Blog 7: Eastern Sporades

              EASTERN SPORADES ISLANDS CRUISE

     27 October – 21 November 2017

In Blog 6 we covered our 200-mile, 36-hour passage up the Eastern Sporades Islands from N. Leros to, and subsequent cruise in, N. Limnos and then N. Lesvos – the two most northerly islands in the Sporades (Blog 6).   [‘N’ is an abbreviation for ‘Nisos’ meaning ‘island of’.   Unfortunately, the Greek fashion is often to also use the same name, but not the prefix, for an island’s capital.  We have adopted the same style in this Blog.]

This Blog, the last in this series, covers our cruise back through the rest of the Eastern Sporades islands and the Northern Dodecanese archipelago to the boatyard in Partheni, Leros, where we are leaving Island Drifter [ID] until the spring next year.

 

Overview of route

EASTERN SPORADES ISLANDS (SOUTH OF LESVOS)

N. CHIOS

Our 50-mile downwind sail south on a broad reach from Mytilini harbour in Lesvos was quite fast, by our standards, but otherwise uneventful.

The Chios island group is comprised of N. Chios itself and two small adjacent islands, N. Psara and N. Oinoussa.

Much of the island, especially the high mountains to the north, is like a lunar landscape of parched and pitted rocks.   Fertile plains, however, line the coast.  By contrast the lower hills in the south of the island are mostly covered with mastic bushes (see below).  

Chios town

Chios town and island have suffered more than their fair share of catastrophes in the last 200 years. The Ottomans perpetrated their most infamous anti-revolutionary atrocity on the town in 1822 when they massacred 25,000 Chiotians and enslaved double that number.  Subsequently, most of the town itself was totally destroyed by the ‘Great Earthquake’ of 1881.  

Delacroix’s painting of the 1822 massacre of Chios

Today both the island and town have recovered – in spite of devastating forest fires in the 1980s – and the town now hustles and bustles, albeit there was nothing there that attracted us. 

N. OINOUSSA

Instead we pulled into the large natural harbour of Mandraki in N. Oinoussa, a mile east of N. Chios.  It provides excellent all-round shelter.

Mandraki harbour in N. Oinoussa with 

N. Chios in background

This apparently insignificant island’s main claim to fame is that it is the birthplace of several of the most wealthy Greek ship-owning families, including the wealthiest of them all, the Lemos clan, statues of whom can be found all over the town (apparently Greek shipowners control over 50% of European-owned tonnage).

Statue of K. [Mr] Lemo

On our arrival, we noticed that local teenagers were bi-lingual, helpful and smartly turned out. Only later did we discover that there is a Merchant Marine Academy at the end of the port’s very long quay, which is the alma mater to 1500 skippers who are currently serving in the world’s merchant marine.

By chance we arrived the day before Oxi [No] Day, a public holiday in Greece celebrating the day that the Greek Prime Minister, Ioannis Metaxa, rejected Mussolini’s ‘request’ to station Italian troops in strategic locations in Greece in 1940.   The Greeks held out against the Italian forces for six months until Axis troops stepped in and took over mainland Greece and its islands.

Celebrating Oxi Day

At the Nuremberg Trials it is recorded that the resistance in Greece delayed the Axis advance into Russia by two months and that this was a major contributing factor to the failure of the Axis campaign there. 

Soon after our arrival in Mandraki, we were joined by Gerd who was sailing solo on his Bavaria 42. Only after he had docked did we notice that his boat didn’t have a mast! 

Gerd pretending to be a mast

Emborios

The island of Chios has ten or more excellent fishing ports/anchorages. We stopped at the small 100-metre-indented cove of Emborios on the extreme southeast corner.  It is an excellent anchorage in a beautiful location, providing shelter from the northerly Meltemi wind and related waves that whistled past only 50 metres from our location at anchor – which remained a calm haven.

View of Island Drifter in Emborios anchorage 

from hillside above

The old fishing village of Emborios has become a smart summer holiday resort that is particularly well known in Greece because of its adjacent beach of Mavro Volia.   The beach is comprised of three bays each with smooth black volcanic pebbles that retain the heat of the sun.   The water is absolutely crystal clear.

One of Mavro Volia’s black pebble beaches; 

Helen having just had a swim  

One of the characteristics of N. Chios’s buildings is the decorative plaster rendering, inscribed with geometric designs on outer walls.

Traditional Chios patterned rendering

The day after we arrived, several groups of local farmers were washing, in the crystal-clear seawater, and then sorting by quality and weight, their mastic crop on the quay – an ultra labour-intensive process that begins in July and continues by hand during the winter months.  Today the island of Chios is the only producer of mastic in commercial quantities.  The small resin pearls form in incisions made in the bushes’ bark before hardening and dropping to the ground. Mastic is used for digestive problems, dental hygiene and in cosmetics and certain sweets.

Helen being instructed on mastic sorting

N. IKARIA

 

We had another good downwind sail for our 35-mile passage south to N. Ikaria where we berthed in Evdhilos port on the west coast of the island.  There we tucked in behind the new concrete dock on the inner basin. 

View of inner and outer harbours of Evdhilos

The mythological origin of the island’s name, Ikaria, is said to derive from the legend of Daedalus and Icarus who escaped from the Minotaur in Crete by fabricating wings from feathers and wax.  Icarus flew too high, the sun melted the wax and he plunged into the sea near N. Ikaria. An alternative, more cynical theory is that his feathers were blown off by the Meltemi wind which can be particularly fierce around N. Ikaria and that he got nowhere near the sun – if he even took off at all.

Icarus plunging to his death in the sea near Ikaria

N. Ikaria, together with N. Lesvos and the Ionian islands, has traditionally been one of Greece’s left-wing strongholds.  This dates back to the late 1940s when political dissidents exiled on the island outnumbered the native inhabitants.  Mikos Theodorakis, the composer of the music for the film Zorba the Greek, was one of them.

Anthony Quinn dancing with Alan Bates in Zorba the Greek

The island’s uniqueness, however, lies in the fact that people there live longer than the population of any other island or the mainland. In fact, they live on average ten years longer than people in any European country or American state. Indeed, one in three Ikarians lives to be over 90.  This fact has created a small tourist industry in its own right.  ‘Blue Zone’ tourists, looking for the secret of eternal life, come to N. Ikaria to study longevity.   We took the opportunity while there on the ground to read a summary of Dan Buettner’s book The Blue Zone in which he analyses the five principal Blue Zone areas in the world looking for a common denominator.  Mike latched on to one of his conclusions – that red wine is good for you!   

Dan Buettner’s book The Blue Zone on how to live longer

While in the town, we had lunch at Taverna Koralli – a great location on the quayside well known for its oven-baked goat kid. It was the best we’ve ever had, as was what we think was the local 16%-proof red wine.

Oven-baked kid we enjoyed in Taverna Koralli washed down with 16% local wine

N. SAMOS

Given the strong southerly winds that were forecast we decided to sail east on a broad reach from N. Ikaria and to explore the south coast of N. Samos with its two enormous sandy bays, before moving on to N. Fourni.

Route taken from N. Ikaria to N. Fourni

While N. Lesvos is justifiably described as the ‘jewel’ of the Eastern Sporades, N. Samos, with its steep mountains, peaks, ridges and deep gulleys, is undoubtedly an attractive rough diamond.

The narrow straits between the eastern end of N. Samos and mainland Turkey are, at their narrowest, only one mile across. This makes N. Samos the closest Greek island to the Turkish mainland. The central mountain spine that runs east–west the length of the island is geologically an extension of Mt Mykale in Turkey.  

Sunrise over Turkey illuminating Mt Mykale

Vathi

We decided to give Vathi, the island’s ferry port and capital, a miss since we couldn’t come up with any good reason for going there and, besides, shelter for yachts is described as uncomfortable at best.  

Pithagorio

The town of Pithagorio, where we anchor-moored in the inner harbour, is located at the southeast corner of the island close to the Samos Straits referred to above. The town’s very large quayside is totally lined with tavernas and cafes. Our idea of hell – in the summer!  No problem at this time of year, since most were closed.

Inner harbour and bay of Pithagorio

The town has been built over the ancient city of Samos and is named after the mathematician Pythagoras, he of triangular fame, who was born there.  

Statue of Pythagoras

The village core of marble-cobbled lanes with stone-walled mansions and traditional red roofs surrounds the harbour which fits perfectly into the confines of Polykrates’ jetty, most of which has been encapsulated in the town’s breakwater.

Marble-cobbled street in Pithagorio

The town/island of Samos rose to the height of its prosperity under Polykrates in the sixth century BC.   Under his patronage, three of the greatest engineering feats of Ancient Greece were achieved before he was captured and crucified by the Persians.  Little remains to be seen of the harbour jetty referred to above or the Temple of Hera, which in its day was the grandest of its kind.

Polykrates’ third engineering feat was the 1036-metre-long Eupalian Tunnel (named after its designer), which was part of the ancient city’s water supply guaranteeing a siege-proof source. The tunnel was built by slave labour over a period of ten years. Two entrances were begun on opposite sides of the mountain.  When the tunnels joined up in the middle they were less than one metre out of line. 

Eupalian Tunnel

Our guided tour proved very illuminating, particularly since the third member of our party, Emily Varta, is a professor of ancient history in Nova Scotia, currently on a research sabbatical based in Athens.

Today the town of Pithagorio is the busiest tourist resort on an island that thrives on tourism. It is set in magnificent surroundings:  high wooded mountains behind; in a large bay with a long sandy beach, and with a great view of Mt Mykale in Turkey.

  

Close to the town is the 280-berth Samos Marina that appears to have developed into quite a reasonable charter yacht base and by the looks of it also a popular place to leave a boat.  Not surprising, since the island itself has good ferry and air connections, a range of good anchorages and ports and is situated within relatively easy reach of many of the northern Dodecanese and southern Sporades islands.  

Samos Marina with Turkey in the background

Marathokambos

The active little fishing-come-holiday resort of Marathokambos is at the southwest end of the island in its western bay. The surroundings are spectacular with precipitous cliffs and hills rising from the shore to a height of 1473 metres.  

Marathokambos with Mt Kertetevs in the background

We found a very nice berth on the inside of the inner mole of the harbour which, to our surprise, was free of charge.

ID on inside of inner jetty at Marathokambos

While we hadn’t planned to do so, we were so impressed by the local taverna, which was still open, that we stopped for lunch.

Enjoying pork souvlaki and ‘little fish’ at Taverna Lekatis

Fourni Archipelago

The smaller island of N. Fourni is, in fact, quite steep and, at 1616m, it can be seen from over 20 miles away. There are a dozen or so anchorages in the archipelago that can be enjoyed, depending on wind strength and direction.  Most have good holding, unlike at Fourni town’s port where the seabed is simply rock covered with a very thin layer of mud and the holding is poor.  

Fourni town and harbour from hillside to the south

We therefore didn’t anchor-moor but instead found a vacant alongside berth on the quay and generally made it plain that we were not in a hurry to move.

ID on ‘our’ quay seen from the balcony of the Coast Guards’ office

N. Fourni’s population is concentrated in the area of the port.  Unlike so many small Greek islands, Fourni has a stable annual population of around 1600 as it is home to a large fishing fleet and has a thriving boatyard (for fishing boats).

Fourni’s boatyard with town in background

         NORTHERN DODECANESE ARCHIPELAGO

When we left Island Drifter in Agmar Marine boatyard in Partheni, N. Leros, in mid July, we hadn’t had time to explore the Northern Dodecanese archipelago comprised of the five islands to the north of N. Leros.   We took this opportunity to do so.  

Route from N. Fourni back to Partheni in N. Leros, 
showing in particular the five islands of the 
Northern Dodecanese archipelago

N. Pátmos

We’d visited N. Pátmos, the most westerly island in the archipelago, at the end of our September cruise with Marjorie Mullins (see Blog 5) before we’d headed north to N. Limnos to commence our cruise of the Eastern Sporades (Blog 6).

N. Pátmos, to the west of the archipelago, differs from the other islands in that it is a major tourist destination whereas the others are certainly not. N. Pátmos’s principal attraction is the Monastery of St John the Theologian and the winding alleys of its surrounding chora.

Monastery and Chora of N. Pátmos 
seen as we returned south to Leros

N. Farmakonisi

There is a significant military presence on N. Farmakonisi, which lies 5 miles off the Turkish coast and is the most easterly island in the archipelago.  Currently yachts are not allowed to go or stop there.  

The island’s principal claim to fame is that pirates from there captured Julius Caesar and held him to ransom for 38 days. Caesar is said to have remained in good spirits, kept fit and even jested with his captors. Once he’d been released after the ransom was paid, he returned to the island with his legionnaires, captured the pirates and crucified the lot of them.  

N. Agathonisi

The steep-sided, waterless island of Agathonisi is closer to Turkey than to either N. Pátmos or N. Samos, where the majority of day-trippers come from.  It is too remote to be a ‘popular’ day-trip target. 

Intrepid Greeks and Italians form the main tourist clientele, together with yachts attracted by the island’s three excellent anchorages and environment. 

Local inhabitants, who have existed for many years on stock raising, fish farming and agriculture, are now therefore receiving incremental income from the few tourists who do visit. We’ve yet to do so. Next time maybe?

N. Arki

Gerd (he without a mast) emailed us to advise that he was moored in Port Augusta in N. Arki and that it was in his opinion an excellent location, the best he’d been in to date.

Port Augusta from the hillside

When we arrived Gerd was still there, together with Rolf and Christa on Albir 4 and Bernard whom we’d previously met in Pithagorio. As it happened it was Rolf’s birthday and we therefore assembled that evening on Bernard’s catamaran Mandala to celebrate the occasion.

N. Arki and its surrounding islets (including N. Marathos) are sparsely populated:  N. Arki has 48 inhabitants and N. Marathos off its southwest corner another six.    Port Augusta is a grand name for a tiny hamlet! It does, however, have four tavernas, which at the time we thought must be a record for the ratio of tavernas to inhabitants!  

Port Augusta’s ‘town square’ with two of its four tavernas

On our way south from Port Augusta we visited N. Marathos, which has a well-protected anchorage with three tavernas and six inhabitants – that really must be a ratio record!

Unfortunately (in season) both Port Augusta and N. Marathos are so popular with charter yachts, day-trippers from N. Pátmos together with superyachts that in the view of Rod Heikell in his pilot book, ‘the natural charming ambience of the anchorages is completely ruined’.  Out of season, however, they are beautifully tranquil locations to visit.

The relative unimportance of the island and its twelve islets has meant that man-made influence has been kept to a minimum. This prompted the environmental organisation ‘Archipelago’ and local government to establish N. Arki as a nature reserve.  There are few such reserves in Greece although the government is trying to set up a Northern Dodecanese Reserve, encompassing most of the smaller islands, islets and rocks in the northern archipelago.

N. Lipso

The last island on our 2017 cruise, before we got back to N. Leros, was N. Lipso.  

Sunset over the entrance to Lipsi harbour

The island’s only significant population centre, known as ‘Lipsi village’ stretches around the large harbour of Lipsi, where we stayed. N. Lipso used to be administered by the monastery at Pátmos, hence the proliferation of blue-domed chapels throughout the island.

Small chapel by the port

Since southerly winds were expected, we berthed behind the breakwater in Lipsi harbour. The church of St John the Theologian dominates the harbour and overlooks the village.  

Church of St John the Theologian 
overlooking harbour of Lipsi

In common with some other islands in Greece, N. Lipso has acquired a following of ‘those in the know’.   In the summer, while not overwhelmed, it is supposed to have a surprising number of tourists who come back each year to stay in village rooms. Probably as a consequence, the village is slightly more sophisticated than one might have expected. 

Close by is a church containing a priceless icon showing the Virgin Mary cradling the crucified Christ, the only known depiction of this. Unfortunately the church was closed and when we needed one we couldn’t find a monk to open it for us. Normally they are everywhere!  The icon is carried through the town every year in August.

Procession of the icon of the Virgin along the quay at Lipsi

We were very impressed by the business acumen of Manoli Cheras who came down to the harbour on his scooter with his young son to ‘invite’ us to eat at his taverna ‘Manoli’s Tastes’.  The meal of the day, slow-cooked pork shank in mustard sauce, was delicious.  

N. LEROS
 

Lakki

We initially berthed in Lakki Marina in the large bay on the west coast of N. Leros for five days, during which time we decommissioned Island Drifter ready for lift-out at Agmar Marine’s boatyard in Partheni. It was a lot more comfortable and convenient than mooring on a buoy outside the boatyard as we did in July.   What’s more, it’s ‘free’ as part of our contract with the boatyard.

Drying sails and lines which we’d washed in fresh water in Lakki marina as part of the decommissioning process

Partheni

We motored the 8 miles north to Partheni.   Part of the boatyard’s lifting bay was being used by local fishermen to mend their nets and clean out their boats – they moved off promptly as the travel lift approached!

  

Local fishermen mending their nets on 
the lift-out quay at Partheni

We are now on the hard in Agmar Marine’s boatyard in Partheni, finalising those jobs that can only be done when the boat is out of the water – such as repairs to the prop and keel caused when we’d had a slight ‘argument’ with rocks when our anchor dragged in Pátmos.

Leros airstrip is adjacent to the boatyard so we have only 400 metres to walk for our flight in a 30-seater turbo prop plane to Athens. There we change planes for the flight to Heathrow. We leave Leros at 1040 local time and arrive in the UK mid-afternoon. This is a very convenient arrangement that is no more expensive than going to Athens by overnight ferry.