Karpathos - high mountains, a traditional preserved village, some beaches in the south

Karpathos is one of the not yet so touristical islands in the south-eastern part of the aegaean sea. It belongs to the "dodecaneses". It´s high mountains and a nearly forgotten village in the mountains called Olimbos, it´s always strong and even in august sometimes pretty cold winds keep it a little apart from normal sailing-tourist´s ways, but it´s really worth to visit this rough island with a smart and lovely heart, when you get more familiar to it.

Usually, sailors arrive from Rhodes. It is about 45 nm from the south-corner of Rhodes to the capital town called Pigadia in the southeast of Karpathos. Not far away is the airport of Karpathos. The island is pretty flat here, but mor northerly, it becomes more and more rocky with high mountains.

When you enter the big bay of Pigadia, the capital town of Karpathos island (it´s called often "Karpathos-City" as well) you see the little town on the left. Anchorage is possible in the whole bay, but if you want to go to town, you sail towards Pigadia´s silhouette. There is space nearly always on the outside of the quai right beside the daily boats. If you are early, and the dayboats are not in yet, better stay righthanded on the quai. The inside of the harbour is to shallow, it´s for fisherboats only.Outside, drop your anchor (use long chain, because strong wind can blow from N. Ground is between 3-5m sandy  with some rocks, but nothing difficult. Electricity and water can be taken from a connection on the quai - that belongs to the fishermen usually only, but if one asks friendly, they are so kind and grant a connection ;-) Some shops in the small village, some Tavernas alongside of the port.. That´s nearly all. Walk in, passing some Bars and Cafes, and see righthanded a bigger "Supermarket", bakery, some shops. Internet-Bars available for a small fee. The Port Police is directly on the harbour, it´s the white building with a greek flag. Officers are friendly, if you let them, and present your papers and crewlist before you leave the port. Pigadia is a nice place to leave the boat, rent a car and enjoy a day traveling over the island.

When you drive to the north-west, first you  come to Arkassa, which has an old castle, some roman (?) greek columns and a nice mosaique in an old chapel.

Walking 3 minutes you arrive at a beautiful beach with a small Hotel and Taverna: Glaros

That´s the view from the beach to the Taverna and Hotel, and now turn around and enjoy the view to the beachside from Taverna´s terrace, where they serve typical greek dishes on reasonable prices!

It is a very beautifull place, and you are in big danger, to stay there all day... it´s even empty in the highest season!
Below, in the distance, one can see the island of Kasos, halfway to Crete.

Driving north, there are some small bays with little harbours, where a small boat with just less than 1.70 m depth can go in, These are not mentioned or recommended in the usual books, and I mention it here, just to let you know! If you go in there, you have to be VERY carefull, because the waters are pretty shallow, and the entrances are narrow!!! Nevertheless - being in there, is really nice to be!

The small fisher-village Finiki has a wall to prevent from the northern and northwetsern summerly winds, but there is swell. The depth of the water was estimated with about 2m at the quai.

There are some Tavernas and holiday-homes.

Finiki harbour

Not far north of it is another small harbour with a little beach and some holiday-homes , called Lefkos
It is shallow in front of the beach, we estimated a depth in the middle of  about 1,60-2,00 m!

Some Tavernas, small shops, that´s all in Lefkos. But it´s a typical greek romantic place!

Sailing further north, you pass steep mountains all the time, and some miles north of Lefkos, you see the witnesses of a very bad event some years ago: the whole forest over the mountains was burning, and the black and grey skeletons of the death trees stand there as a reminder...

In the middle of that, there is the village of  Mesochorio.

Just behind Mesochorio, as you can see above, there is a very big bay, which is save from northern and northwestern wind, but I think, there might be strong falling winds. We had no time to not sail in there and stay, but surely will do next time. It looks beautiful, and might prevent from a very strong Meltemi, if we drop 2 anchors, and take our time....as already said: Karpathos is a very windy island, and often, weather shows between Karpathos and Crete the strongest winds, so it is good to know a place to hide, and these places are not described in any books, I have read so far! Some miles north, you can pass through a small passage between the island of Saria and the north cape of Karpathos, to move over from the western  to the eastern side of the island, it is very shallow, and the seagrass makes it look more shallow.

see description of  Karpathos´eastside here...

or choose from here  your next destination island

From Karpathos, you can sail to Rhodes (45 nm east/ south corner), sailing NE, you can visit Chalki, or more northerly Tilos (25 nm north)