Yasas

  This is the final email about Nisyros.  We’re really enjoying Ios too.  I was told today Ios stands for Irish Over Seas as there are lots of Irish here and lots of Irish pubs in town.  I took myself for a walk uo up up to Chora and had a lovely time.  But first I have to write about our ferry trip and overnight stay on Santorini.

Ru

Keep Going Sox!!!

Nisyros Pali Town

The harbor at Pali on Nisyros was friendly and cozy and delightful.  We liked it a lot. 

Yasas

    Santorini won’t ever be the top of our islands visits, but probably (hopefully) nothing will top the story of how we had to yell for help to get us out of our hotel.  We were locked in the hallway that lead from our room to the narrow stone hillside stairway.  We had to crawl out the room window with the help of another guest who we’d awaken with our yelling and banging.  We weren’t kidnapped; it was a case of stupidity on the part of our “hotel?” management who had given us a room key but neglected to give us a key to the hallway.  I’ll write more about it later with the photos of Santorini. 

Ru

Nisyros Part 3 Nikia

We stumbled upon Nikia serendipitously and it was my favorite stop of the day.  Nikia is so enchanting with lanes that turned into other lanes and again into other lanes past whitewashed houses with painted doors and explosions of colored plants all opening into the “square”  with its church and tavern and such.   This email takes you along with me as I explored the lanes of Nikia.

“Nikia, up on the edge of the volcanic rim to the south. In Nikia the people are not Nisirians, they are Nikiates. They inhabited Nisyros hunted from pirates and settled there around 1600. Still today when asked they never say "I am from Nisyros" the say I am from Nikia.”  http://wikitravel.org/en/Nisyros

   “Nikia, this village is also called “the eagle’s nest”, because it is located in the highest spot of the island and you can see the crater from almost all little streets.” http://gonetogreece.com/nisyros/nisyros-volcano-and-villages-in-the-skies/

Yasas,

   So Santorini won’t be our favorite island; too crowded thanks to the 3 cruise ships in port and day trippers like us.  It’s kind of like being in Provincetown in high season.  But Randal loved cruising into the caldera on the ferry boat so it’s all worth it.  We arrived about 11:30 am as our 7 am ferry from Ios didn’t actually get to Ios until 9:20 am so didn’t leave Ios until 9:30 am.  To get back to Ios tomorrow we must take the 9 am ferry which island hops its way back to Ios getting us there after 1 pm.  There are other prettier parts to this island we won’t see.  But so it goes. 

This email is an island hop back to Nisyros, to the volcano’s caldera.  Santorini was also a volcano.  I really should have paid more attention in my year of geology at UMass. 

Ru

Nisyros Volcano Observatory      The volcanic risks in the region

     “The volcanic centers of Nisyros, Yali and Kos are part of the South Aegean Active Volcanic Arc, one of the two existing volcanic arcs in the Mediterranean. The first two (Yali and Nisyros) are the newest major volcanic centers of the said Arch. This region was the setting for the most violent eruption in the Mediterranean, 161,000 years ago; its products covered half of Kos island and its tephra is found today from Kalymnos to Tilos and the Turkish coast.

     In the last 45,000 years, at least two devastating explosive eruptions occurred on Nisyros and two more on Yali, each of them blasting more than three billion cu. m. of magma. Ejected products were deposited in the greater area. A hiatus with regard to volcanic activity occurred between the above mentioned eruptions. This does not preclude a future repetition of devastating activity, a highly hazardous possibility for Nisyros and the neighboring islands.

     Another grave volcanic hazard encumbers Nisyros. It pertains to hydrothermal explosions (release of superheated geothermal fluid). Such explosions occurred in 1871-73 and 1887 on the caldera floor (Lofos site). 10 well preserved hydrothermal craters attest to the existence of intense hydrothermal explosive activity in the last 4-5,000 years. As their causal effects (the superheated geothermal reservoir and the impermeable cap) are present, it is possible that such explosions may occur in the area of the caldera floor in the imminent future. As revealed by the first deep borehole in 1981 by PPC, Nisyros proved to be the most dynamic and the hottest (for such a geotectonic area) geothermal field in the world. Hydrothermal craters also constitute an attraction to thousands of visitors each year; such an unforeseen explosion could have devastating effects.”

http://nisyros.igme.gr/

Yasas,

  It was another long day.  Cruising at an average of 5.8 knots, with wind on the nose and choppy seas,  the 54 nautical miles from our anchorage in Vathi to Ios Island where Homer is reputed to be buried, took us all day.  Thankfully it was a much calmer passage than from Nisyros to Vathi, though  that’s not saying so much.  Every stop has been a set of new challenges, but there have been kind people to help and we’re learning more each time we dock the boat.  Randal really is quite good at it.  Today we also had a battle with the pedestals not working when we tried to get our power and water connection to work.  The tourist office, where you buy your access key,  was less than helpful, and mean to boot, so I asked the friendly men at the Port Police and they were really great and got it all sorted out.  Randal washed the salt from DoraMac so he’s happy.  I have internet access so I’m happy. 

Tomorrow we’re taking the 7:20 ferry to the lovely island of Santorini for a night or two.  I do understand why cruisers love to spend months cruising these islands. 

Ru

Nisyros, the Volcanic Island   http://www.nisyros.gr/index_en.html

“According to mythology, Nisyros was formed when the enraged Poseidon threw a chunk of Kos (an island) on the warring giant Polyvotis who was submerged beneath it fiery and fuming. “ Eyewitness Travel: The Greek Islands.

  I used to love reading Greek mythology and here we are in the middle of it.  In the 7^th grade we had to write poems based on the Odyssey and this was mine. 

Brave and bold Odysseus;

Fair of face and form.

Poseidon plots against you

and brings about a storm;

to hider your homecoming;

to bring you further woes.

How hard it is for mortals to have immortal foes.

Well Poseidon still is still plotting but it’s against those of us mortals cruising the Mediterranean.  Mercury, god of the winds gets in the act too with winds blowing everywhere.  Diesel trawlers and bicycle riders need similar types of winds; none at all or gently at your back.  But as we found biking, the wind always seems to be in your face or maybe at the side, but rarely behind you.  Our day from Nisyros to Vathi was more of Poseidon and Mercury being unkind, but that’s another story.  This email is about the lovely island of Nisyros.  Actually it will be several emails as I loved the village of Nikia and want to share my walk around it.  We also visited the caldera and the big village of Mandraki.

But, and this is certainly a case of incredible hubris, (a word borrowed appropriately from the Greeks;) what makes Nisyros important to most everyone reading this is that Randal and I came here.  Odd as that might be, you probably would never know of this island, and many others we’ll visit if we hadn’t gone there.  I had certainly never heard of them before we visited.  Of course I’ve just publically admitted to a huge amount of geographic ignorance, but that’s the punishment for my hubris.

We arrived Friday late in the afternoon after a rough passage so just rested, ate dinner across the way and had a good night’s rest. 

Our second day on Nisyros started at the motorbike rental place and then we were off to get gasoline, 3 litres needed to see the island. From there it was a wild goose chase to find what was literally right in front of our faces.  But that was okay as we had a lovely ride into the hills and a visit to the ancient acropolis.

We spent two wonderful days in Nisyros, rented a motorbike and rode all around the island. Yesterday we made a very rough passage to Vathi and spent last night in a safe anchorage.

We depart shortly for Ios 58.6 NM away. Today the winds are supposed to be less than 5 knots so should have a smooth passage. We will spend several days there and take a ferry to Santorini, the island that exploded in 1450 BC.

Randal

Yasas,

   Today was a great day.  Randal and I rented a motorbike for the day and toured the island, Mandraki,Nikia, and the volcano caldera where you can feel heat and see steam from open holes.  My souvenir from here are black volcanic stones collected on the beach.  We tried to find a Greek sim card for our internet dongle but no luck anywhere so we’re at the mercy of restaurant wifi.  Our emergency sailmail does seem to be working so that’s a good thing.  And Randal figured out why our AIS wasn’t working so everything is really shipshape.  Our friends Sue and Ed Kelly on Angle Louise are several stops ahead of us sending us reports.  We’ll both be at St. Cats dock together in London. 

   I took about a zillion photos today on Nisyros;  146 so far to be exact.  When we leave here we’ll anchor out and then go to Ios where we’ll leave DoraMac at a dock and we’ll take the ferry to Santorini.  So not sure when my next email to all of you will be.  So check www.mydoramac.com periodically as I might have sent some emails off to Audrey. 

Ru

Leaving Marmaris and One Night in Symi

I was thinking about why it was hard to leave Marmaris.  Marmaris was a really good place to spend the winter. The tourism business goes dormant.  You can walk through the bazaar where most of the shops are closed and no one is calling to you,  “come, just look.”  Life without the hordes of tourist is actually pretty quiet but not boring thanks to the group of cruisers who were there.  All in all it was really a good place to be.  With all of that, I was ready to leave Marmaris, though maybe not ready to leave Turkey. Too much more to see, especially in the east.   And all the pals we made in Marmaris; I wish they were coming along too.  Because there are lots of people I am really going to miss.  Of course half of them are out here cruising around somewhere so maybe we’ll bump into them before it’s all over.  If not; we’ll always have Marmaris.