Watchmen

Telemachos route

Ithaca

The sighting of the lookout above Asteris

As you can imagine the watchmen kept a look out for Telemachos' ship to the south, as that is the direction from where Telemachos is expected to return, but most probably also to the north, which I have highlighted in green on the map, as you can never be sure the little troublemaker doesn't change his route.

Watchman

You'll remember the ambush where the suitors are lying in wait. One of them describes how the ambush was organized:

Watchmen sat on the windy heights during the day, one after the other, always on the watch. Then when the sun went down, we did not go ashore to spend the night, but we awaited the shining dawn, sailing on the sea in our swift ship on the watch for Telemachos so that we might take him and kill him.

Aigilips

Samos

Odussey Book 16 line 346-353 Barry B Powell

So, if Telemachos sails his ship along Ithaca's south coast as he would normally do, it would certainly be spotted by the watchmen. Even if we take into account that their view is limited by the mountains of the neighbouring island, Aegilips.

Let's see how Telemachos might manage to avoid being seen by the watchmen and why that makes the nearest shore significant.