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Trip Report #6-2001: The CycladesFiled from Kos, Greece37 53.51N 027 18.14EOctober 4, 2001Yassos, family & friends!
Photo: Tom and Friends on Folegandros, in the Greek Cyclades We are now cruising in the Cyclades (a Greek friend informs us that it is pronounced key'-kla-dees), a group of 56 islands in the central Aegean that surround Delos, the ancient center of trade and worship. These are the islands that one often sees pictured in travel brochures: white-painted cube buildings with domed roofs and blue trim, clinging to mountainsides that lead down to a perfectly azure sea, typically sun-drenched and dazzling. The photos do not lie. These islands are beautiful.
Photo: Typical Cycladean architecture, Santorini, Greece We had a fast sail from the Peloponnese to our first stop in the Cyclades. The wind was 20 kts. on our starboard quarter and we approached the spectacular, multicolored cliffs of Mylos in the early evening. Mylos is an ancient volcano with a very deep and huge crater forming a bay in the middle of the island. The famous statue of Venus de Milo was discovered here.
Photo: The cliffs at Mylos in the Greek Cyclades Since we were anxious to get to Folegandros, we only anchored at Mylos overnight. We were the only boat anchored just outside the harbor in a small bay with goats wandering on the hillside around the bay. We left early the next morning, September 11, and arrived at Folegandros about 1:30 pm. We then spent about 3 very frustrating hours trying to get our anchors to hold without success. We watched another boat tie alongside the quay and then watched a second boat do the same thing. We finally decided there was also room for us and went in and tied up alongside in front of a German boat. The German skipper came running over to us and told us, "Turn on your radio. There is terrible news in the US." The news of the terrorist attack on New York and Washington was so shocking to us and we were both sad and angry to think of the loss of innocent lives. It took us an entire day to get a phone line to the US to make certain that all of our family were safe. We were able to contact family faster through email than by phone. So many of our fellow cruisers of all nationalities expressed sympathy and support, and it was touching to see supportive gestures from the Greek people. There were American flags being displayed and signs in shop windows saying "God Bless America". Support for the US was not universal, however, as we noticed in the ensuing days that there were also letters to the editors of Greek newspapers which expressed fears that the US would start a unilateral initiative that would harm innocent people in Afghanistan or that perhaps we in the US brought this attack on ourselves. These were definitely in the minority, but they were enough to make us rethink our plan to go to Turkey. The dominant religion in Turkey is Muslim, although the government is secular. Turkey is also a member of NATO and eager to become a member of the European Union. Alternatives were discussed constantly with our fellow American cruisers, all of us feeling a vulnerability that everyone in the US must also have been feeling. The talking definitely helped. We have gradually been able to set aside our initial panic and think more clearly about our future cruising plans. We are beginning to think that we can safely continue to Turkey and not have our plans changed by the actions of a fanatic hiding behind the peaceable religion of Islam. Traveling back home may or may not be a problem. We will have to deal with that issue as it comes up. In the meantime, we spent several days on the beautiful island of Folegandros. We finally figured out that we had been trying to anchor in an area that had been thoroughly scoured out by the anchors of large cruise ships and ferries. In the end, when we saw where the large ships were placing their anchors, we were glad that we'd been unable to anchor - we would have been squarely in their way. We took a bus from the harbor up to the chora (old town) on the top of the mountain. The chora was a village of white-painted houses and shops and public squares lined with restaurants, from which came the sounds of softly playing classical music. We had a very pleasant time at lunch in one of the restaurants, relaxing and people-watching.
Photo: Entrance to the harbor at Folegandros in the morning on Anna's birthday
Photo: Dooryard in the chora at Folegandros
Photo: Flowers along a street in Folegandros
Photo: Peg enjoys a courtyard in Folegandros Flowers were everywhere in the chora and the small town along the harbor, but most of the island was rocky and had very little vegetation.
Photo: A donkey munches sparse vegetation on the rocky island of Folegandros Our next stop in the Cyclades was Santorini, another volcanic island with a large central harbor formed by an enormous crater. Santorini is the largest active caldera in the Mediterranean and one of the largest in the world. It is thought by many authorities to be the site of the fabled island of Atlantis. High cliffs ring the crater and the white towns cling to the cliffs, many of the dwellings actually carved into the cliffs, reminding us of the pueblos of the US Southwest. There were really not very many places that were acceptable to tie up or anchor. The quay along the cliff beneath the capitol of the island, Thira, was used by cruise ships and yachts alike, which were compelled to share a huge mooring buoy, tying four vessels, no matter the size, to a buoy. To get up the cliff to Thira, from the quay, one could take the funicular or hire a donkey. There was also an uninhabited island in the middle of the crater with a small anchorage, but there were reportedly large, aggressive rats on the island, eager to find passage on cruising yachts. We bypassed both of those possibilities and sailed through the crater to an unfinished, free marina on the south side of the island.
Photo: Overlooking the middle of the crater at Santorini, from a Thira restaurant
Photo: The unfinished marina at Vlichada, south shore of Santorini
Photo: Sunset in the marina at Santorini On Santorini, in the free, unfinished marina at Vlichada, we finally caught up with Lynne and Russell Frazer on Blue Highway, a Peterson 44.
Photo: Russell and Lynne Frazer on Blue Highway in Santorini We first met Russell and Lynne in Boothbay Harbor, Maine, on one of our shakedown cruises before our transatlantic crossing, and we have been following them ever since. Russell, who has a wonderful outgoing personality and great leadership skills, was instrumental in starting the current Mediterranean Cruisers' Net on SSB, for which Tom supplies weather information, and with Russell's help, the net has grown. Lynne does free-lance writing, is a great source of information on the museums in these islands (she has a graduate degree in museum management), and is a gourmet cook and great shopping companion. The four of us took a taxi from Vlichada into Thira, which cost 3000 drachmas, about $7.50 US for the half hour trip. In addition to peeking into all the shops there, we went through the Museum of Archeology, which has some of the best antiquities, some from Akrotiri, a Minoan city, dating back to the 14th century BC. We came back to the marina by bus, which cost us 500 drachmas each. We also rented a car together and toured the island, ending up the day with a trip to Ia. Ia is a charming town, carved into the cliff, with the best shops and boutiques. It is a tradition for people to come here and watch the sunset every night. There were hundreds of people lining the cliffs to watch the sun go down. We looked for, but did not see a green flash. Peg is the only one of the group who has yet to see the green flash and seriously wonders if it really exists.
Photo: Russell & Lynne, of Blue Highway, watch the sunset at Ia, Santorini We said good-bye to Russell and Lynne over dinner. The next morning, before first light, we slipped quietly from the quay and began our trip to Paros. There was very little wind and a lot of left over swell, which made for a slow, sloppy sail. We motorsailed most of the way and anchored in the bay at Paroika just before sunset. Paroika is a town that caters to tourists and to backpacking hikers and campers. We found a laundry 30 meters from the dinghy dock, which charged us 3000 drachmas to wash, dry, and fold a 5 kg. load of laundry. We also found a good internet cafe and good supermarkets. In the evening we had dinner at the Arte Cafe, greek salads, garlic bread and drinks for about $8 US. We then continued walking to the Cinema Rex, which is an outdoor movie, like the old drive-in movies in the US, except that one walks in and sits in chairs arranged in front of the screen, just like in a regular theater. It was a fun experience. It hardly ever rains here, and the weather is very balmy and pleasant, making an outdoor movie theater possible. Every now and then we had difficulty hearing the dialogue (which was in English with Greek subtitles) because of the noise of traffic outside. And there was the occasional mosquito, but all in all, a lot of fun. We also had a great dinner the next night at the Porphyria restaurant, right on the harbor near the dinghy dock. Peg had mussels savlaki, in a garlic tomato sauce, which was delicious. And Tom had a cheese-stuffed squid, which was also good, but a little rich. We plan to leave tomorrow for Mykonos and Delos. Until next time - 73s, 88s, love & hugs- Peg & Tom aboard s/v Starboard Home
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Grand Daughters' web pages: Anna's Home Page, Anastasia's Home Page Isabelle's Home Page
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