Rhodes to Seaclusion’s home for the Winter!

Well I appreciate that we are more than a little out of date, having been back in Sunny Spain for 3 weeks, but we thought you would appreciate it if we finished Seaclusion’s adventure of 2017!

On the 5th September we left the quaint island of Symi heading for Rhodes ahead of much stronger winds forecasted for the next few days and in time to meet Steven who was joining us for a few short days. I say ahead of stronger winds, we still sailed the 30NM in a westerly 5 gusting 6, reaching a top boat speed of 10.2 knots! Thankfully the marina was reasonably sheltered and the mooring not too problematic for us!

Being 4 days ahead of Schedule, we promptly set about exploring the island, the first day on foot, walking into the Old Town with its huge fortified castle dominating the town and which, in history, withstood sieges from Egypt in 1444, Turkey in 1480, and was occupied by the Italians in 1912 and only became Greek in 1947 after the German occupation. At least the Italians set about restoring this lovely old castle and town, and which is now said to be one of the best preserved medieval fortifications in Greece. It was truly beautiful, very different from the white washed towns of the smaller islands. I will let the photos do most of the talking, all I would say was our timing wasn’t the best, with 2 massive cruise ships being in port!

Rhodes Old Town

Life inside the Walls of the Old Town

The Palace of the Grand Masters of the Knights of Rhodes

The Street of the Knights

A 600m  long, cobble – paved street constructed over an ancient pathway that led in a straight line from the Acropolis of Rhodes to the port. In the early 16th century, it became the address for most of the inns of each nation, which housed Knights who belonged to the Order of St. John. The inns were used as eating clubs and temporary residences for visiting dignitaries, and their facades reflect the various architectural details of their respective countries.

The Archaeological Museum

The Ottoman Cemetery & Mosque

The Port & New Market Area

The Infamous Colossus Deer guarding the entrance to Mandraki Harbour

During the course of the day the wind changed direction and got up to a healthy Force 7 gusting 8, definite Storm brewing!

We were very appreciative that we were on land, but did not anticipate that we would experience the worst “rollypolly” night as I call them, of the holiday, despite being in the Marina! Very glad to get off the boat in the morning, we jumped in a hire car and spent the day driving around the island visiting lots of different places. Rhodes is the largest island of the Dodecanese and the southern most point of the Archipelago, and is one of the most fertile islands with pine, olive, orange, lemon, fig and pears trees growing all over it and hibiscus, bougainvillea & jasmine running riot over village houses, and butterflies everywhere.

Our first  stop was the tiny village inland called Koskinou, renowned on the island for its colourful houses.

Next, Lindos with its small winding streets between medieval houses and its castle perched on the rock summit as if it was about to topple into the bay. It is uniquely beautiful despite the hordes of tourists (of which we were 2!!) that are shipped into the town by the coach and ferry load on a daily basis! The tiny streets, courtyards & steps were all paved in black & white pebble mosaics said to be a legacy from the prosperous middle ages, I doubt anyone these days would have the patience to lay them again!  We slowly made our way up to the acropolis and the medieval castle which gave us an outstanding view over land and the superb natural harbour, with amazing turquoise waters, which we hoped to stop in with Steven!

Lindos Town

The Acropolis and the donkeys to take those who didn’t fancy the hike up to the top!

and the view from the top!

We then drove inland across to the North coast of the lsland stopping at Monolithos, Kritinia, Siana, famous for its honey and followed by the Valley of the Butterflies. Sadly had we planned our day better, this would have been our first stop, as by the time we arrived the butterlies were fast sleep, albeit covering  every tree stump around, forming a uniquely symmetrical pattern that we didn’t even realise were the butterflies until someone pointed them out to us!

Siana

The Valley of the Butterflies

Our final stop was the Monastery of Filerimos with its giant cross raised up high above the island and where dozes of peacocks roamed free.

Exhausted we made our way back to the boat, where thankfully the winds had died down sufficiently for us to get a good nights sleep, pending Steven’s arrival!

Steven arrived on the 9th, and anxious to get some more miles under his belt and show us what he had learnt on his intensive sailing course, we set sail back towards  Symi in a Force 5, wind on our nose so tacking most of the way, with Steven on the helm, and David and I managing the sails, happy days!

Having learnt our lesson with Symi, we radioed ahead for “clearance” in the port, so simple, and grabbed a good spot with absolutely no issues. Each with a glass of wine in our hands we then sat up deck (along with everyone else already safely moored up) to watch the fiasco as a number of charter boats arrived, somewhat clueless as to what needed to be done, and managed to get themselves completely tangled in other boats (thankfully not ours) anchor chains, before heading off for a bite to eat.!

The following day we set off for the tiny Island of Khalki, Northwest of Rhodes, briefly sailing into its natural but too deep to anchor harbour and then around the corner to drop anchor for the night with 3 other boats for company.

Khalki Harbour & Town

We had intended the next day to sail and stop at the most southern point of our 2017 trip, Ormos Prassonissi where the Mediterranean and Aegean Seas meet, stunningly beautiful in the right conditions, but in a unforcasted south westerly 6, not so, so continued on to Lindos for the night having done 51 NM that day.

Ormos Prassonisi

How we wanted it to be and how it actually was…

(Photos courtesy of the Internet)

With a day in hand and all of us needing some downtime, we spent the next day enjoying the Turquoise waters, watching Steven master the paddleboard and generally just having a fabulously fun day!

Lindos from Seaclusion

Lindos at night

On Steven’s final day, we then sailed  around the north eastern point of Rhodes in Mandraki (and reached the furthest eastern point of our journey), the marina at the base of the Old Citadel and soon became sandwiched in!

Sadly we then bid our farewells to the Lad, 5 days was far too short, although not before he had his last word!

Mandraki at Sunset

By Night

…And at Sunrise!

All we had to do now was head to Samos, Seaclusion’s home for the Winter. HA HA HA, easier said than done given Samos was due North of us, beyond a number of other islands, and the winds were consistently blowing northerlies Force 5 and above! For 3 days (122 NM) we headed westward, close hauling all the way more often than not slamming into with 3 metre waves on our nose, stopping  back in Ormos Panormitis on Symi, Nisos Gyali, just north of Nisyros and finally reaching Astipalaia, where we stopped on anchor and then in the harbour for a couple of nights, meeting up with Connie, Dirk and their newly wed daughter and son in law. Rested, we set off again to the tiny uninhabited island of Levitha, and watched a beautiful sunset in a sheltered bay.

From Levitha, we headed back to Lipsi. On the 23rd we tried to go straight to Samos, and soon realised the winds were definitely not on our side so we diverted back to Agathonisi, where yet again we had another interesting mooring issue, this time with a German who did not understand that the first in (us) had the right of way and the degree we would swing in the gusting wind! Suffice to say they moved, and no harm was done!

On the 24th, we finally made it to Samos, stopping this time in the marina as it was better suited to start getting the boat ready for the winter. We didn’t think the people in all the restaurants along the town quay in Pythagoria would appreciate getting wet as we washed, dismantled and put away the dinghy, davits, paddle board and all other bits and bobs around the boat!. We finally, on the 26th after spending our last romantic night on anchor, left at dawn to make  our way round to Vathy.

We arrived at Roussakis Boat Yard around midday, where we nerve-rackingly watched our summer dream be lifted and taken to her home for the next 8 months.

2 days later, after removing the sails, lines, cleaning, scrubbing and generally decluttering our summer home, we bid our farewells to Seaclusion, in the safe hands of Andrea and Aigli Roussaki.

What a great summer, we truly fell in love with Greece this time. We were on board for 130 days and visited 32 islands over 1,398 nautical miles, mostly under sail!