Cruising Marmaris-Crete-Santorini and back

[little_roundtop]

Heading along the south coast from Balos, I've identified the following ports;
Paleohora; Galini; Kokkinos Pyrgos; Kaloi Limenes; Lentas (one of the GE Pictures shows a sunken coaster at the quay, so no worries about depth here then!); Tsoutsouros; Kastri; Lerapetra; Makrygialos; and Kouremenos. Then jump off to Karpathos.

Sailing along the north coast is a shorter route, but I'm worried about getting a pasting along the way. SWMBO and I have had some interesting times together over the years, but I'll certainly be dipping into the brownie points store if I ruin her hols by being too adventurous.

For reference purposes, the north coast seems to offer the following ports;
Khania; Souda; Bali Harbour (thought that was over in my half of the world, but anyway...); Herakleion;Malia; Agios Nikolaos; and Kouremenos. Then jump off to Karpathos.

I would STRONGLY advise against cruising the south coast of Crete in the summer, especially during the Meltemi season. The Meltemi gusts down off the high Cretan mountains (many over 2000m) and blasts onto the south coast, often at 50+ knots. In addition the dozens of gorges on the south coast accelerate any wind causing local 50+ knot gusts. The Admiralty Pilot recommends you stand-off at least 5 miles from the south coast in summer.

Most of the south coast "ports" you list are silted up with depths less than 1m - and they are very exposed. Only Palaeochora, Aghia Galini and Ierapetra are viable for a yacht. Ierapetra has a narrow and rock-bound entrance (25m) with barely 2m depth. Palaeochora has a 30m wide entrance and around 3m almost everywhere. The best (and safest) port on the south coast is Aghia Galini, 150m wide entrance, 5m to 6m almost everywhere and good shelter.

Kourmenos on the east coast is a small fishing harbour but it's deep enough for a yacht - if you can find room amongst the fishing boats.

By far the safest route along Crete is the north coast, you'll catch the Meltemi of course but at least it won't be gusting off the mountains as it will on the south coast. Chania is not safe in strong (over F6) northerlies. Souda is a bit of a frontier town and you can usually only anchor in there - safe though. Call VHF ch12 and ask permission from Souda Port Control before entering the bay - it's a major NATO naval base. Bali harbour is tiny and usually full, the bay is very rolly with any north component to the wind. Heraklion is ok but consider instead anchoring on the south coast of Nisis Dhia just north of Heraklion, the third bay from the west is the best. Malia is shallow, enter so close to the outer quay that you can touch it and keep close to this quay once inside. There is about 3m in these areas but it shallows fast away from the quay in any direction. Agios Nikolaos Marina is very good (that's where I am now) but do phone ahead and book, it's often full in the summer (and winter for that matter!).

BTW. By Balos I assue you mean the beach resort near Kissamos? Gramvousa lagoon (on the NW tip of Crete) is not to be missed if you're up that way.

PM me if you want any more detail on Crete, my pilot has all these details too so it's worth persevering with the download!

Tony Cross

 

[truscott]

Cheers Tony! That's exactly the sort of info I was looking for. Just got back home, so downloading your pilot now. Guess I jumped the gun a little, but then at least all the info is now searchable here for others.

My thanks also to everyone else for their input too.

Cheers,

PT.

 

[OldBawley]

67 year old graffiti

67 year old graffiti.

Truscott, if you visit Alimya, go and see the WW 2 German buildings in the S bay. There are some 67 year old drawings in there, really worth a photo series. This guy must have been starving, in many drawings he writes about food and even eating rats.
See pic. A desolate but beautiful island.

 

[lille_bee]

Truscott,
I can't recommend the "Eagle Ray/Elias" pilot books highly enough: they are absolutely brilliant, very comprehensive and detailed. Much better than Heikell IMHO! (a bit pricey, though...!)
http://www.eagleray.gr/ar_sg1_en.html

 

[truscott]

67 year old graffiti.

Truscott, if you visit Alimya, go and see the WW 2 German buildings in the S bay. There are some 67 year old drawings in there, really worth a photo series. This guy must have been starving, in many drawings he writes about food and even eating rats.
See pic. A desolate but beautiful island.

Thanks OldBawley. We've been to Alimya before and loved it. It's one of those spots that we could happily anchor in for ever (well....a long time at least).

PT.

 

[cmedsailor]

my pilot has all these details too so it's worth persevering with the download!

Tony Cross

Sorry I just wanted to say that I have downloaded the pilot and it's AN EXCELLENT PIECE OF WORK.
For me spending so much time and effort to write it and share it for free is a sample of seamanship, love for the sea and respect to other sailors.
Well done Tony and thank you very much.

 

[truscott]

Totally Agree! Tony's Crete Pilot is brilliant. Well worth the wait. Am looking forward to adding our input as well once we've done it.

lille_bee; thanks for the Eagle ray/Elias link. I've been hunting this down ever since we used this several years ago in the Ionian and I agree it was very good in comparison to the Imray Pilot. Although, I have to say that I quite like Rod's historical background pieces (am re-reading the Ionian Pilot at the moment just for something to do).

Cheers,

PT.

 

[RichardS]

Brilliant Crete Pilot, Tony.

I've saved it on my laptop and will make use of it once I am free!

Richard

PS From work, not HM Pleasure!