Hello Kalymnos !
Thursday 12th May...
Linda - Well, well, well. We left Astypalea this morning with a reef in the mainsail, just in case it was still rough on the headland. It was blowing 12 knots in the anchorage, so we weren't exactly sure what to expect out there. It looked pretty flat calm from what we could make out on the horizon. We agreed to pass the headland a good way off. The sea was much calmer than two days ago, although still up a fair amount, and for a few miles out.
Dean set the sails, and we were sailing close hauled (for us that's 60 degrees off the wind) all the way to Kalymnos. It was amazing that he could get us to Plan A anchorage today. We only had one sailboat to negotiate on the journey, no big cargo ships in our way.
The trip took approximately 6 hours and the wind stayed between 11 - 15 knots all the way. Yippee, the weather forecast was correct.
First sign of land, an island 4 miles off Kalymnos
The destination was a small anchorage on the south side of Kalymnos. On arrival there were two boats already anchored, so we squeezed the mighty Thesee in between them both. It was calm and well sheltered, but we stayed on the boat for a few hours to monitor the situation. Later, when one of the boats left, we re-set the anchor and dug it in well. Now just us and another Brit boat here.
Feeling comfortable, we went ashore at 6pm for a walk, and ended up having dinner in a lovely restaurant with a very chatty and pleasant owner. He also owns the Sea Museum next door and we are going to meet him at 9am tomorrow for a museum visit.
Thesee, just off the main street
Our lovely little bay at Vlychadia, Kalymnos
The Sea Museum
Beautiful flowers
Thesee in the calm water of the bay
You never know what you will find
Thesee view from our dining table in the nice restaurant
Not so lonely as he looks
Decor in the restaurant
OMG, the house puppy (2 months old)
Friday 13th May...
Linda - What a truly wonderful bay this is here at Vlychadia. I guess everywhere is nice if the weather is kind, but this place really is a little gem. Today we visited the local Sea Museum, aka Valsamidis Museum. The following info taken from the internet.....
It is a private museum, a life's work of Valsamidis brothers, who were born and live in Kalymnos, with exhibits related to sponge fishing, a big variety of sea plants and sea animals and a collection of trade amphorae and other finds from ancient shipwrecks.
It is one of the richest private collections in Greece and they needed over forty (40) years to collect these findings. Various kinds of sponges, corals, shells, fish, strange sea creatures, sponge diving equipment, World War II findings, pictures, documents, coins, ancient amphora and even an ancient wreck, are included in their collection .
Part of the museum is dedicated to the profession of sponge-fishing and includes all the tools and protective suits used by divers, from 1872 until today. In a wing are exhibited findings of the First and Second World War such as torpedoes, pieces of airplanes etc. In a specially designed area the visitor has the opportunity to see amphorae of the 6th, 4th, 3rd and 2nd c BC. There is also a collection of about 2,000 photographs related to the history and tradition of sponge-fishing.
Sign at the entrance
It gives the feeling you are beneath the sea
Lots of pots and cooking equipment
Massive shells and sponges
Aircraft parts
Gramophone
Weird sea creatures
There are over 17000 objects retrieved from the sea, a lifetime's work for the brothers (one of which was the father of the restaurant owner from last night).
From there, we had coffee and pancakes in his restaurant. He didn't charge us for museum entrance but asked us to purchase something from the museum. Hence, I got a new bracelet.
More unusual flowers
On the beach before departing
Around lunchtime we raised the anchor and moved about 3 miles just around the corner into the main town, reversing on to the town quay. It's a big change for us as the last two weeks we've been living in quiet places. It's very nice with pretty tavernas on our doorstep and lots of shops too. Plus we went to get our transit log stamped at the Port Police. We're really getting the hang of this now.
Statues everywhere along the seafront
Big tourist boats and pirate ships
Huge Greek flag painted up on the hillside
Poseidon
Church next to the Port Police
Looking across the harbour
Our back garden tonight
Saturday 14th May...
Linda - Not a lot to talk about for today's blog. We had a little walk about the port. It's a big place with lots of boats. We stopped for coffee at a nice little place, but they didn't have chocolate croissants 😞. Dean booked us a scooter for tomorrow so that we can have a look around the island. We did some more shopping and then a relaxing afternoon, followed by dinner at the restaurant which is only about 50 steps away from the boat. Our German neighbour came in the restaurant just after us, we invited him to join us. I think we all had a good time, telling our tales of sailing adventures.
Walking around the port, weather really warming up now
Church with nice shiny domes
Looking down across the port to the entrance
Sunday 15th May...
Linda - Thesee crew on tour! Yes, Dean finally succeeded in getting me on the back of a scooter, and we went on a tour of Nisos Kalymnos! I think I'm very brave. Saying that, I have total confidence in my driver. In fact, I really enjoyed myself 😀.
We went on a clockwise route, first across to the west coast where, just lying off Kalymnos is the very high and rocky island of Telendos. The views were spectacular, especially as we made our way northwards along the coast road to Emporios. This is the farthest north you can get. Kalymnos is well know for rock climbing especially on the west and north coasts.
Looking across to Telendos
...and northwards
Proof I did it
Boats on the buoy field at Emporios
We stopped for coffee break on the beach.
It's a nice little resort.
Trying to choose where to take elevenses
Quite remote apart from the restaurants
Still at Emporios
The tables have names, ours was 'Enjoy
From there we rode over the mountain ridge and down a long and windy switchback to a small bay called Palionnisos. As we walked the last few hundred yards to the beach we were 'hijacked' by a local restaurant owner who insisted on telling us his life story and cutting flowers for us from his lovely garden. We couldn't get away!
The bay at Palionnisos
Buoys here too
Resort still being completed for the season
It looked a bit like glamping
Taverna Paradise
My flowers.... and a sponge! (of course).
Sponges are the big souvenir on this island.
Rock climbing mountain
Rock climbers
Arginonta
Looking out to sea from Arginonta
Next we took the mountain road back to the east coast, down through the fertile valley at Vathy. The port is a bit of a tourist attraction, being described as resembling a fjord. It's very narrow for sail boats and we were keen to see whether Thesee would be able to dock on the quay.... we decided it was a no no, although we were surprised to find our neighbours from last night there. They were even more surprised to see us.
The fjord
Popular with the tour boats
They have cider here too
Unique tablecloths
Looking down at Vathy
... and out to sea.
You can see the Turkish mainland from here
It's been a lovely day, and such a change to do some sightseeing. We have the scooter for two days. Tomorrow, we think we might do an anticlockwise route.
Linda - Thesee crew, scooter tour, day 2. We did indeed take an anticlockwise route this morning. To be honest, there's only really one way or the other around this island. But before we left, Nikolas (our talkative 'friend' from yesterday!) came to see us and brought more flowers and freshly baked bread. Yikes 😂.
Once around the headland in town we skipped past Vathy and headed up the valley and across the mountain to Arginonta, our first stop of the day. The place was deserted except for one boat at anchor in the incredibly clear water. I've not seen water this clear since my favourite ever bay in Majorca. We sat on the sunbeds (fully clothed 😃) in our bike wear admiring the scenery. I could have stayed there all day, it was so beautiful and peaceful.
Complete serenity here in Arginonta
Sunbed pose
Attempting a sunbed pose
Boy's games
Just look at that clear water!
One more picture before we left
Next was a short hop to Masouri. We passed some goats on the way, catching one of them standing on top of a post! The man at the scooter rental had told us not to leave the scooter underneath any trees, because the goats jump on them to reach the trees, and knock the bikes over.
En-route to Masouri
Here's the naughty goats
The views....again
In Masouri we walked down to the beach. There were lots of bars and restaurants, but very quiet still as the season is not really happening just yet. We sat on the beach in a bar called Zorba's for elevensies.
View of Telendos island from our coffee stop
Zorba's bar
A little walkies along the beach followed
Masouri is the main resort on this west coast, there's about half a mile of bars, restaurants, hotels, and plenty of accommodation. We liked it a lot. Then we moved on just a few miles to Myrties, and found a place to eat right next to the small fisherman's harbour.
Myrties
Quite nice, but not as good as Masouri
Caves up on the mountain
We were back around 2.30pm to find a number of boats had arrived on the quay. After a while, one of the boats was leaving and when picking up his anchor he hooked someone's chain, pulling it up right out of the water. He had a right game trying to unhook himself. He eventually got free by using his boathook to release the chain from his anchor, but then the chain was stuck on his boathook! Oops, he couldn't hold on and his boathook ended up in the water and straight to the bottom with the chain. Well at least he was free, and he made a quick exit, obviously displeased that his boat hook was lost.
So that left one of the boats with a dislodged chain and he had to re-anchor which caused a bit of a stir. As he pulled up his chain, up came the boat hook too and freed itself to drift away. Someone on another boat got in their canoe and paddled out to claim possession!
The quay is quite full tonight with boats starting to come in to dodge the high winds due on Thursday. It's been another action packed day here on the Adventures of Thésée.
Tuesday 17th May...
Linda - Nothing really planned today. However, we still need to stretch our legs and go for a little walkies. There's a road that goes south of here, past the ferry terminals and down to a couple of small beaches... Gefira beach, and Therma beach. Nothing there, however it was a very nice walk.
A surprise beach behind the ferry terminal
South along the coast road
... and looking north now
Approaching Gefira beach
Lots of cats, but not bothering us for food
Delapidated cafe bar at Therma beach
On the way back now
There is reportedly a hot spring at Therma Beach, but we saw no sign of it, and it appears that the photos online show a beach in Kos, not Kalymnos! Back in town we stopped at a nice cafe bar for fresh orange juice. Makes a change from a coffee stop.
Cafe Sirocco
Mommy, Daddy, & Baby cats
Brilliantly pink flowers in abundance
We chilled out this afternoon and have decided to stay here for another four nights. We like it here, and there is a lot of wind coming Thursday/Friday. It seems this is the best place to be.
Wednesday 18th May...
Linda - The camera had a well deserved rest today. The only walking we did was to a hardware shop to buy a new sack truck (aka our shopping trolley) because the wheels on our trolley have gone almost kaput. In the end, we didn't buy it. So Dean is now on the lookout for new wheels. We did more shopping for things like cider and pop. We're trying to stock up a little because near the end of the month we shall be going to Turkey and doing a lot of anchoring.
It's strange because we aren't fed up of being here in Kalymnos town, even though the daily routine is the lunchtime arrival of pirate ships from Kos. The passengers disembark and go straight into the nearby taverna for lunch, then after about 2 hours they all get back on board and the pirate ships leave. It's noisy for a while, but then it's nice and peaceful after that. It gives us something to look at when we are not watching for sailboats arriving and leaving, and making sure they don't anchor over our chain.
We have yet another new neighbour tonight, in fact a number of sailboats arrived today. It's quite reassuring knowing people have come here for shelter, because tomorrow morning there is a lot of wind coming through for about 24 hours. It gives us confidence that we are doing the right thing by staying here. Either that, or they haven't checked the weather forecast and have no idea what's coming 😀
Thursday 19th May...
Linda - Haven't even been off the boat today. It was well windy, and it started around 4am. The wind has been on and off during the day (it's been blowing across the whole Aegean). Just picking up again now at 10pm. Hopefully the last few hours until it's over. Incredibly there were a number of boats that came into the harbour looking for a berth. My question is... Why were they out sailing on a day like today? The harbourmaster tried to squeeze one boat in between us and our neighbour. To be fair, there was enough room......but not on a windy day! The boat coming in hit our neighbour's boat! Not a lot of damage but enough for an insurance claim. After that, the harbourmaster didn't try to berth anyone next to us.
We spent the morning cleaning (the usual job when it's windy). This afternoon Dean opened a bottle of local red wine from the supermarket. It was pretty awful, we actually think it had gone off. Very annoying as we bought two bottles of the stuff. How do you take it back and try to explain that it's off, in Greek?
Friday 20th May...
Linda - Back to work for the camera after two days off. But first we went to the Port Police to check out as we are leaving for a new destination tomorrow now that the wind has subsided. I thought I would be up all night but we slept like babies, so the wind was obviously not as bad as expected.
At the Port Police there was a bit of a palava over our crew list. It seems that there is a new form, but we only have the old form. Strangely, it was harder to check out of here, than it was to check in. All was sorted out in about half an hour. Then we went for a walk to Chrysocheria Castle about 30 minutes inland. It's not much to look at but it was an excuse to stretch our legs.
Arriving at the Castle
View from the top looking across town to the harbour
View looking inland
Monastery of Saint Sofia below the castle
King Dean of the Castle
Rambling in the grounds
On the way back along the streets, we (I) were treated to a 'cute kitten alert'
I want one
When we arrived back, our neighbour was winching our other neighbour up the mast. His main uphaul halyard had come loose and he needed to go to the top of the mast to re-attach it. Dean went to help winch him up into the air.
Tonight is our last night in town. We went out for dinner at our very local (next to the boat) restaurant. Dean asked what the name of the red wine was. The owners wrote it down on a piece of paper and told us where to buy it. After our meal we went to buy some... A 5 litre box for 12 euros. Bonus. Now we can get rid of that horrible supermarket stuff from yesterday.
On the way back we noticed a large superyacht in the harbour and went to have a look. We recognised the flag as a caribbean one, and the boat was registered in Kingstown. We couldn't decide which island it was, and I commented it's probably something like St Vincent and the Grenadines. When we got back I checked on the internet, and guess what? I was right! Ha ha.
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