Kalimnos - Dodecanese

This island of barren rock sparsely strewn with herb and thyme bushes and green valleys, enjoys an abundance of golden beaches. Its fame is owed to its celebrated sponge fishermen, who leave their island each spring for the north coast of Africa amid sombre ceremonies, to return five months later greeted by joyous celebrations. The island's capital is a newly built town which hugs the hillside. The houses are painted white and blue and from a distance look like some child's drawing. An along the coast are inlets and bays. Caves are also an interesting attraction, with their stalactites and healing waters. It's an ideal island for the amateur fisherman, with transparent seas favouring underwriter fishing.

Sailing in to the main harbor, Kalimnos (Pothia), you can tell from the ferry deck that this island is special. Not from the landscape, though there's a stark majesty to the steep, gray-pink hills. But it's the town itself, filling its valley with boxy houses whose bright colors are reflected in the fishing boats bobbing in the harbor, that reaches out to enfold the visitor, blending the picturesque and active in an appealing, open, friendly manner.

Kalimnos Town is one of the largest towns in the Dodecanese, and even after the tourist season ends its streets and cafes still bustle with mopeds, pedestrians, coffee-drinkers. Certainly there are tourists, particularly along the graybrown beach between Kandouni and Masouri on the west coast of the island, and it's an open question how the island will develop in the future. For the time being, at any rate, shoppers in town are less likely to find "I Love Kalimnos" T-shirts than fishermen selling phouskies, a local mollusk encased in a leathery but flexible "shell" (the name means "balloon") or sea sponges.

For Kalimnos' other sobriquet is "Island of the Sponge Fishermen:" Historically, the island's main economy has revolved around sponge divers. Originally, they dove naked, clutching a stone to help them reach the depths where they gathered the black, inky sponges in bags around their necks and brought them to the surface. Once caught, the sponges were dried and cleaned of their meat; the skeleton is what most people know and use as "sponge." The sponge fleet left in the spring and returned around October, journeying as far as Cyprus and Africa. Besides the weather, hazards to divers included the bends, the crippling result of nitrogen bubbles forming in the blood after a too-rapid ascent to the surface. Those who made it back unscathed were amply rewarded; a sponge diver made up to 10 times more than the local doctor. Sponge diving was pretty much done in by a disease that struck the local sponge population in 1987.

Sponges have slowly made a comeback, but the industry isn't what it once was. Still, Kalimnos has plenty of "sponge factories" where sponges - both the soft Greek ones with the large holes and the firmer and smaller-holed American varieties - are processed, trimmed, and sometimes bleached in a bath of vitriol, which gives the sponge the paler color some people prefer, but also shortens its useful life.

From Kalymnos it is an easy jaunt to the nearby tiny islands of Telendos and Pserirnos, idyllic spots for fishing and swimming.

Places to moor

Limin Kalymnos - Offers good shelter form the meltemi. If there are strong southerly winds the harbor can become uncomfortable. There is both fuel and water on the quay. There is also good provisioning and a number of tavernas.

Vathi - is a fjord which is extremely attractive with its lemon and orange groves. There is a mole you can anchor on to. The fjord offers good shelter from meltemi There are tavernas, water and some supplies available.

Ormiskos Vorio or Emobrios - A small bay with a T-pier which is usually occupied by the fishing boats, you can anchor off in the bay. There is a small taverna and offers fair shelter from the meltemi.

Vlikathia - A small bay with beautiful summer villas. There is a taverna ashore and offers good shelter from the meltemi.