Sailing the Eastern Aegean: A Second Cruising Companion, for the Sporades, the Dodecanese and Crete
Sailing the Eastern Aegean is the second sailing title in our Travel Guides series, picking up exactly where Sailing Greece left off. That first book covered the Ionian, the Saronic and Argolic Gulfs, and the Cyclades, and said plainly in its closing pages that the Sporades, the Dodecanese and Crete were a possible second volume rather than something to squeeze in and thin out. This is that second volume.
Three Grounds, Each Distinct
The Sporades \u2014 Skiathos, Skopelos and Alonissos, the last guarded by a real marine park with real zoning and entry fees rather than a nominal one \u2014 sit closest to the mainland and suit a crew that wants pine-covered islands and short hops. The Dodecanese \u2014 Kos, Kalymnos, Leros, Patmos, Symi, Rhodes and a scattering of quieter stops \u2014 carry a heavier layer of wartime and Ottoman-to-Italian history than either of this book's other two grounds, and the book says so rather than treating every harbour the same. Crete is covered as a standalone base rather than a link in a chain, with its own marina infrastructure, its Minoan sites, and a coastline the book is honest about only partially covering.
Matched to Your Crew, Same as the First Book
The same crew-matching approach that ran through Sailing Greece carries over here: which ground suits a first-time bareboat crew, which rewards a more experienced one, and where a flotilla or skippered charter is the sensible call rather than a missed adventure. The meltemi gets the same plain treatment it got in the first book \u2014 region by region, not glossed into one blanket warning or one blanket reassurance.
Honest About a Thinner Research Base
This is stated directly rather than hidden: the Eastern Aegean's three grounds are, in places, less densely documented by the cruising-sailor community than the Ionian or the Saronic Gulf. Where a specific figure could not be pinned down \u2014 an exact crater dimension on Nisyros, a festival date on Kalymnos, the precise state of a smaller anchorage \u2014 the book says so rather than printing a plausible-sounding number. Karpathos and Kastellorizo get lighter coverage than the book's other stops for the same reason, flagged as a gap rather than papered over.
No Invented Prices, No Invented Quotes \u2014 Same Rule, Every Book
As with every title in this catalogue, there are no reader quotes, no testimonials and no unattributed local wisdom, and no charter rates, deposits or fees printed as fixed numbers that would only go stale. What the book gives instead is the structure of each cost and each formality \u2014 including the e-Charterparty, mandatory since 1 July 2026 \u2014 so the reader knows what to confirm before flying out, not a number that may already be wrong by the time they read it.
Sailing the Eastern Aegean joins Sailing Greece, golf in Ireland, Scotland and England, surfing in Ireland and England, climbing in Ireland, Scotland and the UK, diving in Ireland, and campervan touring on the Wild Atlantic Way \u2014 twelve books now in our Travel Guides series.