Astipalea is far from neighbouring islands - our next stop Kos town was 7 hours away - but it is an island well worth visiting. There are many lovely anchorages and coves to tuck into, particularly along the southern coast.
The well protected bay you see in the attached images is called Ormos Agrilithi, situated on the south east coast. It feels very remote and we were the only yacht anchored there. There is a small church and what looks like the remains of an old pottery factory with it's tall chimney and a small quarry behind.
Our only company were a few goats that passed by at sunset.
We anchored in sand and weed (good holding), reversed into the cove and tied off to rocks (of which there were many to choose from).
What was amazing was in such a remote spot and such a tiny cove (I paced the waterline at 65 metres long), there was so much accumulated plastic trash. We collected 4 and a half bags of plastic, which included various shoes, 2 flippers, an old life vest, a soccer ball, water bottles, the remains of many plastic packets and most disturbingly, 68 plastic bottle tops (that's more than 1 bottle top per metre of cove).
Well folks, anyone anchoring there now will find the cove clean.
