Day 1
Hey everyone,
We’re officially underway! After months of planning and prepping, the Eudokia has finally left the dock in Herzliya. Our adventure to Rhodes is officially on! When first thinking about this adventure back in March, the thought of “is this the correct time” as we are all of an Israeli mindset and with all that is going on around us daily…but we decided to push on, it will never be a good time. We’re a crew of four (Haim, Itay, Avi and Golan) on this 700 nautical mile (or 1,300 kilometer) journey. The first leg to Kastellorizo is shaping up to be relatively calm, but we’re expecting things to get more exciting as we approach Rhodes and Kos. The crossing of the Aegean is going to be particularly challenging (potentially stormy)! With the summer heat, the seas can get pretty rough. Fingers crossed for smooth sailing! The traffic is usually from West to East as it is more friendly, let’s see. We’ll be sure to keep you updated with photos and stories along the way.
Day 2
34 hours into the journey, we are just passing Cyprus and enjoying their cell reception. At sunset yesterday we had an unexpected but welcome guest, that decided to stay for lunch today. During the night the humidity was very high as during the day but with a nice breeze. Someone played with the instrument settings, and we read incorrectly the wind strength leading to useless efforts with the sails, at night it’s difficult to feel the winds. After breakfast the wind picked up and from the west enabling us to enjoy a steady ~6 knots of sailing with / without engine for the past 8 hours…
Day 3
Kalimera Kastellorizo, 300 residents, beautiful port, 3 restaurants and the desired gateway to Greece coming from Israel. The island is a friction area between Turkey and Greece. After 75 hours of mostly good seas, good meals, a swim in the blue cave that was truly magnificent and deep discussion about the fish balls fried or spicy tomato sauce, the spicy sauce won. We arrived to solid ground… Yesterday at noon the wind and seas picked up with 15-20 knots of wind and 2.5 meters of waves coming from multiple directions, feeling like a mini washing machine, the best is yet to come at the crossing. Last night was frustrating, good winds and we sailed only 4 knots and not in the desired direction as the wind came directly from our destination. Since morning we cruised along the beautiful Turkish coast. After some maintenance we will head out to investigate the nearest taverna.
Day 4
Rhodes… After enjoying the gate to Greece we released ropes at 1 am.
The leg was challenging from start to end: Difficult to disconnect Night navigation Variable winds until first light Weak winds with strong swells Strong winds with steep big waves And as a finale, the last 2 hours with stormy 30 knot winds.
Tomorrow a resting / fixing day in Rhodes, looking forward for some Geros soon….
Day 5
In Rhodes we entered the candy shop below and bought many things we needed to prep the boat for the rest of the journey. We also needed a specific engine part and the store did not have in stock. Later that day the store manager tracked me in the city “sir, we found it…come and see”. Unbelievable! We took it and spent the afternoon preparing fixing and installing.
6 am we leave the dock for our next adventure, calm seas are forecasted.
Day 6
On sailing boats there are 2 types of sailors; steamers and sailors. Steamers point the bow and push the gas pedal while sailors work hard and deviate according to wind and sea opportunities. Today for the first time they came together until late afternoon as the wind was ~0 so no conflicts.
We enjoyed 30 minutes of flying our ginnaker…
We made progress to Kalimnos today with the calm sea. The plan is until the 13th to progress just short of 200 NM while today we cleared 85 of them due to the fantastic conditions. On the 13th there is a weather opportunity to cross from east to west, a 50 NM journey at the center of the Aegean Sea, with reasonable conditions.
Day 7
A bit beyond sailing and boating. We arrived to Lipsi at 13:00.
After a hike to move the mussels, we went to fantastic sandy beach on the east bay.
On the beachside there is a family run taverna while every dish has a twist: Hummus with eggplant Greek salad with capers, pumpkin and sunflower seeds… Feta cheese fried in a filo pastry rap drizzled with warm fig syrup Surprising!!!
After a nice long swim and on the way back to the boat helping a local load a fridge to his truck and doing my daily good deed.
We are within striking distance of crossing the heart of the Aegean and waiting for the opportunity. The last picture in the album shows the crossing stretch.
Patmos tomorrow…
Day 8
after a nice day in Patmos, a weather window just presented an opportunity to cross, we are taking it tonight.
Good weekend and will update from the other side
Sorry for the picture malfunction, sending a link to google photos hoping it works…The Aegean 2024 app.goo.gl
A bit beyond sailing and boating.We arrived to Lipsi at 13:00.
After a hike to move the mussels, we went to fantastic sandy beach on the east bay.
On the beachside there is a family run taverna while every dish has a twist: Hummus with eggplant Greek salad with capers, pumpkin and sunflower seeds… Feta cheese fried in a filo pastry rap drizzled with warm fig syrup Surprising!!!
After a nice long swim and on the way back to the boat helping a local load a fridge to his truck and doing my daily good deed.
We are within striking distance of crossing the heart of the Aegean and waiting for the opportunity. The last picture in the album shows the crossing stretch.
Patmos tomorrow…
Day 9
tadada, we came out on the other side 🙂 and at 02:45am we arrived to the entrance of Olympic Marine ~Athens. Going back to Lipsi we went for a morning hike and met Andras that stumbled into Lipsi in 1949 and stayed ever since. His Australian accent disappeared aa he speaks mostly Greek. Andras watered his magnificent vegetable garden and gave us a splendid cucumber for breakfast.
We sailed to Patmos, ~2 hours pleasant sail and after entering and fueling we enjoyed a day at the beach. At noon we decided to cross and started with arrangements including eating, “lashing” the boat, preparing harnesses and the storm jib.
Night sailing with 20 ish knots of wind and constant steep short waves. The Eudokia behaved fantastic on the water and kept us safe. The only minor damage is a broken shakel.
At first light / south west Mikonos (what a beautiful island from the sea as well) a decision not to take a passage but to sail around cost us 5 hours and as conditions became even more extreme, we changed course and sailed down wind to Siros where we took shelter to rested to wait for the next window for the last leg. Lifting anchor at 6pm was an amazing finale’ sailing 6.5 knots with a pleasant sea, sababa.
Herzeliya, Cyprus, Kastellorizo, Rhodes, Kalymnos, Lipsi, Patmos, Siros and Olympic Marina, 1 boat and a crew of 4 with many small memories. This is where our adventure ends this time.
