Telltale 102

Weather change....and still not done for this year.

Mid November 2007, somewhere in the Dodecanese Island group, this is off the South West Coast of Turkey.The winter destination for Sylphe is going to be Ayvalik and that is where I will be sailing to in the next weeks. Some of you may recall that Marit and I already spent a winter there, back in 2004/5, previous to our trip into the Black Sea. Ayvalik is charming, the marina is right in the center of the town and offers all the facilities, and guess what......we were the only boat with people on it for the whole winter and that is likely to be the case again this year. This basically means that we have the whole marina to ourselves (and NO request to participate in the seemingly obligatory BINGO on tuesday). But not only the marina is a bonus, it also means avoiding the hurdle of tourists walking around and spoiling the atmosphere in the more popular winterdestinations like Marmaris, Bodrum, etc.... I have spent the last wo winters there and believe me....not my piece of cake. In Ayvalik I can just be a Turk and be accpeted.




But Ayvalik is still a 350 mile sail from the Symi/Marmaris area and this is where I spent the last 2 months of sailing with friends and family. So, I still have to go some distance in a northerly direction. Stephanie, a german friend, who I met through another classic boat in the regattas, offered and was willing to sail this part with me. She has just worked sometime in the sailing school of her brother -who does those classes in HOLLAND of all places- but she also spent the summer hiking across the Pyrenees. And NO....not from south to north, but from west to east, the hard and long way. We spent a night watching all her 500 pictures of her trip and we include some here...........
Somehow the sea and the mountains have something in common: the wild-ness, the purity, the fact that it is YOU and the elements, the peace, the solitude, the beauty, the emptiness, the views, the mentality it takes to like it......

Stephanie (Steph from now on) arrived in Rhodos and took the ferry to get to Symi, where I had arrived with Sylphe that morning. Coming illegally from Turkey of course! We had a nice day and evening on Symi, barbequed in the house and spent the next day sightseeing Symi on the scooter. Overcasted skies, some rain and not the brightest weather. The next morning I woke up in the house (Steph slept on the boat to keep an eye) at 7, quite early for my doing. We had forgotten that wintertime was introduced the previous day, so we were off by an hour anyway. Thunder at the horizon, black skies and some wind going through the grape- and lemon tree in the garden. I packed the last things from the house, said farewell to it (as I have no idea when I will be back) and scootered down. Only to find Steph awake also, fending off the neighboring (small) boat. At this time of the year, there are not many boats sailing around anymore and we were only 4 in the harbor. Compare this with high season, where if one comes after 2 in the afternoon, one does not get a berth anymore.
A thunderstrom passed overhead and caused 40 knots of wind from the left, than silence and no wind, only to hit us with 40 knots from the right 5 minutes later. Sylphe happily survived, but we were soaked, before we even set sail!!!!!!! An omen for what is to come in the next weeks?????



We sailed out of Symi, and started the voyage to Ayvalik, hoping to be able to stop is as many places as possible. We are not in a hurry, day temperatures are still above 20 degrees Celsius and if the sun is out you can wear a short again. We stopped in Knidos, the famous ancient site, and were the only boat there. The next day we sailed in sunshine to Kos. A day or two later we sailed over to Turkey and pulled into the brand new Turgutreis Marina, a huge complex, and not to my liking, but I can undertsand that for a lot of boatowners this is a perfect place to keep their boats. The weatherforecast stayed grim and we already had our fair share of wind and rain over the last days. We decided to sail over to Leros, although 45 knots of wind was forecasted for the next day.
The Greek islands have the famous Meltemi wind in the summer, most of the time blowing at 25-35 knots, day and night. Always from the North, and the chance that you may get a south or east wind is -in the summer- neglectable. This has caused all the harbors and bays being made on the south side of islands, as this is the naturally sheltered side. BUT, in the winter all the storms come from the south.....so, the number of places where one is sheltered are really limited and you have to plan carefully. Leros has a huge bay and two marinas (did not know that either, but really they are there). We docked the boat in the village-marina and wondered why the boats on our left and right both had more than 5 mooring lines attached. We were soon to find out.
The other real big advantage of sailing these waters in wintery months is the clarity and visibility. In the summer, due to the sheer evaporation of sea water, visibility is always limited. Not in the winter. The special Greek blue colors come even more to life and make a view soo spectacular.



The colors are more intense, more direct, more vibrant.......only in winter to be seen



The next morning the wind picked up in Leros and indeed soon reached gusting up to 50 knots. We tied an extra mooring line or two as well, as extra security for our anchor. Although the wind was basically blowing us away from the quay, the swell in the bay became considerable and we removed the gangway, becoming prisoners on our own boat, only 8 feet away from the dock. Throughout the day we saw the swell getting bigger as it was rolling straight into the bay. It didn't cause any problems for us, as we were nicely protected by the small breakwater. More uncomfortable than dangerous. At 4 in the afternoon, we decided on a walk, jumped in the dinghy to make the 8 feet crossing to the quay and stepped on terra firma. We walked along the waterfront, where the waves were hitting with full power. The waves simply came onto the street and reached the cafes.... quite spectacular to see the waves spraying water up some 10 feet in the air....and this in the middle of town.

We saw a coaster, anchored in the bay, taking the full force of the waves. And for sure, within 2 minutes of us watching this game, the anchor of the coaster no longer held. And the coaster started moving backwards, towards the beach. There was no apparant reaction on the coaster and within 5 minutes it was grounded. Why is it that at moments like this one never has a camera with him?? We watched for the next hour, sitting in a waterfront cafe as the coaster struggled -and succeeded!!- to get off the beach on his own. Quite remarkable, and there must be a very happy captain on that vessel.

We left port and sailed out towards Patmos the next morning The weatherforecast was 25 knots from the southwest. We motored against the wind for the full length of the bay (2 miles), to get to open sea. At the entrance the waves were soo steep that Sylphe slowed down to 1.3 knots. It seemed to take forever to get a safe distance between us and the rocks to allow hoisting a sail. But finally that moment came. We turned north and reached towards Patmos, with a staysail and a little engine. The waves reasonably high and we got wet again...serious on several occasions. But as bonus -and/or reward for being the only boat on the water- the overcasted sky broke open and we sailed for two hours in sunshine, making it all the more pleasurable.

Patmos and its chora with the heavily fortified monastery on top of the hill:


We turned into Patmos Skala and anchored in the middle of the port. The whole quay was available, but a 25 knot cross wind did not look favourable for being close to concrete. The night proved us right as we had again 40 knots of wind, and we did not sleep well. The next morning things calmed down and we put Sylphe on the town quay.
Patmos is probably the best known island in the Dodecanese group. The huge fortified monastery on top, with the chora (village) around is indeed unique and a UNESCO heritage site. We wander around in the chora for an hour, without seeing anyone. The narrow, winding streets, steps up/down, white walls, beautiful wooden doors and windows and more cats. All to ourselves. What a delight if one compares this with the high season. And just as we want to go down, back to the port, we see a cruise ship coming in, docking and spitting out 500 tourists, who are all hurried off into busses and up to the chora. Bye, bye, peace.



We have a memorable diner on shore in one of the ouzeries, where you drink and only eat starters. The table next to us has 6 fishermen on it and a discussion is quickly started as they have recognised Sylphe from my previous visits here. And we are at the moment the one and only tourists around, so they quickly made that link. Food and drinks are shared. Experiences exchanged and we get some advise for more dreamy places to go. Steph watches them at 4 in the morning, when most of them leave port for their fishing. Later, around 11, in the morning they all come to say goodbeye, when we sail out of Patmos towards Arki. Nice encounters.



We have a leisurely sail towards Arki, only 15 miles under very grey and dim skies, but we stay dry and the rain only starts when we have docked Sylphe and we can seek shelter inside the boat. Arki and its Port Augusta is one of those magical spots in Greece. A fantastic natural dog-legged bay offering good shelter and the quay is only big enough for some ten boats. Now, we are of course the only boat. 15 houses around the bay and that is it. No water, no electricity, not even GSM coverage for your phone. No more than 50 people live permanently on the island. Paradises are still around. Just a shame about the weather.

We have the diesel heater on and it is warm and dry inside the boat, we sit around in t-shirts and watch the little fireplace. In the evening we watch videos, we got a fair amount on the computer. We can survive like this for the time being. Reading a book or two/three, eat, drink, sleep and don't venture too far out from the boat. There simply is not much left to do in these places in the winter. Fine with us.

So, despite the weather, life remains a paradise, and the forecast for the next week (!!) remains the same: rain and more rain. In the evening we hop on land and visit Tripas taverna, recommended by the fishermen on Patmos the day before. 4 guys and a grandmother are sitting inside and we are welcomed as the last clients of the season. We eat local snails, bean soup and fantastic fresh calamari. The atmosphere gets better when Manolo starts to play music from his rather large and strange collection. We listen to greek music that is different, not the usual stuff and we decide on the spot to stay another day to be able to copy some of his music for our own collection. It is still raining outside.......