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Sailing the Dodecanese Islands

Saturday, September 20, 2003
We woke up the next morning, gazing at our beautiful ceiling and savoring memories of the day before. We had invited all of our family and friends to join us for breakfast in the hotel atrium before everyone left Siena for home or other parts of Italy, and our hotel did not disappoint, providing an elaborate spread and a beautiful setting for farewells. As for ourselves, we had one more day to take in Siena before our flight to the Greek Islands for a sailing adventure and basking in the sun!

September 21, 2003
We bid a fond farewell to Siena and Tuscany, and along with our friends Fredrik and Jennifer headed off to Rome to catch a plane for the start of our honeymoon sailing the Greek Islands!

The flight was smooth and relatively uneventful. The only odd part was on a stopover in Athens on our way to Rhodes where we were to pick up the boat. When we landed in Athens we all had to get off the plane (which was continuing to Rhodes with us), take a bus to the terminal, go through security, through the gate, only to get back on the same bus and onto the same plane again minutes later! Perhaps it was some odd security measure, or just tryouts for next summer's Olympics, but we thought it was pointless exercise.

We arrived in Rhodes, located in the Dodecanese chain of Greek Islands near the Turkish coast, where we found our 32" sailing boat, the SY Nissas Antigone. The boat was cozy and suited our needs perfectly. Our skipper Giannis, a big, burly, bearded Greek with a good sense of humor, proved to be a fine and spirited addition to our little group. Because we planned an ambitious distance for a 7-night trip, we decided to forgo exploring Rhodes and made preparations to get underway that same evening.

We had a general idea how and where we wanted to sail, but no definitive itinerary. Our ultimate destination was Paros in the Cyclades island chain, where we planned to leave the boat and take a ferry on to Athens. Otherwise, we gave Giannis a feel for our preferences on sailing time versus lingering and exploring a few islands more deeply, and then made day-by-day decisions about sailing plans.

We did try to strike a balance between sailing and exploring (although Kim and Jennifer definitely got more hard sailing than they bargained for!). Fredrik, an experienced and avid sailor, and Shar, an enthusiastic novice, had a greater appreciation of some of the more invigorating crossings we experienced.

The first evening out of Rhodes was calm and beautiful. Because of the light wind, we motored most of our way to Symi, our first island destination.

Symi was a pretty, colorful, Disney-perfect kind of island village that has long been, and continues to be, a vacation haven for the well-to-do. Many of the villas lining the hillsides were old Greek, Roman and Venetian palazzos restored as summer retreats. Because of long-time Italian and Turkish influences, the traditional sugar cube blue and white architecture one normally expects in the Greek Islands is absent from Symi.

We disembarked from the boat and sought out a restaurant for our first taste of Greek food we had in awhile. A good number of locals, both human and feline, frequented our restaurant – a reliable quality indicator! Jennifer was particularly happy, already missing her own cat Oliver. Dinner included helpings of tzatziki, the yogurt and cucumber dish Fredrik and Shar love - something we indulged in a lot throughout the trip!

September 22, 2003
After a leisurely start, the only serious mishap of our sailing excursion occurred. While preparing breakfast, Jennifer burned her hand pouring out boiling water for tea. While she put on a brave face, the pain didn't subside for most of the next day and a half, despite keeping her hand on ice.

That afternoon, after tending to our emergency, we sailed to around Symi and stopped in a stunning crystal blue cove, where we got our first of many opportunities swim in the warm Mediterranean waters. Jennifer even managed to join us, swimming with her hand in a floating bowl of ice! After our swim Giannis surprised us with a lunch of bread, cheese, olives, tuna, and what was to become our drink of choice – a bottle of Ouzo, the licorice flavored liqueur we would down with gusto all week. After lunch, we set sail for Pali, a small marina on the island of Nisyros, where we stayed the night.

September 23, 2003
We got up early to explore the interior of Nisyros, in particular the volcano and the small towns that dot the rim of the crater. The volcanic crater, while currently inactive, regularly lets off steam and sulfuric gas. The cab ride up to the crater was itself one of the scarier moments in our trip, with a rather large local island woman (?at least we think she was a woman) driving an old beater car held together with dental floss and the brakes that could give out on the narrow windy roads at any moment. The crater itself was eerily deserted and beautifully desolate. After our morning excursion and breakfast, we sailed on to Astypalaia, the last island we would visit in the Dodecanese.

The sail to Astypalaia was the probably one of the most memorable we had during that week. While it was directly upwind and hence slow going, it wasn't too intense and we were under full sail for the first time. During this leg we encountered a dolphin -– a lone playful bottlenose diving through waves and under our bow, following (or leading?) us for quite a while!

While Giannis and Fredrik did the lions share of the sailing, Jennifer, Shar, and Kim all pitched in and (quite literally) learned the ropes. Fredrik gave impromptu knot-tying lessons, and we learned most of the sailing terms and techniques for hoisting and trimming the sails. It certainly has whetted Shar's appetite for more time on the open seas!

After the crossing we anchored in a cove at Astypalaia for another swim and lunch, and then continued around the island to the town of Maltezanas, where we docked for the evening. We hiked up through the whitewashed town and alleyways up to the ruins of an old castle and some spectacular views of the island and sea, befriending another kitten along the way. Afterwards, we decided to take a break from our nightly dining in Greek restaurants. Instead, Jennifer and Fredrick whipped up a taste of Italy, preparing a wonderful Tuscan dinner with ingredients hand-carried from Siena… handmade pasta, truffle oil, porcini mushrooms -- scrumptious! Of course they knew dinner would not be complete without a couple of bottles of (drumroll please) -- Brunello!

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