Greek Isles: In Between

Did you know that most of the Mediterranean is so severely over fished that National Geographic recently called it a "Dead Sea?"

The last passage we made on my week-long GAdventures sailing tour of Greece was from Koufonissia to Santorini. The day was lovely, mid-eighties and sunny. We saw the first breeze of the entire week and did a bit of proper sailing for a good hour or so before we had to switch again to motoring.

But for an hour we were under sail, no sound but the wind and the snap of the sheets and the lapping of the waves against the hull. I spent that hour in my favorite spot on the boat, portside forward, legs dangling over the side.

"Dolphins!" Came a surprised cry from our skipper. A small pod had joined us, frolicking happily in our bow wave. They stayed with us for nearly ten minutes, jumping in and out of the way of the ship, playing with us. The ancient Greeks deemed this a good omen for a journey. It's easy to see why, the beautiful, sleek animals exude a happy vibe. Luck was with us.

Because the Med is so very  over fished, the fish that are found there are generally very small and few between. The very few areas of the Med that are healthy are protected marine reserves. Because there isn't much food to be found for large marine mammals, seeing Dolphins at sea is a very rare occurrence among the Greek isles. And I'm told there aren't sharks in the area at all. Sad. Well, not the lack of sharks, because I'm sure that if there were sharks on this trip that I would have been attacked, with my luck. But sad that the sea has been so grossly abused.

Greek Isles: Koufonissia

It's never good when you can see the end to something you don't want to end. Arriving at Koufonissia was bittersweet.

The bitter: it would be the last stop on my week-long journey island hopping in Greece before arriving in the final destination (Santorini). The sweet: Koufonissia is a REALLY great island.

It's got this great, tiny island vibe, it's very intimate, fun to trek around, and has the most beautiful beach (Sorry, no pics, I was too busy swimming) I've seen yet in the Greek isles (white sand beach, not a rock beach!) and also really cool sea caves on the far side of the island.

If you're lucky enough to venture over to Koufonissia (reachable by ferry), stay at a locally run pension or B&B, sit along the waterfront and watch the boats come and go, and eat dinner at Capetan Nicolas'. Fabulous restaurant! You pick out your fish and they cook it up any way you want. Then pick out your sides from a buffet and they bring it all to you. Delish!!

I'll be visiting Koufonissia again.

Greek Isles: Amorogos Anchorage & A Universal Remedy

After a full day and night of fun on Amorogos, my little boat and crew were ready for a change, but not quite ready to leave Amorogos. So we decided to sail around to a cove we'd seen during our explorations the previous day and anchor for the night.

Best.Decision.Ever. (Despite what would happen next... wait for it!)

Amorogos' port area is by no means industrial, large, noisy or buzzing. It's quite charming. But for the solitary lot, the type of people who thrive on quiet and peace, which my group very much was, a night at anchor bests any night in a port.

So we moved. Quick and simple, we dropped anchor into the seaweed-bottomed cove and jumped in for a swim. School children played near the shore and the crews of two other boats frolicked about near their own vessels.

A cute, Greek church sat happily atop a hill in the distance and we lay in the sea as the sunset appeared over the church, painting the sky in vibrant oranges and reds.

Get out of the water. Sunset is not the time to be in the bay.
It was a niggling little feeling I had pressing at the back of my mind.
But my friend Kerry was telling one of the most hilarious first-date stories I'd ever heard, so instead of speeding back to the boat, we kicked and lazed our way gently back toward the boat, enjoying the hilarity of the tale.

Get out of the water. There it was again. I sped us up a bit and just as Kerry reached the top step on the aft end of the boat, ZAP!

OUCH.

I quickly pulled myself over to the stairs and out of the water.

"Something stung me." I announced. But the pain wasn't terrible, just annoying... So none of us thought much of it.

I hopped into a hot shower (we'd been running the engine for showers that evening) and when I stepped out, the annoying sting had developed into a persistent burning sensation behind my knee.

"OHMYGOSHLOOKATYOURLEG!" Exclaimed another boatmate, which brought our skipper, Robin over straightaway.

"Are you dizzy? Can you breathe?" He pulled out his iphone and began typing madly, searching first for nearby hospitals and then, when I assured him I was fine and could breathe perfectly well, but my leg was now on fire, for jellyfish sting remedies.

And what was the verdict? What was the magical remedy to cure my sting?

(It did not involve bodily fluids. One website said this: "Contrary to pop culture propigated by the TV show, Friends, Urinating on a Jellyfish sting is not helpful.")

Vineagar.

Vineagar neutralizes the venom in the pods from the jelly stings. The best remedy is to keep applying vinegar, swim in salt water and stay out of fresh water, as fresh water re-activates the venom pods.

Viola. Venom pods.

Which is why my hot shower made the stings BURN like the dickens.

Vinegar. The same vinegar you put on salads, the same vinegar that I discovered days before would repel mosquitoes and take away the itch after a bite.  Who knew vinegar was so gosh-darned useful? Definitely a boat staple.

So I applied the vinegar. Over and over and over. For days. I bought my own bottle in Santorini and smelled like a distillery for weeks. But it worked.

So, that makes the tally of Christy's crazy serious-yet-okay injuries on this trip TWO,
1. Epic thumb dislocation.
2. Jellyfish sting.

I might be a little bit accident prone.

Greek Isles: Levita

Exploring Greece by sailboat certainly had it's advantages. Being able to stop at the tiny island of Levita was one of those advantages. Too small to attract a ferry, WAY too small for anything so ostentatious as a cruise ship terminal. With practically no natural resources, except perhaps an abundance of open land to raise goats, Levita is one of those places that truly feels forgotten in time and history.

Levita:

Population: 1,000 goats, 20 sheep, 3 donkies and 5 humans.

Buildings: Three

Electricity: Generator

Dock: Anchorage

Happy, happy, happy, happy Christy.


One family lives on the island. They raise goats and sheep, which live free-range over the sparsely vegetated, rocky terrain. They run a small restaurant, which you are (unofficially) expected to eat at in exchange for using an anchorage in the perfect little harbor.

An afternoon hike. A great meal. Sleeping on deck under a bright, starry span that went on forever. An early swim in the perfectly clear Mediterranean sea. Levita is on my list of best places visited. Ever.

No wind in most of the Dodecanese at this time, so we motored from Kos to Kalymnos to Levita.

A brutal (no trail, uneven, crumbly, rocky terrain, juniper and other thorny, ouchy brush) three-hour hike from harbor to farthest point to see the ruins of an old Roman lighthouse and a shipwreck. Fail and fail. Neither were visible. But the hike was great exercize.

 Sunset shot of one of the three buildings on the island, the restaurant. The menu included your choice of Goat Kebab, Goat ribs or Goat Meatballs. All served with fries and veggies. I'll have the goat. (It was actually quite tasty.)

All tucked in for the evening.

 Sunset over the dinghy - our mode of transport to the mainland.

Waking to crystal clear waters , 19 feet deep, and diving in: Sheer, uninhibited bliss.

When visiting Levita:

DON'T

-Wear flipflops while hiking, or you'll break your shoes (like the girl who was hiking with me) and probably your ankle.  

-Bother looking for a beach. Not here.

-Be intimidated by the crazy friendly donkey. Emphasis on CRAZY. 

-Forget to close the gates behind you. The animals will get out.

DO

-Bring enough water and snacks for the hike across the island. It'll take 3-4 hours. I misjudged the distance, estimating 1.5-2 hours and didn't take enough resources.

-Slather on the sunblock.

-Sleep under the stars on the deck of your boat. Amazing.

-Go for a morning swim in crystal-clear waters while listening to holiday music. (Madonna's Holiday and La Isla Bonita will set the scene most appropriately).

-Try the goat!

Greek Isles: Kalymnos

Though I could have spent the entire week just at sea on the 50-foot sailboat Ekavi, island hopping in Greece, by nature, means that you have to stop sailing at some port and actually visit various islands. Que sera.

The first overnight stop that our skipper picked after leaving Kos was at the island of Kalymnos.

Kalymnos is a small island in the Dodecanese chain of Greek islands with a very small population. Much of the island is desolate. Historically Kalymnos is known for it's sponges. Divers since ancient times have harvested the waters around the island for sponges - and not the green Cello brand you pick up in the store. Natural sponges come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. They're fantastic for bathing, but also highly favored by artists and clay workers. They're brownish in color and super soft and they were for sale EVERYWHERE in the port area.

Image from: http://www.spongeskalymnos.gr/

Sponge and souvenir sellers lined the port area, which was a quaint, quiet, adorably Greek place. Kalymnos is an unassuming port, very restful. All along the waterfront were cute restaurants and shops.

When we went for lunch, a camera crew showed up, accompanied by some teeny-bopper looking girl and two wanna-be ghetto-fabulous rapper-type guys. The camera guys set up, an assistant turned on a boom-box and the girl started singing along to some Greek Pop song. They were totally shooting a music video. It.Was.Hilarious. We couldn't stop giggling about it... it was just so ridiculous!

The singer chick in the center (obviously) - the guy on her right was some kind of Greek Eminem wannabe. The guy on her left - no clue why he was there. He didn't do much.


My boat mates and I chose to pass the afternoon by hiking up a massive hill to an Orthodox Greek Monastery. We walked up, up, up - through the vertiginous town. We passed families in the courtyards just outside of their front doors, sitting together, laughing and eating. We smiled and waved and they returned suit. I don't think I've ever seen people that smiled so wholeheartedly as they did, with their mouths, eyes and souls.

Sailing Greece: La Isla Bonita

Something magical happened after we slipped our lines and motored out of the Kos harbor...

(No, not THIS something magical)

Nothing.

No phones rang. There was nowhere to go but where the boat was headed. It was just four people, a 50ft sailboat, the sea and the horizon.

Time and nautical miles slipped by and and eventually, between the moments spent nursing my dislocated thumb (yup, I dislocated it five minutes into the sailing trip... story here) and the moments spent wondering what on earth had possibly taken me SO long to get back onto a boat, the world opened up around me and land slipped further and further away. Soon enough, there was nothing around us at all but wind and the Mediterranean-blue sea and it.was.amazing.

After a couple of hours we made our first stop, anchoring off the coast of the first tiny island we came to! I have no clue which island it was. And honestly, it didn't matter. Jumping off the aft end into the sparkling, clear water for the first time was sheer bliss. I mean, hello, dream come true: being able to dive into the Med from the back of your own (for the week) boat and swim over to a deserted cove to catch some sun on an empty beach. Idyllic.

In we go!

We'd been there maybe thirty minutes when this guy showed up. I guess there was plenty of room to share our little piece of heaven...

Later on, boat #3 joined in the party, too. This was to be the pattern of the entire week. These same two boats, and a couple of others formed a makeshift flotilla, island hopping to most of the same places we did. By the end of the week we were sharing meals in the harbors. Good times.

To do on Kos: Leave

There are a few ways to leave Kos. Airplanes and ferries are the most readily available means of transportation.

If you can swing it, I highly recommend leaving Kos the way I did: By sailboat.

The entire reason I picked Kos as a destination to begin with was that it was the joining place for the sailing tour I'd booked. Now, you can charter your own sailboat most anyplace in the Med and sail yourself around if you're an experienced sailor. If you aren't and still want to sail, you can either hire a boat with a skipper, or do what I did - join a G Adventures tour. (G Adventures in no way sponsored this post or this blog, wouldn't it be nice if they had?)

I have to say, sailing around the Greek Isles on a sailboat is THE way to see Greece. Think about it - Greece is a land of seafaring people, so what better way to see those ancient islands than from the sea?

G Adventures did NOT disappoint. I'm actually thinking of going on their sailing tours in the Maldives and in Indonesia... eventually, because seriously, this sailing tour was THE BEST thing I've ever done while traveling. EVER.


But more on that later.

Back to leaving Kos. The afternoon before leaving I met the skipper of my boat, Robin, and my two boat mates, Kerry and Melanie. We had dinner together, snagged some groceries for the boat and then spent one last night on the island.

This time I didn't sleep in an air conditioned room in a lush bed in a room overlooking the sea. This time, I slept in a teeny-tiny v-berth on a 50ft sailboat meant for two people (I had it all to myself because my charter, meant for ten people, only ended up with four- including skipper). No air conditioning, so it was BAKING hot. No screens on the hatches, so the swarms of mozzies on the island of Kos all feasted on me all night long. No hot water in the standing head (bathroom/shower) because the engine hadn't been run that evening.

And it was no big deal.

All night long, between mosquito bites, I lay in my v-berth, happy as a clam, being rocked to sleep by the sea.

And I felt as though, at long last, I'd come home.

Tour the boat with me, in pictures:

 One of the two bunk rooms...  (NOT where I slept... thankfully!)

 The parlor

 My own, private head. Yup. This little cupboard of convenience is both a toilet and shower... 

 My V-berth. Cozy!

 Melanie and Kerrie, settling in.

 Skipper Robin Kersten (Fantastic Skipper. He runs his own charter company out of the Azores called Similie Sailing. Look him up!)

Ekavi - my home away from home while sailing the Greek Isles

Day Trip to the Black Sea!

Involving: 1 Ferry Boat. 1 Christy. 1 Bosphorus. 1 Sea of Marmara. 1 Black Sea. 1 Yogurt treat. & Loads of fun.

 Walking toward the ferry terminal in Eminonou. Eminonou was probably my favorite Turkish word to say. Eh-Mee-No-New. Isnt' it fun?

My ride for the afternoon.

Packed ferry full of people just out to enjoy the day.

On the tip of the Bosphorus. Aya Sofia nearest to the boats. Blue Mosque behind to the left.

The vendor food being peddled on the ferry all afternoon included: Pretzels, Ice Cream, Candy and these cups of plain yogurt + a sugar packet. Pretty tasty actually.

Dolmabahce Palace. It was finished in 1856. It replaced Topkapi Palace as the royal residence.

 

A couple of sisters out for a day excursion. They were lovely! They really reminded me of me and my sister. Smelly, let's always do fun things together, okay?

Sea of Marmara leading to the Black Sea

Ewwwww. My least favorite type of toilet ever. Squatter.

Very cool old graveyard I found while hiking around in the hills. The tombstones are engraved in the old Turkish language.