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The Dodecanese, the Twelve Islands, lie in a crescent chain down the Asiatic Turkish coast curving west towards Crete. The name 'Dodecanese' is of comparatively recent origin. It came into use in 1908 when twelve islands of this group excluding Lipso, Kos and Rhodes, but including an outsider, Ikaria, protested about their deprivation of the special privileges and tax exemptions they had been granted in the 16th century by the Turks. Since then the name has come to include Lipso, Kos and Rhodes, but to exclude Ikaria. The group is also known as the Southern Sporades.
Like most of the Greek Islands, the Dodecanese are the tops of mountains that stood on the plain of the Aegean long since flooded. The islands are for the most part bare of vegetation, although not to such an extent as the Cyclades. Several of the islands with abundant natural springs, notably Kos and Rhodes, are relatively green and wooded.
The history of the Dodecanese has largely revolved around the fortunes of Rhodes, which dominated trade in this corner of the Aegean from ancient times until the 19th century. Today Rhodes dominates the new trade in tourists in the Dodecanese. In the early Middle Ages the Knights of St John, based in their fortress in Rhodes, stamped the area with their military signatures. Most of the military architecture is not the ubiquitous Venetian and Genoese architecture so prevalent in other parts of Greece, but that of the Knights. The occupation of the Knights nonetheless ensured the Venetians access to the trade in this part of the world. After the Knights finally capitulated to the Turks in 1522, the Dodecanese were to remain under Turkish rule until 1912.
Despite such a long period of unbroken occupation the islands have remained intrinsically Greek, and there is as little here to remind you of the long years under Turkish rule as elsewhere in Greece. After the Italo-Turkish war (1911-12) the islands were awarded to Italy although they were to be passed on in due course to Greece. This promise was later conveniently forgotten and the Dodecanese remained under the Italians until the Second World War. Finally in 1947 they officially became part of Greece. For those not familiar with modern Greek history it comes as quite a shock to learn that these islands have been a part of Greece for such a short time, when visually and culturally they appear to be as much a part of Greece as any of the other islands.

Routes

In the summer routes through the Dodecanese are basically off the wind or bashing into the wind. The meltemi blows from the N-NW around Patmos, curving down through the islands to blow from the W around Rhodes. The problem here is really how to get Ν and W in the summer. There are not too many options. The meltemi does have something of a thermal component which means the wind is augmented in the afternoon by a sea breeze blowing onto Asia Minor. With any luck if you leave early in the morning there will be less wind than in the afternoon. We are really talking of relative amounts of wind here and at times the meltemi can blow all through the night with as much force as in the day.
If you are heading W through the Cyclades the usual plan is to head as far Ν as possible in the Dodecanese and then dive off through the Cyclades where the meltemi will blow from the Ν in the middle and the NE towards the westerly Cyclades. An alternative is to head W and SW around the bottom Cyclades to Serifos and then up to the Saronic. The meltemi tends not to be as strong around the southern edges of the Cyclades and towards the Péloponnèse.
In the spring and autumn you will likely pick up southerlies and if you are planning to go Ν to the eastern Sporades or Northern Greece then spring and early summer is the time to do it before the meltemi is well established. Then you can come back S with the meltemi aft of the beam.

Weather patterns in the Dodecanese

In the summer the prevailing wind is the meltemi blowing from the NW-W. It starts fitfully in June, blows strongly in July through to September and again fitfully in October. In the summer months it regularly blows Force 4-6 and may on occasion reach Force 7. It does not blow every day, but may blow without a break for 5-10 days.
In the spring and autumn the wind frequently blows from the SE, about Force 2-4, although it may be stronger on occasion. In the winter the wind is predominantly from the SE although gales may come from the Ν or S. When the meltemi is blowing at full strength in July and August the gusts off the lee side of an island can be considerably stronger than the wind strength in the open sea. Gusts are particularly strong off Pátmos, Kalimnos, Kos, Nisiros, Tilos, Karpathos and Astipálaia. In the comparatively open stretch of sea between Astipálaia and Kárpathos a large and disturbed sea is set up when the meltemi blows for days on end. In the summer months it is very hot in the Dodecanese, although the meltemi provides some relief. Temperatures may reach 35°C although the average temperature is less. In the winter the climate is mild.