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I think I need to start this story about a year ago. Around Christmas last year a tiny seed of a travel idea germinated in my head.

Dodecanese, Greece

Nickjenkins
2003-11-20 16:38:39

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has a delightful little swimming area on the end of the quay next to the rocks and Ian and Karen had a go later at jumping from these in the manner of the local kids.

A walk round Vathi proved what a delightful spot it was. Although the entrance is narrow and rocky it soon opens up into a broad-hipped, fertile little valley. The soil is rich and earthy-red and supports citrus plantations and even the odd vineyard. From the cliffs around the harbours entrance at Vathi you get a magnificent view up the valley at sunset.

Dinner that night was at the "Harbour taverna" and everyone elected to try the fresh fish. The waitress brought a platter to our table and everyone selected there own specimen to go on the grill. Washed down with local wine and Mythos beer it was as good as any meal we had any was capped by chocolate ice-cream for desert.

That night, sitting on the back of the boat, it was particularly difficult to imagine being back at work behind a desk. After a while I took my glass of wine and sat out on the end of the pier and looked at the lights glittering on the shores of Turkey. Sitting there listening to the chorus of cicadas in the hills I could easily imagine that sailing could be something I could do for much, much longer than a week.

The week had been filled with so much sensuous experience that I felt quite drained. Mooring dramas in Pothia, the pulse of bouzouki music in the night, the peace and quiet of Emborios, the stars at Ormos Partheni, the run down the coast to Lakki, the drama of the Vathi harbour and the cold green fingers of the Aegean as you dive off the back of the boat all clung in my mind as bright, tactile memories. I was going to miss my Greek paradise quite a lot.

The next morning we headed out of Vathi quite late and stopped off at Pserimos one last time before heading back to Kos. Docking in a 25 knot cross wind was a bit of an adventure by we were ably assisted by the marina crew and got ashore without too much fuss.

I was genuinely sad to see Isis go and could have spent a lot longer exploring the waters of Greece. I'm not sure if I'll be back next year. I would love to go again and spend longer sailing in Greece but this holiday has opened up some interesting alternatives. I'm told that Croatia is a beautiful place to sail. Turkey is also a lovely coastline and shares the predictable winds of the eastern Aegean. On the other hand the Caribbean is said to be even more beautiful, or there's the Maldives, Mauritius and Thailand. Australia has the Whitsunday Islands or there's Tonga, Tahiti and the Bahamas. I'm obviously going to have to give this some thought… quite a lot of thought actually.

Sailing the Dodecanese : Saturday 14th Sept 2002

My travels