Les Temps Est Bon

With our new crew and freshly cleaned laundry ready in the afternoon, we made our way south once more. A low pressure was slowly forming over Turkey, so the Meltemi decreased for a few days, and we sailed smoothly until experiencing a small lull behind Nisyros.  The wind slowly returned but taunted us with changing speed and directions as we came around Tilos.  Arriving with the setting sun we dropped anchor in a large bay in the South of the island in view of Megalo Chorio and the well-lit ancient castle atop the hill.

In the morning, we brought the dinghy to shore to hike up to the castle and enjoy the stunning view of the island before setting sail again in the afternoon to head Tilos’ port town.  Arriving after sunset, we had to drop the anchor a couple of times before getting it to hold in the sea grass-covered bottom.

The lighter wind remained the next day and we set sail for Symi in the late morning.  On a beam reach turning to broad reach with wind from the northwest, we reached the island before sunset.  Entering the stunning and wonderfully well-protected bay, Panormitis, that is home to an impressive monastery and a curious turtle that greeted us as we arrived, we dropped anchor and made our way to shore in the dingy.

Thanks to our local Greek crew member, Fenia, we spotted a small sign informing us that we had arrived just in time for the Pangyeris, or traditional Greek party, of the village.  With the help of th

e owner of a local shop, we arranged a lift up the mountain to experience this special night with Greek dancing and local food.

With a short trip around Symi to the port town, we set off in the afternoon and enjoyed sailing on various courses to the wind and differing wind speeds as gentle gusts came over the island.  Upon entering the port we saw that priority was given to bigger boats when mooring in the deep waters so instead of waiting we pulled up the sail again and returned to the bay of Pedi that was just around the corner and a short walk to the town which we enjoyed making in the evening hours.  

The following day, we decided to make our way all the way back to Kos to drop Charlotte at the airport as she had to make a short trip to Germany.  With the wind from the west, we tacked into a fresh breeze with 6 bft gusts.  Finally making it around Datça at sunset, we were able to get on course for Kardamena.  After a few more hours underway, we watched the orange-slice moonrise over the water before we entered the harbor in the middle of the night and found a spot to moor alongside.