The trouble with these Greek Islands is that there are many of them and it’s hard to decide where to go. There are beautiful bays, Venetian castles, ancient ruins and quaint towns and villages literally everywhere. So I much appreciate it that Benno and Rieke are developing a general touristic plan, armed with a number of German guide books. So we can be somewhat confident that we don’t miss any highlights as we criss-cross the Dodecanese!

Next stop after Simi was the Panormitis monastery on the South West side of Simi, which is on a nice, calm bay virtually surrounded by hills. It is here where I dove into the waters for the first time this season. 22 C is cool but manageable. The monetary itself was under renovation, making it somewhat challenging to to take good pictures. Also, in some of these Greek Orthodox churches you can look inside but you’re prohibited from taking pictures. Sometimes it says “no pictures inside” - so I can stand in the door (not inside) and at least take one shot. It’s good to have been a lawyer …. In others, the language is less ambiguous. Bummer. I have no pictures of the outstanding interior of this church.

The next major stop was the volcanic island of Nisyros, after one night at anchor in a by on Tilos. The 2015 update in handbook said that the harbor had silted over the winter and now only accessible to catamarans. But my French app Navily had one report from 2017 that a boat with 2.2 m draft was ok in the harbor. So we gave it a try. Turns out, the harbor is very shallow at the entrance - we only had 20 cm under the keel - but once inside, it’s now deep enough. And it’s definitely worth it. The island is quite green and there’s a bunch of things to see. A crater that is still smoking a bit from a number of “pots”, the little mountain town of Emporios which has been nicely renovated, the “other” town of Nikia (see picture) and its tiny church and the walls of the ancient city of Nisyros, among many beautiful vistas. It was a hard day of touristic activity (by rental car) but we checked off a lot and had a great time!

The big island of Kalymnos was next, unfortunately it took a long time to motor there. First day where we didn’t have the sails up at all. Kalymnos is harsh and very dry but it provided a nice calm anchorage for us overnight. Next day there is WIND from the West. Where are we heading? West, to the island of Evitha. Why? I had heard on the Med Cruiser Net that it’s a great little place, inhabited only by a shephard/restaurant keeper and his wife. He rents out moorings that have the reputation of being sturdy and well maintained. And they run a taverna up the hill. So after 6 hours of great upwind sailing, we picked up one of the moorings. Dimitris (name made up) is there to take our lines through the ring on the mooring ball and collect his Euro 7 for the night in case we’re not going up to the taverna. The place is very protected from all directions and there are sheep and goats everywhere. There’s a little path up the hill to the taverna but unfortunately, you have to climb over a considerable number of rocks, nothing for Grandgrandpa. So a quiet dinner on board.