We came too early, and I had a swim before we got going. It was flat calm, so we motored along and had breakfast as we went. Our objective was the island of Thira, not very far south of Ios. Thira's unique and dramatic scenery was the result of a tremendous volcanic eruption some 3000 to 3500 years ago, and it was totally unlike we had imagined it might be.
Approaching from the north we first entered the 'crater', 6 miles by 4 miles wide, under the town of Finikia, which perches above the dark, brown-tinged black cliffs. Mo went wild with the camera. We then made for the island in the middle, Nea Kammeni. In his pilot guide, Rod refers to fierce rats, but what astonished us was that the island is composed of piles of volcanic basalt rocks which seem not to have weathered at all. The bays and anchorages shown on the chart were simply gullies in the rocks. We motored straight past our chosen 'anchorage', as it seemed only a small gulley. How often do you find that your preconception of a place, based on the pilot or chart, differs totally in scale from how you actually find it? The light at the entrance should have given it away, but it seemed very small and narrow, crowded with boats and floating mooring lines that made it seem most unattractive for mooring a yacht the size of Fuga. Outside there were some moorings, with larger boats tied back to the rocks. We had seen some pleasure boats tearing around, and we supposed that these may have been their moorings. One of the coves looked as if we might be able to anchor next to a vacant mooring, but Mo put her foot down, and having seen the road up to the chora of Thira, opposite, winding up the cliffs, she didn't think we needed to even try to stay there! We had planned to cross over in the dinghy.
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| Finikia was the most northern settlement on Thira | high up on the red cliffs | Nea Kammeni anchorages were a disappointment! |
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| The chora of Thira | The port caters for cruise ships but not yachts |
The pilot mentions a funicular railway: we could not see any such structure. However, as we approached the main quay, we spotted a chair lift, as well as numerous donkeys drawn up like taxi cabs waiting for a fare. We saw the chair lift operate briefly, possibly it runs only on demand for the cruise ship passengers. We then set about looking for a viable berth. There was a large sailing cruise vessel moored between the shore and a vast commercial type buoy, and some other large motor cruisers anchored variously stern to the quay, and moored to other large rusty buoys. We circled the only large buoy that was positioned to be of interest to us, near enough the quay: it was not safe to go up alongside it with Fuga, and there was no safe way of climbing from a dinghy on top of it. The only place to tie a rope would have been on an enormous shackle in the middle at the top. No one had thought to weld some bars around this one's periphery that could be reached from a tender or from the bows of a yacht. The depths, of course, were vast. With some regret ( now having seen the chairlift) we gave up.
Another anchorage is mentioned in Ormos Athinio, under another village on cliffs above. The cliffs here are studded with derelict equipment left over from mining and loading pumice. We went to investigate, and found what looked like a large fish farm with bouys around it, but were warned off. It was explained to us that there was a sunken vessel lying there, and the 'fish farm' turned out to be a bund to contain any escaping oil. Our latest C-Map chart shows the wreck: it is in fact a cruise ship, the Sea Diamond, that sank in April 2007 after hitting a (mis-charted) reef off Nea Kammeni. The locals have been campaigning for the fuel oil to be recovered, and an operation to do this commenced only in May 2009. Not far south is a new quay in the 'cove': this is a commercial quay used by the ferries. Three were berthed as we passed by, along with a small tanker that had overtaken us as we arrived. The quay is accessed via a road that zig zags (7 times) down the cliff.
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| Old pumice workings littered the cliffs | The bund off Athinio marks the 2007 wreck of Sea Diamond |
At this point we abandoned the quest, and made for the southern shore of the island, where there are several bays in which to anchor. We stopped at the first of these, anchoring in about 4 metres in a relatively uncluttered area of the bottom. We drifted back on our chain however to a more obstructed area, where the chain graunched on a rock all night. There is a 'marina' on the southern point, but uncertainty as to the depths in the approach put us off.
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| Interesting geological formations | abound.. | The taverna on the beach was partly hewn into the rock, as were its neighbouring buildings |
The graunching had kept waking me. I lay awake thinking of the new galvanising being rubbed remorselessly off the anchor chain, as a slight swell, possibly half a metre, entered the bay. There were a lot of wet, grey looking clouds about, and we had been expecting no wind at all overnight. I felt that we should get on the move, as we only had a small margin between us and the assorted rocks below.
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| The rising sun strikes this rock on the south coast of Thira |
We passed the marina. There were a number of fair-sized (charter?) yachts in judging by their masts, but no evidence of the starboard hand buoy off the marina entrance. It would seem the safest place to leave the boat if making a visit to the island, provided you can get in alright. One of the surprising things about Thira were the number and size of the settements. In addition to Finikia in the north, and the old chora at Thira, the island was generally well settled on the south coast. Even the offlying Thirasia had a significant settlement. Had we been able to get ashore, we might have found out what everyone did?
On Friday evening we had picked up a Grib forecast that had been affecting our planning. It showed the onset of another north easterly Meltemi over Tuesday night, that would blow for two days. We planned to be tucked up on Astypalaia by then, so our time on Thira had to be limited. We planned to do two short days, spending the night on the south coast of Anafi en route. We had been unable to pick up a phone signal in the anchorage, tucked under the cliffs, so once we were out in the open, I started an internet session. Quite incredibly, the forecast had completely reversed, with bands of rain driven by strong south westerlies now dominating the forecast. The Greek Poseidon service seemed to confirm this, although it did not show the F4 we were actually experiencing. Fortunately we had been on the go early enough to have an option, and we now decided to make for the north coast of Astipalaia, rather than the south coast.
In the event we made fast progress. The cloud burnt off in the hot sunshine, and we had a fairly consistent SW/SSW F4. Having gybed north above Anafi, we had a pleasant broad reach to our destination. In view of the forecast southerlies, we made for St Andreos bay on the north coast of Astypalaia. Although it is not mentioned in the pilot, the chart showed a quay and light structures, and there seemed good depths for anchoring in the wide bay. We anchored south of the commercial-looking quay, in about 4m depth. There was some space on the quay, although we questioned what depths there might be there. A number of fishing boats were tied up there, and moored off it in the bay behind the shelter of the quay.
We had had a relaxed evening, and Mo had beat me yet again at chess. As we turned in I noticed activity on the quay beyond the usual fishing enthusiasts, so as a precaution switched on our radar transponder and asked Mo to rouse me if she heard anything. At around midnight, she dug me out. A very large ferry was pointing right at us, not far away, and was in the process of backing onto the quay. She did not stay for long, but around 0400 there was further commotion as a sister ship came in, this time turning away from us, dropping her anchors, and backing onto the far face of the quay. She stayed for a while, and left with loud jingles playing about an hour later.
We were expecting heavy SW winds, so checked up on the forecast on the internet. We had been very lucky, because not only had we managed to get east with a fair wind, but Astypalaia was forecast to be right on the edge of the high winds. They would veer to W or WNW, but should be clear by midnight. Not wishing to chance the ferry experience again, we decided to move a little further E within the bay to give them more room, although we were anchored in relatively shallow water. We also launched the dinghy and rowed out the kedge for additional security: we thought we might walk to the chora on the south side of the isthmus joining the two mountainous halves of the island. We had discovered that some funds had arrived in the bank, so spent some time investigating the savings opportunities with Lloyds TSB and Nationwide, and tried to open accounts - easily with Lloyds but with some difficulty in the case of Nationwide, necessitating a frustrating phone call.
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| Fuga anchored off the new ferry terminal in St. Andreos bay | The (improved) harbour and chora of Astypalaia |
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| The castle and churches seen across the harbour | Inside the unusual, but earthquake damaged castle |
The wind did not come up on schedule, and after consulting the weather oracle we decided we would stay put until the winds settled down: it is going to be very wet and unsettled. There being no urgency to get ashore, we also decided it was safer to remain with the boat. It was very warm, so I decided to have a go at cleaning the boot line from the water. The starboard side is very fouled with a combination of effluents, exhaust, and the general list to starboard caused by having full water tanks. Naturally the wind waited until night time to get up, resulting in another disturbed night but an opportunity to catch up with the log.
The following morning the wind had piped down a bit, but was threatening to get some north in it. We felt reasonably secure, however, and decided on our delayed walk to the chora. I had assured Mo that this was not much more than a mile each way: after all the ferry calling at the harbour had disappeared off the AIS with only a mile and half range, on the other side of the hill. When we landed at the quay the signpost gave the distance to the chora as 6 kilometres! Did I get some stick? How was I to know that the road would go around the hills and bays, not through the hill? We walked to the chora, and when we got there we climbed through the alleyways to reach the Kastro with the two churches inside its perimeter. There is some work ongoing to preserve the unusual castle, having had dwellings set within and forming its walls. Unfortunately most of these collapsed during the 1956 earthquake. We had bought some essential supplies (a carton of red wine) on the way up, so now walked down the steep stepped pathways to the port. The port has been substantially improved in terms of the shelter and facilities available to yachts. We found a taverna on the beach, and rewarded ourselves with a very pleasant lunch.
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| The old boy was gathering small pebbles for his collection |
On the way back a couple stopped to offer us a lift, as had a chap on the way there. We bravely turned both down in the interests of exercise, but the total 13km or so left us very tired by the end. We returned to the boat, and the wind did have a little north in it making the anchorage more uncomfortable, so we decided to move to Vathi, across the bay, in the interests of a quiet night. It proved to be the most crowded (in number of boats) anchorage that we have been in since Skopelos and Skiathos in the height of the summer, with at least 6 boats. Kealoha texted us with a progress report as she passed by 20 miles to the north of us.