It's all Greek from here .....

Bozuk Buku

Blasting out of Fethiye in early April, we needed to take heed of the winds as the weather can turn nasty suddenly. But we had a great sail on the way to Bozuk Buku, about 55 nautical miles.

Pavlov's new mainsail

We are revelling in Pavlov's new sails. The new mainsail has a great 'lazy bag', making it easy to drop and stow the main without hassling with sail covers. That track up the side of the mast allows us to hoist a storm trysail while the main stays in the lazy bag.

Our new Yankee

Our new Yankee is about 9 square metres larger than our old sail, and much more powerful. We can really feel the increased drive in the boat. As well, the sail has foam pads in its luff, which means that it retains sail shape much better when partially furled. We can partially roll up the sail to fine tune the boat balance and heel angle.

The new staysail is also on a new furler. All of this new gear is making sail handling much easier. We can reef and furl the boat quickly, which is a great comfort factor.

Good visibility under the bimini

We made our usual early morning departure from Bozuk and headed over to Symi. It was a cracking sail, with Pav sitting on 8.5 knots in 15 knots of breeze, hard on the wind. We visited Symi back in 2011, and travelled to an isolated monastery in Paranormitis. This time, we decided to check out the anchorage.

Monastery in Paranormitis

It was a wonderful and sheltered anchorage, but the lights (and shore power) of Symi town beckoned, so we sailed around the island, through the narrow channel and into Symi's main harbour. Unlike the last time we were here, the place was almost deserted, and we were able to moor alongside. (What a relief, sighed Megan. No drama's with the anchor windlass).

Pavlov alongside in Symi main harbour

Main port road

Symi harbour from above.

We completed formalities in record time, despite being given contradictory advice on who we should see next. After harvesting a bunch of rubber stamps (always applied with such relish!), we had our Greek transit log. The rain had set in by then, so we had a layover day, seeing the sights of Symi, taking the local bus to Pedi and walking the length and breadth of the town.

Ethrymon town on Nisyros.

But we needed to make progress, so we set sail for Nisyros. This was a hard sail. Force 5-6 on the nose for 40 miles, it took us 12 hours of hard slog. Then we had windlass hassles trying to lay our anchor backing into a berth in the small harbour of Pali on Nisyros. The windlass kept jamming as Megan tried to free the chain to allow me to back into the dock. After 3 attempts to clear the windlass, and leaving the harbour to lay out the chain in more depth, we declared defeat and tried plan B. There was again room to go alongside, so we took the easy option. (The next day, another yacht arrived after dark with a jammed mainsail partially deployed, and a stuck anchor like us. After so many attempts, that we were spinning around in concert with them, they also made a kamikaze approach to the only possible along-side spot and pulled it off, all in Force 5-6 winds. We didn't think we had it so hard after that!)

Greek wild-flowers

Damn, I'm becoming susceptible to cute.

Last time we were on Nisyros, we didn't really explore the island. This time, we hired a car for the day and took off. First stop was the local sauna, a little hole in the wall with geothermic heating (Nisyros is an active volcano).

Local sauna, it was steamy and hot inside.

Amazing level of rock terracing, all done by hand

We visited several picturesque villages carved into the side of the cliffs.

A church for one?

Perched over the volcano

Dammit, there goes cute again

But the highlight was walking down into the active volcano, sniffing the sulphur fumes, and 'double stepping' (as we were instructed to do by the helpful rental car vendor) on the clay floor of the volcano, to avoid 'stepping in it'.

The caldera

Megan's Vulcan hairstyle

Sulphur dioxide, anyone?

Sulphur cystals deposited around the vent.

A bubbling fulmerole

I was particularly taken by the small church perched high above the caldera. It seemed to symbolize something of these small islands. They have an elemental quality, the people are open and friendly, the food is simple and delicious, the light is elemental and the colors of the landscape are vivid. 

Eagle's nest chuch

From the side.

View from the church over the local village

It seems like all these elements are represented in the church at Eagle's Nest. It seems suspended in thin air against the hazy blue sky of the Mediterranean, floating above the small local village that it services.

Suspended in the blue of space

Earthy roots of the church, growing out of the rock

View of the church from the village.

Its earthly origins seem assured by the rock it is hewn from, and you must count fire as one of its attributes, as it is perched on the thin edge of the caldera, hovering above an active volcano.

View from Eagle's Nest down into the crater

We also saw some ancient walls from the only real fortifications on the island. These are from 1200 BC, but the stones are massive and the joinery particularly fine.

Ancient fortifications

The Greek love for their religion, the Greek Orthodox church is evident in the central place these churches hold in the small villages. Their interiors are lavishly decorated,  with crystal chandeliers, beeswax candles and enough hagiography to last a lifetime.

Old church fronting the village square.

Lavish interior of the church

Revered old patriarches of the church

So we renewed our relationship with this lovely and quiet island, made some new friends and started settling into our Greek phase. So, for now, its all Greek from here!

A new Nisryos friend

Bye from the sea gypsies.