RHODES
After leaving Kos we headed to the volcanic island of Nisyros, which of course is famous for its semi active volcano. The sunken main caldren floor, which is 3km across, consists of a moonscape of smaller craters and blow holes. Jets of steam puff out of these smaller holes, giving off a sulphurous stench and leaving a yellow caked powder around the rim. After exploring the crater floor it was off for lunch to an old village in the centre of the island that is mostly abandoned, but is slowly being bought up and restored by Athenians and foreigners.
From Nisyros we sailed to Symi hoping to find some shelter from the meltemi that was due to blow that night. During our 25 mile trip, which took about 3.5 hours, we must have experienced nearly every direction of wind. One minute you have 30 knots of wind from the west and the next it’s dropped down to 5 from the south. Due to all the islands around the area you get lots of local effects and you never quite know what it will do next. It makes for very difficult sail settings.
On arrival at the island we anchored in a small bay on the east side, although it was reasonably protected we decided to put a second anchor out; a good idea until it came to getting it back in the morning. I ended up putting the diving gear on to break it out of the seabed before pulling it into the dingy. It certainly made for active start to the day.
We have now arrived in Rhodes, anchored just beneath the medieval castle at Limos, where we are meeting Cythnia, who is flying in from England. This will probably be our last Greek island for some time, as once we have explored the delights of Rhodes we are heading for Turkey.
