (boat registry certificate) and that ID had been in Greece on 31 Dec 2020 (the UK transition date from the EU) – (the boatyard’s declaration to this effect in Greek sufficed);
• Both we (other than in 2020 when Covid significantly restricted travel) and the boat (throughout) had been in Greek waters for significant lengths of time each year for the last 5 years. We were ultimately able to prove this with the aid of boarding passes (which fortunately we’d saved on the laptop) together with copies of our annual contracts with the boatyard;
• Helen, who is not named on the boat registry, had been in Greece during the years that the boat and Mike had been there. To this end she was able to produce her Halifax credit card statements from 2017 to date, showing expenditure during the periods that we had declared the boat was sailed in Greece;
•  We had obtained a translation and verification by a lawyer of our marriage certificate (to prove that Helen was married to Mike);
• We each had at least 4000 euros to our names and had a regular income (supported by 3 months’ worth of relevant bank statements);
• We had Greek Health Insurance (which we had bought locally);
• We each had 4 Greek-spec passport photos, which the Immigration authorities could use on the biometric cards (which we hope to be issued with!);
• We had a Greek phone number (pay as you go SIM) on which we could be contacted;
• And finally(!) – we had paid the Greek tax authorities the nominal 16 euros each in respect of our applications for residency.

Subsequently, after our initial appointment, at which we presented all the above paperwork, we had our fingerprints digitally scanned (for inclusion on the biometric residency cards), which the Kos Immigration officials send off with our application and supporting documents to Athens Central Immigration Office for their final approval, and hopefully issue of our biometric residency cards. We were told that this could take up to a month. Hopefully, therefore, we might receive them before we leave Greece, as planned, on 4 December.

We lugged three heavy bags full of paperwork to our interview, in case (as we’d been warned might well happen) Immigration officials raised unexpected queries which we could not answer or support on the spot. Under those circumstances, the interview would have been terminated immediately – hence the paperwork we carried in case we came across a particularly ‘difficult’ official. After our initial apparently successful appointment in the centre of Kos town, we treated ourselves to a celebratory breakfast in a shady seafront taverna.

Celebratory breakfast after our residency appointment.

Helen's breakfast was toasted brioche with bananas, chopped nuts & cream

KOS

Route Leros to Kos

To get to Kos to attend the residency interview, we’d enjoyed a cracking 33-mile broad reach sail in a Force 6 from Leros, down the east coast of Kalymnos, to Kos Marina. We had booked in for four nights to allow us time to not only deal with our residency application but also to explore the island and to watch the town’s Óhi Day [No Day] parade, which commemorates the day during WWII when the Greek Prime Minister formally denied Mussolini’s request to station Italian troops in Greece. (It didn’t stop the Axis powers invading.)

Kos Marina

Óhi Day Parade

Kos Marina lies tucked into the Gulf of Kos (the ancient Ceramic Gulf) and, like the nearby Old Harbour, is well protected from the prevailing northerly wind. The marina is a member of the TransEurope Marina group, which comprises over 80 quality marinas in 11 countries. While every member marina is autonomous from the Group, each one offers reciprocal discounts to yachts with a contract in another marina in the group.

Many people consider Kos Marina to be one of the best in Greece. Certainly, it is impressive, as are most of the boats in it. It is also home to several quality charter fleets.

Marina’s spacious office reception area

Charter fleets’ sails being cleaned at the end of the season

Kos town itself is liberally scattered with ruins from the Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine periods. It is a handsome, stylish place with a mix of original old town (at least what remains of it after the 1933 earthquake) and modern streets and parks shaded by palms and bougainvillea. Kos’ most famous son was Hippocrates, the ‘father of medicine’.

Agora – the ruins of the ancient market and meeting place

The Old Harbour is attractive with the ancient castle of the Knights of St John picturesquely perched at its centre. It is administered by the owners of Kos Marina and primarily caters for tourist trip boats and small ferries. It is possible, however, for a few private yachts to Med-moor to one side of the harbour on a smaller quay. As in Amsterdam, many people get about Kos on push bikes, using cycle lanes which run throughout much of the town. We walked!

Old Harbour

Kos ‘sit-up-and-beg’ bikes can be hired from many outlets

We hired a car for a day to tour the island and get a better overview of it. It soon became obvious that the fingers of Turkey reach out across the narrow strait to almost touch the island of Kos. A mountain ridge forms a central spine along the length of the island and obtains a height of 2788ft near the north-east end. On the eastern side it is precipitous and barren; on the west it is well watered and fertile. Sandy beaches fringe the cultivated plains which produce vegetables and fruit. The Kos variety of lettuce was introduced to the UK from the island.

We’d always avoided Kos before because of its crass reputation for the worst kind of tourism. However, out of season, as we were, it was positively delightful.

I love Kos (out of season!)

Although there is an anchorage outside the marina, we didn’t want to leave the boat there while touring the island. On the other hand, we didn’t want to keep paying to stay in the marina (notwithstanding the excellent facilities including hot showers)! We therefore left for our target destination of Karpathos.

Dawn breaking over Turkey, on the morning we left the marina

TILOS

Route Kos to Tilos and on to Karpathos

We decided to split the 100-mile passage to Karpathos into two day-sails by pulling halfway into Tilos, another island we’d not visited before. Today, as in many of the smaller islands off the main tourist routes, most of the young leave for the cities of Rhodes or Athens. It is a quiet and attractive location that appeals to more discerning visitors seeking an authentic Greek atmosphere. The water is clean and clear and there are excellent walking opportunities.

From a sailing viewpoint, the harbour and anchorage of Livadia, the island’s tiny port, are well sheltered, particularly from the Meltemi.

 ID on the quay at the head of Livadia bay, Tilos

ID alongside the quay seen from ‘our’ bar

Once berthed, we immediately made our way to the quayside bar for a very cold beer and their WIFI code! There is, incidentally, a serious danger that one’s phone will automatically connect to a Turkish network if it is more powerful than a local Greek one. Roaming costs out of the EU are prohibitive – as we have already found out to our cost on this trip when our phones automatically, without us noticing, connected to Turkey!

We were later joined on the quay by a French family on their yacht Pisco, which they also keep in Leros. They were in the middle of their children’s half-term break. Two other yachts were anchored off the adjacent beach. That evening, when we took a stroll around the village, we found a delightful tree-shaded square in which to enjoy a nightcap.

Enjoying a nightcap in the village square

We were woken up during the night by the arrival of an enormous Blue Star ferry which reversed on to the outer side of our very small quay. It was on passage from Rhodes to Athens.

Blue Star ferry on outside of ‘our’ quay

KARPATHOS

Next morning, after an otherwise peaceful night on the quay and a quick trip to the bakery for fresh rolls, we left Tilos promptly for the remaining 45-mile passage to Karpathos.

ID and Pisco in the dawn light

Once we’d motored out of the lee of Tilos, we caught enough wind to get us moving under sail.

ID making her way steadily towards Karpathos at 4.5 knots in 10 knots of wind

Karpathos lies midway between Crete and Rhodes. It is the third largest island in the Dodecanese after Rhodes and Kos. Ellipsoid in shape, it is steep on all sides and sparsely inhabited, other than at its two small ports and a few smaller villages in the interior.

Karpathos

At 1700 hrs we pulled into Tristoma Bay on the northwest corner of the island. Its entrance is very narrow with steep cliffs to starboard and a large rocky outcrop to port. It is impassable in strong northerly winds when a heavy sea builds up in the mouth of the bay.

Tristoma’s narrow rocky inlet

Once safely through the entrance we motored to the anchorage at the head of the bay, where the anchor dug in well in what appeared to be a mixture of sand and weed. Since the inlet is narrow throughout, we could use only 45 metres of our chain but backed this up with an ‘angel’ to limit the effect of any swing if the wind changed. A fisherman berthed on the very small quay had advised us that it was very shallow alongside, therefore the reason for us anchoring.

Overview of Tristoma Bay

Notes in the Greek Pilot book say that the old hamlet at the head of the bay is deserted and in ruins. In fact, some of the houses have already been completely rebuilt and are very smart indeed. They are powered with solar panels. It appears that one can only get to the hamlet by boat. With zero light pollution, except for the stars, it really was pitch black once the sun had set.

Looking west at sunset

Attractively renovated houses at the head of the bay

An isolated and very attractive anchorage – at least in the very calm conditions we experienced.

We now plan to go to Finiki further south, which has been recommended to us as both a safe harbour in the current northerly and an interesting place.