Greece - Kalymnos from San Francisco

Heading to Kalymnos in October, would love to hear advice, tips, and general guidance on getting there. I've seen a few ways, SF to Athens and overnight ferry, SF to Kos then ferry, SF to Turkey then ferry. SF to Kos seems really expensive so I'm looking at all methods. I could also go somewhere else the week before and work my way to Kalymnos. Also if you've been, anyone scuba there? Was it any good? Thinking other things to do on off days. Thanks!

A few suggestions:

1) Fly to mainland Europe, then to Kos, then catch a ferry to Kalymnos. Early in the season (October & much of November) you can fly inexpensively from various European countries to Kos on local carriers. You'll have to do some searching to find those airlines (try Aegean, Olympic, Thomas Cook, & EasyJet) as they don't show up in the major travel search engines, and then some planning to ensure you can make your connections, but if you can find an inexpensive flight from SFO to, say, London, you should then be able to fly to Kos no problem (like multiple flights per day or at least one per day). Many of these flights have a stop in Athens so if you find a flight from SFO to Athens, even better. There are multiple ferries daily from Kos to Kalymnos, they are cheap, and there's no need to book these in advance: When you land in Kos you can just catch a 10-minute taxi to the ferry and buy a ticket. Easy.

2) Do not take an overnight ferry from Athens to Kalymnos. These can get shut down by weather, are just as expensive as a flight to Kos + ferry to Kalymnos, and take much longer.

3) Do not fly into Kalymnos. It is possible, but these flights are constantly being cancelled due to weather (winds) as the Kaly airport is tiny and mountainous. Don't risk it - I've had friends try this and effectively get screwed due to missed connections and flight change fees. Convenient, but not worth the risk.

PS: I haven't done any diving there but I had a friend do some scuba who was pretty unimpressed (granted I think he has high standards).