Passage Across the Agean West to East

Photos starting from the bottom:
Pippy - exhausted after arrival in Seriphos on day 1 - 9 hour sail. Photo shows the Chora (Old town) on the hill in the background.
Lots of photos as we walk through the Chora
Typical Greek islands we sail past - barren and rising straight up out of the sea.
Moody photo of the sea and cliffs which go straight down 300 metres under the sea - northern Amorgos
This morning in Kalymnos






Passage Across the Agean
Approx 240 NM total distance

Ollie and Lesley have kindly given us a plan of anchorages and sheltered moorings to run for in the event of a northerly gale which is common in this part of the world. Each one is a comfortable day’s sail apart. They have done this route (going the other way) on advice from their friend Anton who is a close friend of Rod Heikell who is the author of most of the Mediterranean Pilot Books which are our absolute bible. Anton apparently has contributed information to Rod Heikell at times and knows the Med really well from many years sailing these waters. These anchorages are some of his picks. Our first stop is planned to be the island of Kithnos, 43 NM east of Poros (O. Apokriosis which looks gorgeous).

For weather reporting we are using UGrib files which we have downloaded for 5 days in advance. The only problem with these files is that they give a good overview but are computer generated and have not been ‘tweaked’ to allow for local conditions and local knowledge. We find these reports to be very useful for the first 3 days, but can lose accuracy on days 4 and 5. The huge advantage to them is that they are set up to download a very small size file and we can do this on board using our roaming (from NZ) Vodem facility. Wherever we can get a mobile connection, we can access UGrib files. Other weather sites tend to be large capacity files, which we check out when we are in internet cafes. Up until 1 November, we were getting radio reports over the VHF in English, but these seem to have dried up now with the end of the season and only mad dogs and New Zealanders out there sailing still.


Tuesday 4 Nov
Poros to (Kithnos… nope…) Seriphos
Approx 60 NM in 9 hours
Long and Lat for our spot on the town quay at Seriphos for those wishing to check it out on Google Earth:
37º08’562N
024 º30’944E


We leave Poros before 7.00am, feeling hugely refreshed by a really big dose of human carmarderie and a new friendship forged with Lesley and Ollie on Anatolie. Lesley donates her massive basil plant to Matelot which we proudly display in the cockpit wherever we go. It graces the galley for the rest of the time except for when we are sailing, when it sits in the sink! It is just coming into flower and thriving on the regular doses of sunshine we are still having.

We knew we were going to have wind today and it starts out as a light breeze but soon builds to a brisk 25 knots Nth Easterly. We partially roll in the headsail to reduce sail and put one reef in the main quite early on and Matelot sails comfortably in these fresh conditions. We are sailing mostly on autopilot and are both up on deck with a big sea side-on which slews us sideways from time to time as we crest the waves. We sail through a shipping lane with several ships crossing us and need to keep a good lookout as conditions are very hazy and they appear out of the haze very quickly.

We are aware that we are tending to fall down on our course and keep adjusting for it but even so, by the early in the afternoon when the wind heads us, we will need to sail hard on the wind to make Kithnos which will mean bashing into it. We have been making good time with an average speed of over 7 knots and so take a decision to sail on, as at this rate will be able to ease sheets and make it comfortably to Seriphos, the second stop on the list. We are sorry to miss Kithnos, but will have to call in there another time.

We arrive Seriphos around 4 pm, tie up stern to the quay and fall into bed early, with a plan to walk to the top of the hill and see the Chora (old town) the next morning.

Wed 5 Nov
Seriphos to Dhespotika (O. Dhespotika)
Lair of pirates in the past
36 º58’309N
025 º01’612E
28 NM

We have less distance to cover today, so have planned to walk the hill to the old town (chora) on Seriphos before we leave. It beckons us from our cockpit and the challenge is on. For the less spritely we would definitely suggest a bus ride which is an option! We purchase fresh bread and feta and spinach pies at the bakery and leave them on the boat for our return. We gasp our way to the top through a confusion of very steep winding streets which constantly fork and go off upwards, past postcard but not perfect charming white and blue houses and numerous chapels. These very old buildings are mingled in with even older ruins which in most places are just jumbled heaps of old stone in the shape of simple cottage walls without the roof.

We soon figure out that it probably does not matter which fork we take as they all go up. How wrong we are as our route soon dwindles into someone’s back yard and we clamber up a stony slope to the next back yard and through a gate, back on to the upwards trail. We smell the only sign of life we encounter in this quiet and empty town and gingerly step over the dung, before we round a corner and find two donkeys and their master, a builder/tradesman who has used them to bring bags of concrete mix up the hill. It is worth the effort when we find ourselves at the top (thank goodness we did bring a bottle of water with us) and look back down at the small dot which is Matelot, feeling slightly giddy at the height and the view.

Back on the boat after coffee and a cake ashore (Euro 12.50!) and there is less wind today – around 15 knots and mostly sunshine. We motor mouth our way through the spinach pies for lunch, accompanied by an ice cold Mythos beer. Life is truly awful on the ocean wave! We sail for around an hour and a half and motor the remainder of the distance, arriving around 5 pm to anchor in the bay off the taverna. The North Easterly seems to freshen again for a while so Richard puts out more chain and we are secure for the night.


Thurs 6 Nov
Dhespotika to Skinhousa (Mirsini)
36 º52’297N
025 º30’588E
23 NM

It is hard to find the entrance to the tiny harbour which we share with huge ferries coming and going. The instructions in the pilot book though are very accurate and we head for the rock headland which soon opens up into a delightful small harbour.

There is no sign of the pontoon shown in the diagram in the pilot book – perhaps they have put it away for the winter, so we anchor in the head of the inlet. We are the only yacht here, but there are lots of fishing boats which as usual are spread randomly all over the most desirable parts of the harbour and have dropped laid moorings which make it too treacherous to anchor. There is a rocky pier which looks new, but a fishing boat is tied up alongside in the middle of the space, taking up the whole pier. It is a pity as we would have gone ashore and maybe bought a meal at the taverna, but it is too much trouble to launch the dinghy, so the locals miss out on some business.

Friday 7 Nov
Skinhousa to Amorgos (Harbour)
36º49’801N
025 º51’846E
18 NM


We awake to the sound of a freight train coming through the boat and the sight of a humungous ferry backed into the quay around 7.00am. Its turnaround time is impressive though and it is gone in a flash, leaving the harbour once again serene and still.

It is very calm, sunny and clear as we motor out with a plan to stop for a swim half way to the island of Amorgos. As an afterthought I go forward and tie down the anchor as usual. It hardly seems necessary as we will be dropping it again in one hour. We eat breakfast as we leave, but barely have time to finish eating as we round the point and straight into a fresh NE and we are sailing. The day gets cloudier as we go and the wind freshens up to 25 knots as we pass by our planned swimming destination, (N. Andikaros south of N. Naxos) and put on more warm clothes instead of stopping. By the time we lay into Amorgos at midday, visibility is average with very misty conditions and the sea and wind appear to be building. We stop in the first bay to the left for hot soup and a read but by around 3.00 pm, we are feeling quite cold, so up anchor and go further up into the sheltered harbour with a plan to stay on the quay for the night. We are greeted by the usual haphazard arrangement of fishing and local boats taking up most of the space, so nose in temporarily to take on some supplies.

Richard holds Matelot off while I pick up fresh bread and some other supplies. Unfortunately it is my turn to push us off the quay when we leave and too late I find I cannot clamber up over the bow as it is too high, so Richard sails off without me! I raise my voice for some unknown reason and so does he, so that the locals come out to see what is going on, including the uniformed Port Authority personnel on the balcony above – nothing like raising one’s profile! Captain Buck to the rescue – he expertly reverses Matelot back to the quay, leaving me a considerable gap to leap over on to the transom. I surprise myself and do not end up in the water and we head across to the other side of the harbour and anchor for the night!

We contact the Port Authority (because we now know they are there) on VHF and they are most helpful. The current forecast is Beaufort 4-5 from the north and they tell us to contact them in the morning as a new forecast will come in at 7.00 am.

Saturday 8 November
Amorgos (Harbour) to Levitha (O. Levitha)
39 NM

Correction.... Amorgos to Kalymnos (Harbour)
36º56'826N
026º59'020E
59.5 NM

We depart at 7.00am into a fairly lumpy sea with a brooding grey atmosphere. If last night's weather forecast is still the same, we will have to motor into the sea until we clear the northern end of this island, so we get going early before the wind can get up too much. We cannot raise the Port Authority on Channel 12 or 16, so have Rupert Wilson to thank for a weather report which he txts to us from NZ and it would appear that yesterday's fresh conditions are set to continue and that there is a northerly gale on its way, but conditions are better further east. We calculate we can make it into Kalymnos today, so abandon our plans to stop at Levitha.

Conditions turn our to be pretty much as UGrib had predicted today, (although they were way off the mark yesterday), - not much of anything and we motor sail into a calming sea as the day goes on. We leave behind the cooler temperatures we have experienced on Friday and during the afternoon enjoy a hot shower and shampoo on the transom and a dry off in the sunshine. It would appear that we have left behind the fresh breezes of the central Agean and arrive Kalymnos around 4.00 pm. It is quite a thrill to know that we are nearly back in Kos and that we will have done full circle since arriving in the Med in April of this year.