Khíos - Kardhamila

Sailing away from Khíos marina   

The wind was unhelpfully still coming from the north but we felt that we had seen enough of the Khíos town area and wanted to move somewhere else. A bay at the north end of the island had caught our eye but we were slightly concerned that it might be too open to the north for the prevailing wind. However, on Saturday 7 May we saw that the wind was going to ease somewhat and decided that we would give Órmos Mármarou a go. It was only about 12 miles by the direct route but with the10 knot northerly wind we would need to tack backwards and forwards to get there. In the end we clocked up 28 sea miles getting to Órmos Mármarou, hence our reluctance to try to sail further north to Lésvos with this wind.

Overtaken by the shiny new Greek Coastguard cutter as we passed close to Nísos Oinoússa   

As you would expect, it was a delightful sail. Our route took us close to Nísos Oinoússa where we were over taken by the Greek Coastguard’s shiny new cutter which we had previously seen moored in Khíos harbour. The pretty but rather unassuming Oinoússa island sits just northwest of Khíos. Whilst it is a rather insignificant looking island, it has produced the richest ship-owning families of Greece. Quite some wealth when you consider that Greek ship owners control around the same tonnage of ships as all the other EU countries put together.

Approaching Órmos Mármarou and the town of Kardhamila at its head   

We’d left the marina at 1030 and by 1500 we had zigzagged our way through the narrow gap between Khíos Nísos Oinoússa, dodged the 2 ships which went through at about the same time, and were making our way into the bay of Órmos Mármarou.

Kardhamila town quay breakwater   

Our chart was pessimistic about the water depths and so we took things carefully but there were no issues and we ended up as the only yacht moored inside the town quay/breakwater at Kardhamila.

Around us on the slopes were a variety of large villas which our pilot book tells us belong to the rich widows of Khíot captains.

It’s a pretty spot with a very green cultivated plain behind the town. We took a wander up the valley towards a deep gorge through which a stream runs which keeps the plain watered.

Kardhamila   

The nautical theme in Kardhamila is strong with bronze statues of captains and sailors’ partners looking seaward for the return of their loved ones. There are also lots of large anchors, presumably from ships linked to the town’s inhabitants. It was generally very quiet except on Sunday when the cafés and restaurants were overflowing with families. We subsequently discovered that it was Mother’s Day in Greece [Ed: and, indeed, in most countries other than the British Isles], hence the family outings.

Nicky’s mezze dinner   

No one bothered us moored on the quay and we found that the breakwater gave good protection so we stayed 2 nights. We did, however, have 2 big visitors on the outside of the breakwater. One was a large fishing boat which came in a couple of times to offload its catch, and the other was the new coastguard cutter. We were a little surprised when they turned up on Sunday, especially when no one else met them. We ended up catching their throwing lines and hauling the large mooring warps ashore, putting onto the bollards, until they were secure enough to put their own crew ashore.

Our otherwise lazy Sunday was complemented by a mezze Nicky rustled up. Warm weather, lovely food and a chilled bottle of Samos wine; a nice way to while away the afternoon and evening.

Kardhamila, Greece