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| Kimolos - Kalanitsi |
Alma's Log August 25, 2022:
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Kimolos - Kalanitsi
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We are still in the Cyclades, in Milos. Well, we had more days with calm weather than what the weather prevision indicated, but not all is as well as it seems. We want to go back to the continent. We are leaving Alma in Crotone in the south of Italy and we want to leave Greece before September not to pay the Greek tax for the month of September (around 100 euros) but are experiencing some difficulties.
The meltemi that supposedly would reach Milos did not show up, the winds for sailing to the continent are weak, variable or even nonexistent and even a boat that sails so well with weak winds cannot sail without wind or with winds lower than 4kts.
I mean if it was a 15 mile jump it would not be a problem (we would be making between 2.5 and 4 kt) but we are talking about an 80nm passage (to the Elefonisos Island), there is no moon and the weather is very unstable with the possibility of thunderstorms. We would not make it during day time and would need to use the engine for a considerable period of time. Two days ago, looking at the wind forecast it looked like we could make it in 4 to 8kts, wind if we leave Milos (Adamas) very early and we tried.
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| Milos - Adamas |
We got up at 5 in the morning in the middle of a big thunderstorm, winds blowing over 20kt and pouring rain. Well that was not previewed, the thunderstorm was supposed to pass well north of Milos, but a check on the windy weather radar showed that the heavier of it was over Milos.
We waited for hours for the rain to subside and the thunderstorm to pass. The thunderstorm went away but it kept raining and we decided to postpone the passage. But when we looked at the weather forecast it was very frustrating; till the end of the month there was not a single day with good wind for the passage. Heavy blue (no wind) was the dominant color on the windy forecast between Milos and the Continent.
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| Milos - Adamas |
After studying all possibilities it seems that the best one is tomorrow, but we will have to sail away from Milos at about 3 in the morning not to miss the weak wind. Well, it will have to do even if we are going to catch 3 or 4 hours of rain. We will see how it comes. The weather continues very unstable with the sky full of clouds, with fronts passing and bringing some wind.
For more than a month I have being saying the weather looks like September, and now it looks like the last 15 days of September, with rain and thunderstorms everywhere. This summer has been an atypical one in the Med, with strong winds, big storms and many boats in trouble, many boats lost. We have been lucky but we don't want to stretch our luck and like many others will finish the season slightly sooner than what is usual.
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| Agius Dimitrius |
Changing subject and talking about fun and nice cruising: the sailing from Paros to Kimolos was very nice, Isabel style, gliding in flat see with little wind making between 4.5 and 6.5 kt. Kind of enjoying life in a sailboat, reading and surfing the net (amazing how far you can get wi-fi in between islands).
In a hot summer day with weak wind, going to windward is much better than staying at anchor. Too hot at anchor, perfect with the refreshing wind the boat is making.
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| Agius Dimitrius |
It was so good that we decided not to go to Sifnos (nearer) and continue do Kimolos or Milos. The wind finished in Kimolos, so Kimolos it was. We stayed on a nice anchorage, Kalamitsi, in front of the beach, on 5m of good sand.
Beautiful all around landscape, but after having being on that anchorage several times let me tell you that it is a "wind maker". There you have always a lot of wind even when outside there is little wind.
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| On the other side of Agius Dimitrius |
In the morning, gusting well over 20kn, Isabel wanted to stay. I told her that the wind was katabatic wind and that outside there would be no wind. I had to compromise and sailed out only with the jib. Half an hour later she was convinced and I was raising all sail. We went slowly but always sailing till Adamas, inside the huge central bay that almost divides Milos in two.
It was a bit windy and we chose to anchor well far away from the coast where the wind was less strong. Adamas is just a great anchorage, because far away from the coast (maybe 500m) the bottom is at only 7.0 meters, being almost flat toward the coast. Consider to anchor out if the wind is strong.
It has a great anchorage but a bad public port, with water and electricity, not expensive but where the ferry wash puts the boats rolling in such a way that is not uncommon the masts banging against each other, and I have seen many stanchion bent. If you insist in putting the boat there make sure there is a meter between your boat and your neighbor (almost impossible) and make sure the mast is not aligned with the boats next to you. If possible choose to stay at the side of motorboats that roll much less than sailboats.
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| On the other side , Plaka, the old village |
Even knowing all that I put Alma there for a night. Isabel needed to go to the supermarket and to the bakery. I filled the water tank and went to talk with the guy from the diesel truck. I was lucky to find a place just after the reserved local places, after the big motorboats, the only places where you can have diesel because the others are too far away for the truck hose.
The guy from EKO told me that in the afternoon around 5 would bring me diesel. At 6 PM I went looking for him, he said that only next morning at 10.30. At 11.30 he arrives with the hose and puts diesel on the 48ft motorboat next to me, that had arrived much after I had talked with him about putting diesel and then tells me that he has no more, that he has much work and that does not know when will be able to "serve me", but that he "has trying".
This guy does not respect the order of the requests for fuel and just puts first bigger yachts, with huge fuel demands, even if they have just arrived. I was one day and a half waiting for fuel, with two bookings that he missed, just to tell me that it had arrived a yacht that needed 20 000 liters and that he had no more diesel (and this after many boats passing ahead of me, including my neighbor motorboat). I guess that rich guys from big yachts give him big tips and he just passes them ahead. It gives a bad fame to EKO and to Greeks in general even if he is much more an exception than the rule.
Fed up with this and because after all I have a sailing boat, I just sailed away to the other side of the bay, near the entrance, to Agios Dimitrios Cove. We went sailing, slowly, only using the jib because to put the main in the bag is just too much work for such a small jump.
It is a very nice cove with a chapel. You have to find a patch of sand (not difficult, but don't mistake sand with pebbles that are almost the same color) and you get a reasonable holding (the sand is hard) in a very beautiful place. You can anchor in 5.5 to 6 meters being the water relatively deep near the coast and without rocks.
But be prepared because when you are just enjoying it there will be a huge number of sailboats full of tourists that will come and will anchor everywhere (5 at the same time) with hysteric girls that will cry of joy (or whatever) while jumping in the water. Kind of a carnival. You will only have peace in the morning, late afternoon and night.
From there we sailed slowly (very weak wind) around the west coast of the island, to Kleftiko a famous and hugely popular anchorage on the south coast, near the SW tip. The anchorage is not marked or detailed on C-Map, only on Navionics.
The bottom is good sand everywhere, the landscape is beautiful, with coves and caves, but it rolls and rolls, with the movement of the many touristic boats around, and, when they go away at night you find out that it keeps on rolling. For a motorboat tied to the coast it is acceptable, but for a sailingboat it is uncomfortable.
Next day we sailed out in the morning, with weak but steady wind that brought us back to Adamas. I put the boat near the shore, just in front of a Shell road pump, put my 10 liters reserve (in a jerrycan) in the boat tank, found out two 4 liters containers and rowed to the pump. The nice Indian guy lent me a 14L container and I brought to the boat 32L diesel. Went back there again and with the first 10L I had managed to put in the tank 74L. It was not full but almost. I guess it would take 15L more or so.
With 135L in the tank probably it will last till next year, even if I have to go up the Ionian coast, beating against the wind. About the price, well, fortunately my boat, sailing almost all the time, wastes very little, because at 2.30 euros a liter it has become very expensive to motor.
Happy with solving the diesel problem I celebrated with a dive. Yes, on this anchorage, the holding is great, but the waters are also very clear. I like it a lot and you cannot see here many charters but plenty of cruisers chose to stay here for some days.
It is not only the anchorage that is good, Adamas is a nice place and from there you can take a bus to the old town on the top of the hill, Plaka and its Venetian castle. The village is nice, with good restaurants and the view from the castle is superb.
23rd August was Isabel's birthday and we went ashore with the dinghy to eat at a good restaurant. Expensive but really good. A reference if you don't mind to spend about 35 euros per person, Mikros Apoplous.
We had as starter small fried shrimps, Isabel had a tuna steak and I a grilled squid. The squid was ok but the tuna was delicious and was so big that I ate almost half of it. The house wine was Moscafilero and was good. If you don't eat an expensive starter neither an expensive desert it would be about 25 euros for person.
24 was the day we should have sailed for the continent, but again there was no wind offshore, and tomorrow we will be sailing away in the first hours of the day. For now I am just sailing the boat to the Agios Dimitrios Cove. It will save an hour tomorrow.
Anchorages:
Kimolos - Kalanitsi: good sand bottom that goes down slowly, excellent holding, nice view all around but lots of katabatic wind, even if there are no big mountains.
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| All the above pictures are from Kleftico |
Milos - Adamas: one of the best you can find. The bottom is sand and it lowers slowly towards the center of the bay. If the meltemi is blowing put the boat faraway from the shore where the wind will be less strong. Milos - Agios Dimitrius: beautiful, the bottom is sand and rock, the holding is good if you can find a patch of sand. The protection is better than what it seems. Some rolling due to the passage of ships and lots of touristic boats. Milos - Kleftiko: all sand, very good holding, beautiful, but you will roll day and night, with the passage of touristic boats and with waves on the beam.
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