Monday 29 June 2015 - Amorgos

Up fairly early with a view to sail to Amorgos as soon as possible.  It is a nice day.  I go out to buy bread and a few extra bits for the boat.  When I get back R has made the boat ready to go.  The sun is shining and the wind has abated.  So off we go.  We put up the mainsail just outside the harbour.  We still have a reef in it from when we came in, but we don’t bother to shake it out as it is gusting 19 knots and we are going nicely.

We have quite a nice sail to Amorgos.  The wind died a bit and was mostly just force 4, but it was a beam reach and we kept up a steady 4.5-5 knots bringing us in to port just a lunchtime.  The only slight problem was the sea state.  Although it wasn’t at all bad in absolute terms because the waves are so short we rolled about a lot and I even had to take a pill.

So we get to the port.  This is a harbour where we have to moor using our anchor.  We dread this.  On top of everything, the wind picks up to 17 knots across us as we try to reverse into a space.  We put the anchor down, but find when we get to the quay that it is not straight ahead and we are moored at a bad angle.  So we have to go out and do it again!  This time the man in charge of mooring seems to think we are fine.  So we finally tie up and have some lunch.

The harbour is cute as is the town, but it is small.  We are waiting for our friends Jonnie and Marion Lurie to arrive.  We have been trying to meet up with them for nearly three weeks now.  As we are about to go around looking at the town we see them come in.  We can’t understand what they are doing.  They haven’t approached the town quay.  We later find out that their anchor windlass locked into the up position and they couldn’t come in to moor on the quay.  Eventually they manage to get an anchor down in the harbour and will remain there.

We buy some wine to give them drinks, as we are nearly out of the stuff here on board.  We are pleasantly surprised to find that the shop is willing to take our credit card for us to pay.  That saves our cash supplies.  We have been taking money out regularly to have ample cash in case of Grexit and we have brought a fairly large sum with us as emergency supplies.  So we should be alright, but the more money we can get for the moment the better.  So we are pleasantly surprised to find that the local ATM allows us to withdraw 300 euros

In our tour of the town I find a laundry service.  So I take in two large loads for them to do.  That puts me a bit ahead of the game again.  The laundry will be ready after 11 am tomorrow.

We have a drink on board with the Luries, a wander around the town and then a simple meal at a local restaurant.  We are a bit disappointed to find out that we have to move tomorrow.  A rally is coming in and they require all the berths.  Richard has spoken to the port police who say we can stay until noon, to get the laundry.  We shall have to anchor out with the Luries in the afternoon.  That means will shall finally have to blow up our dinghy and see if our outboard works!

It is now fairly late.  Richard is sound asleep while sitting at the chart table.  The town is fairly lively, but we shall sleep I am sure.

Sunday 28 June 2015 - Koufonisia

We woke up to a lovely day.  The wind is still blowing, but it does seem better.  So as we are here we decided to continue to act as tourists.  We will take the other boat which goes to beaches on the sister island.  It costs the same 5 euros each, so that is good.  We have a very interesting journey to the island.  The boat goes right inland at the tip of a different island next to cliffs which contain loads of caves.  It was a shame that we didn’t bring a camera!

We arrive at Kato Koufonisia.  The first stop is where there is a taverna, but that is not where we want to get off.  So we get off at the far end where there is a beach.  The first thing we notice is the landing stage!  I wouldn’t want to take a boat there.  It is just planks of wood attached to rocks, many of which are sticking out into the sea.  The captain of this boat really knows just how much it draws!  We manage to get off the boat (something of a miracle given how steep the descent from the landing stage is) and walk along to look for a place to stay.  It is not a particularly sandy beach.  There is sand, but it is interspersed with lots of rocks.  We manage to find a place to put up our umbrella, again using rocks to keep it from blowing over (though the wind isn’t nearly so bad today).  The second thing we notice is that many of the people on the beach are nude!  So Richard has finally found his ‘skinny’ (as in skinny dipping) beach.  He can’t wait to get his gear off.  Then I notice that more and more people are stripping off.  I put on a rather covered up bathing suit, mainly because I am still red where I burnt on my chest the other day.  We have two hours here before the boat comes back to take us to the taverna for lunch.

We have an initial swim.  The beach may not be lovely and sandy, but the setting is magnificent.  It is a beautiful bay surrounded by low cliffs and the colours in the water are amazing.  We sit on our new beach mats.  I mainly stay in the shade.  It is not long now before we need to get the boat.  So we have a last dip and R persuades me to swim nude.  Well, I didn’t want to get on the boat in a wet bathing suit, did I?

We get to the taverna and look to see how to order food.  It is like the places I remember going to years ago.  There is no menu.  There is just a slab with all their fresh fish to choose and large dishes in the kitchen with today’s salads, vegetables and other dishes to choose from.  I would really like a fresh fish.  We have been avoiding them because they overcharge so badly.  However, I choose a large scorpion fish which when weighed up will only cost about 17 euros for the two of us.  So we order that together with a nice vegetable stew and a tomato and feta cheese salad.  There is of course a big rush to order because everyone has come off the boat at the same time.  So we are not surprised when service is a bit slow.  We get our drinks fairly soon and then bread and our veggies and salad, but no fish.  Richard says we should be patient (not one of my virtues), but after at least 45 minutes I am convinced we are never going to get our fish.  Then finally a waiter comes and says there has been a mistake and our fish was served to someone else!  He offers us fried calamari instead, but we have eaten a lot of that and particularly wanted a grilled fish.  Finally he says he can do another fish for us but it will take 30 minutes!  So we wait. We eventually get the fish.  By that time our hunger has worn off and it was a bit of a disappointment.  But I really think that had we got the fish in time, it would have been one of the best taverna meals we had.

After lunch we try to find the beach.  It is on a path behind the taverna and down a steepish path through the cliffs.  The beach is all stony.  There is nowhere to put up our umbrella, nor put out the mats.  We just find a big rock each to sit on.  Really we just want another swim.  This beach is not skinny, so with swimsuits on we have a go getting into the water.  The beach is so stony that I cannot walk on it barefoot.  So as we both have waterproof sandals we go swimming with them on.  Even then we have to walk along the beach to find a place where the stones are further apart to get in!  But we have a nice swim and just about dry off in time to catch the boat back to the main island.

As we wait for the boat, I decide to take a photo.  The only way to do that is on my old iphone, which we have our Greek sim card in.  I turned the phone off and when I went to turn it back on it said that the sim had been locked and I needed a pin to unlock it.  The only pin Richard and I know of was 0000, which we were told was the pin on all new cards.  But that doesn’t work.  You only get two goes before you are locked out.  So after the second attempt doesn’t work we decide we will have to get to the boat and see if we can find any info on a pin.  But we can’t.  We asked a friend by e-mail to phone us, but the phone won’t even take incoming calls.  What a nuisance, particularly as we are trying to meet up with friends tomorrow.

That is not the only problem here in Greece.  As we feared all along, Grexit (Greek exit from the Euro) appears to be imminent.  Our friend has e-mailed us to say that the island he is on has run out of money.  I hear someone on the phone saying there has been a run on the supermarkets.  When we go shopping for our next few days food, we find that there is stock on the shelves, but they won’t take a credit card, only cash, even though we paid by card at the same shop yesterday.  Back on the boat we look up the news and find that the banks will all be closed tomorrow.  So it begins.  We have cash enough for a few weeks, but if things get really bad we may have to go on to Turkey.  Interesting times, as they say!

So we shall see.  In the meantime the plan is to move on to the next island to try to meet up with friends tomorrow. 

Saturday 27 June 2015 - Koufonisia

Still in Koufonisia.  Yesterday we acted like tourists.  There is a little local boat that takes you to any one of the three local beaches.  We walked to the closest beach yesterday, so today we will take the boat to the furthest one.  Richard is hoping it will be a nudist beach.  It is not.  It is a beautiful sandy beach all around an enclosed bay.  The only problem is that is had no beach chairs or parasols.  So as we are going on the boat we bring our own chairs and beach umbrella.  The problem with the umbrella is that is is blowing a houlie - at least force 4 and probably a 5.  That means the umbrella will blow away.  However, I have been watching the locals and see how the hold their umbrellas up with rocks.  We have a bit of string R uses as a handle, so we tie that to a rock and then to the umbrella spokes.  And guess what? it works.  So we spend the whole day on the beach taking turns to sit under the umbrella.  Again the wind is making it cool, so we only go in the sea once.

We are watching the boats go back to the port.  They leave between quarter past and half past every hour.  We decide we will take the one that leaves at 17:30.  So we pack up all our stuff and walk over to the landing stage.  But no boat comes!  I can’t believe it.  How are we to get back?  Well after waiting for an hour a boat does appear.  When we get back to the port we note that the timetable (which Richard did not take good note of) shows that the boat goes every hour except at 3:30 and 5:30!  We could have stayed on the beach for the extra time.  But it is probably as well that we didn’t because when I get back to the boat I find that I have burnt on one side of my chest and upper arm.  I guess I wasn’t sufficiently under the umbrella!

The wind is still strong and we are covered in sand again.  We aren’t going to clean it.  We have decided to stay until Monday when the forecast is for lighter winds and smaller seas.

So we get up late today.  It is still blowing a force 4.  We have a leisurely breakfast and pay for two more nights.  We have a walk around the other headland.  It is very pretty with another two little harbours for fishing boats. We identify a restaurant that has been recommended and we shall go there for supper.  We walk back through the town seeing the back streets we hadn’t found before.  It is quite cute and very Greek.

Back on the boat the wind is getting up.  It is blowing a force 5 gusting 6 and bringing along lots more sand.  We sit in the cockpit, but by the end of the day we are very dusty.  We haven’t bothered to go swimming.  The wind is making it too cold.  R finally gets around to changing the rest of our internal lighting to LEDs and reinflates and cleans our fenders.

A quiet afternoon and then off to dinner.  The restaurant is very lively.  They are playing Greek music and there seems to be a wedding in the garden!  Richard says this is our first place that seems really Greek.  We are not sure what we will do tomorrow, but we may take the little boat to the neighbouring island.  The forecast is for more wind and big seas!  The wind has been howling all the time - it has been blowing at around 20 knots for most of the day and the wind in the rigging is still quite noisy.  I don’t suppose it will keep us awake.

Thursday 25 June 2015 - Koufonisia

We had a much more comfortable night than expected.  The swell went down as did the wind.  We did both manage to get up in the middle of the night to look at the stars which were amazing. 

We had breakfast and made a fairly early start of about 9:30am.  I was convinced our anchor had dragged, because we woke up much closer to the large motor yacht than we had been.  But on taking up the anchor it is clear that it had not moved from where we put it down, and we just had swung around because the wind had changed direction. 

The latter issue of the wind was a problem.  We had always planned to go to Koufonisia.  It isn’t an island anyone has heard of, but it is convenient and has a proper marina to stay at.  With the original winds we could have sailed here.  But as ever when we got out to sea we found a nice force 5 breeze from the north, e.g., right on the nose. 

People who know Richard know that he is obsessed with numbers.  He loves to find patterns.  For this reason he has always liked London post codes.  So all day he has told me we are in Highbury because the wind is N5.  In other words northerly force 5.  We didn’t get to Highgate – N6.  So it was another motor slog into the wind and the waves.  Only three saving graces.  Firstly the sea is not bad and just a little choppy.  Secondly we only had to travel about 6 miles which meant under 2 hours of slogging into the wind.  Finally, it is a lovely day with the sun shinning.  So we are pretty content when we get to the marina in Koufonisia.  It is properly run.  There is a staff member directing each boat into a proper berth and helping with lines.  There are pick up lines, so no need to put the anchor down.  It has water, electricity and proper toilets (with paper),  It is rather more expensive than the 5 euros it cost in Ios, but then 18 euros a night is hardly a fortune. 

We have lunch on board and then go out to explore the area.  We walk a fair distance to a nice beach with a café.  We have a cold drink and despite the wind it is warm enough (just) for me to get in the sea and have a little swim.  We find there is a bus that goes from the town to the beach and back again hourly, so we take that home.  There is also a little boat that goes to a further beach, which we might try tomorrow.

Back on the boat we find there is a bit of a disaster.  The wind has been blowing steadily and hard from just behind us where there is sand.  So we have piles of sand all over the boat.  It even got through the side windows into our cabin and I have to shake out the linen!  We try to wash it off, and don’t do too bad a job, but we fear it will just come back again.

Other than that this is a lovely spot.  The island is not too developed.  It is clearly just a holiday spot, but it is all low key and rather charming.  We have paid for two nights.  We hope then the weather will allow us to go further afield and meet up with friends.

Wednesday 24 June 2015 - Schinousa

Well it turned out we were comfortable enough for two more nights in Ios.  On Tuesday it was a lovely sunny day, but the wind was quite strong.  We toyed with the idea of going out of the harbour into one of the nice bays in the afternoon.  But in the end we decided not to and to leave on Wednesday when the weather was supposed to be much better.

So we spent the day being tourists.  We went to see a prehistoric village dating back to about 3000BC called Skarkos, near the port.  Then we walked along a footpath back up to the village.  This time we wound up on the opposite side from where we were before and were among the windmills.  We had lunch in the village, which was much quieter now that it was no longer the Swedish midsummer festival.  We then went to the museum which had a display of the items they found excavating the ancient village we went to.

Back to the boat on the bus and then off to the beach on the next bus.  We found another nice beach with comfortable sun beds and umbrellas, again for free if you ordered a drink.  I am on the water.  Speaking of water, I finally got in for a swim.  All this high wind has made it too cold for me to want to go in the water!

We decided to have dinner out.  We wound up at a restaurant which is part of a brand new hotel directly in front of the boat!  We chose it because they have a lobster dish and I thought this would make up for Richard not getting his lobster on his birthday.  It turned out to be an excellent restaurant and we had a really good meal for a change.

This morning we left port at about 8:45.  The sun is shining, but there is forecast to be a good breeze and we hope we can finally sail.  When we get out of the harbour there is a lovely breeze of about 15 knots - yes, on the nose!  We have to battle this around the island until we get on course for our next stop.  At one stage we get so fed up with the bashing into the sea that Richard decides to sail, ie tack.  So we shut off the engine and head off at 45 degrees to the wind.  When we tack back we are still just too close to the wind to sail without doing another tack.  So we motor sail for a short time.  But as we turn around the next headland the wind is on the beam and we can finally get a sail.  As we get going I come over all sleepy.  I don’t know why.  But I decide to go below and have a nap.  While I was asleep the wind came up more and as I wake R is on the phone to a friend telling him that it is blowing 19 knots and we are making 7 knots in speed.  When I get up to the cockpit, the wind is picking up more.  Luckily it is still on the beam but it is gusting up to 25 knots!  So we take a reef in and speed on.  Then, just as we get to out last waypoint to go into a bay the wind just disappears!  From 17 - 25 knots it is now 4 knots from the opposite direction.  It doesn’t really matter because we are virtually at our destination.

We go into a pretty protected bay on the island of Schinousa.  The only problem is that a very large motor yacht has anchored just where we were headed.  He is so large he takes up nearly the whole anchorage.  To be more on our own we head to another end of the bay where the plotter indicates a sandy bottom for good holding.  We put the anchor down in what looks from the surface like a sandy part.  However, when Richard goes hard in reverse to set the anchor there is a strong tug and we are pretty sure that the anchor is on a rock.  We nonetheless have our lunch here.  We can’t decide what to do.  There are a few choices.  So we try the first, which is to go to the other side of the bay and see if we can find a sandy spot to anchor in.  So we move.  This time when R goes hard in reverse there is not such a strong pull and we think we might be OK.  However after an hour warming up in the sun Richard goes for a swim (I put my feet in and was so cold I gave up).  He takes his snorkel and looks at the anchor.  It is lying on its side on a rock!  With any change in the wind direction we will drag the anchor and there is no sand here, just rocks and weed.  Not a place where we can stay for the night.

So we decide we must move again.  The choice is to go on to the next island which has a marina where we were going to go tomorrow, or try the bit of the bay where the big motor boat is.  I don’t really want to rush to this other island because it looks like we will have to stay there for a few days in high winds, so the later we get there the better.  So we make our way over to where the motor boat is.  This time when I lower the anchor I can see that it is going straight into sand.  Also when Richard does his strong reversing it digs in without giving the tugs we were getting when it was on rock.  So we are happy to stay here the night.  We hope that out here there will be no light pollution and we will get a good view of the stars!

We have dinner on board with food I bought in Ios.  I am also making a cooked courgette salad for lunches over the next few days.  I was hoping we would be meeting up with friends before the weekend.  However we have just heard that they are weather bound and we are unlikely to meet before Monday.  Just as well that we are in good time to get to Rhodes to meet Colin.

Monday 22 June 2015 - Ios

On Sunday we just did the tourist things in Santorini.  We worked out how to take the local buses and took two to get to Akrotiri, an ancient Minoan settlement on the far south of Island.  They have done a big excavation and it is all presented under a shelter.  Very clever.  Then we took the bus back to Fira, where the main port is.  We really wanted to see the museum which houses many of the finds from the Akrotiri site.  We managed to get there just in time to look around before it closed.

We had a bit of lunch and then a walk around Fira.  It is a large traditional village on a hill like Oia, but it has none of the charm.  We are certainly glad that we were recommended to stay in Oia.  It is really special.

So back on the bus to Oia.  The buses seemed to have worked out well until we were within 15 or 20 minutes of Oia, when we were all ordered off the bus because it’s door stopped working.  We were told to get on another bus which was at the bus stop.  The problem was that the bus was completely full and we had to stand.  Further it was a different route which took detours to all the local villages.  So what should have been a 20 minute ride took another 45 minutes!  Well it was an experience.

Back in town we decided that we would like to seek out somewhere to have a drink and see what all the books describe as Santorini’s fabulous sunset.  We went to a place called ‘Sunsets’ that we had seen before.  However, it turned out to be fully booked and would only seat people for dinner.  So we gave it a miss and walked on.  Then we came across a place that called itself a wine bistro.  They had an interesting looking seafood dinner with wine.  It seemed to be perfectly situated to see the sunset.  As before it was mainly pre-booked, but they did find us a table.  So we sat down early, but had a cocktail to start and then the fish platter.  We managed to spin our dinner out so we were there most of the evening.  The sunset was nice, but really not that special.  Nothing like Hawaii, or Burma for that matter.

So we walked slowly back to the hotel and managed to shop!  I have been looking for a bit of what I call “toilet art”.  That is something to hang in my downstairs loo which has pictures from many of the places we have visited so that it has become a sort of travelogue.  There are lots of cheap not very good little paintings in all the souvenir shops.  But we stop in a gallery and they have much nicer little ones all mounted.  They are just prints, but we are taken with them so we buy one.  All of white houses and blue church domes.  Very Greek Island.  We also pass another shop that has the blouse I fancied yesterday.  It is a fake polyester silk, but of a beautiful print of island houses all blues and whites.  I try it on.  They make them very large.  Even a small is roomy on me.  But it is so pretty I buy it even though it costs much more than I wanted to pay.

So we have our last night in our little apartment room.  The only problem is that I have had a sudden panic and am worried about the boat.  I am convinced that an unknown missed telephone call is from the port.

We get up fairly early and make our way out to breakfast.  I really should have brought our coffee because breakfasts out are expensive.  Works out about the same as for lunch.  It is still early so we wander around a bit.  The book suggests that we see the maritime museum.  We find it, but it is not yet open.  It opens just before 10am and we go in.  Really there is not much to see.  There are some interesting old bits for boats, some very old bow head figurines and some nice models of boats, but it only takes us 20 minutes to look at the whole place.  So we go back to the room braving the steps.

We have booked transport to the ferry to leave at 11:30 even though the ferry doesn’t leave until 1:30pm.  We are advised that there can be terrible traffic jams, so we shouldn’t take any chances.  The trip here took about an hour.  But of course now that we have left so much time, it only takes 40 minutes.  So we have time to kill.  We have a bit of lunch and a drink and then finally get on the ferry. 

My worries about the boat were unfounded.  It is fine, just as we left it.  However, it is very windy.  We had thought about leaving this afternoon and going to one of the anchorages on the island.  But it is blowing 15-21 knots here in the harbour and the weather forecast is for 1.5 metre waves.  So it looks like we will be stuck here for another one or probably two nights until the winds and seas drop a bit.  We decide that our experiment with local buses in Santorini worked well, so we try it here and take the bus to the local beach.  It is an easy journey and the beach is lovely.  We even get great sunbeds and shades for free on ordering a drink.  Richard goes in for a swim.  The wind is making me cold, so I just paddle a little.

Back on the boat we are eating dinner.  We are having problems.  We are being tossed around violently by traffic in the harbour.  We don’t understand what is causing it.  When we were moored next to the ferries we didn’t have anything like this.  Not great.

Hope we will be comfortable enough for the next two nights!

Saturday 20 June 2015 - Oia, Santorini

I didn’t post on Friday, really from boredom.  The weather was supposed to be bad.  The Meltemi was forecast to blow hard and there was a suggestion of rain.  We got up late and were lazy as we were not going to leave port.  We got the diesel tanker around and filled up with fuel.  I was beginning to worry about that with all the motoring we have been doing.  I turned out to be better at guessing what we needed than Richard.  He estimated 80 litres, and I said 100.  We took on board 95!

After filling up we walked into the village.   It is at the top of the hill up a long staircase.  We walked to the very top where there is a church with a blue dome, very normal architecture for around here.  The pilot book suggests that the area around the port is noisy, but we have not found it so.  What is very noisy is the village.  It is filled with young people on some sort of holiday altogether.  They seem to be Swedish, or at least are painted up with Swedish flags and colours.  It is just noon and they are all quite drunk. Richard thinks we are at least 3 times older than anyone else in the village. 

We do manage to find a café which hasn’t been invaded by the young people and we both have my new obsession.  Cappuccino Fredo.  In other words iced coffee with frothy milk on top.  I’ve quite taken to it and even Richard enjoys one occasionally.

With the village being so noisy we go back to the port for lunch.  We could have taken the bus down, but we walk.  We need the exercise.  This is particularly so as we decide to have one of the evil dishes for lunch.  A pitta Gyros.  It is a doner kebab in a pitta stuffed with tomato, onion, tzatsiki and chips!  All for 2.50euros!

We then have a leisurely afternoon on the boat.  The weather is not that bad.  It is sunny and there has been no rain.  But the wind has been blowing.  At one stage I saw it go up to 32 knots (force 8).  The professional skipper next to us has not gone out.  His charter passengers have two young children and he didn’t think it was good to take them on a 4 hour trip in these conditions.  He believes the waves are up to 1.5meters.  A lot of boats are suddenly coming into port.  The usual piers are all full and we are pleased to see that they are putting boats along the quay where the ferries dock.  The ferries are going on the other side.  Also with a really bad cross wind boats are having a lot of trouble mooring.  I don’t envy them.  One poor boat managed to pick up someone else’s anchor while trying to put theirs out.  Someone else tells us that on the other side of the harbour they have been hit twice by boats trying to moor!  So we feel very pleased to be well tucked in.

The wind abates a bit and all the boats seem to have got safely moored.  It is time for us to go back up the hotel for our massages.  When we get there they tell us they are running late and offer us free drinks at the bar.  I have an Aperol Spritz and Richard has a cocktail.  The massages are nice and relaxing, but it is rather late and cold by the time we are finished.  We don’t get back to the boat until after 9pm.  I make a quick dinner of steak and onions with grilled tomato.

We have booked our trip to Santorini tomorrow.  So we are anxious to have a good night’s sleep.

So this morning we wake quite early.  We have showers on board and dress ready to go on the ferry.  Richard says that his weather forecast shows that it is going to be quite cool.  25C max.  So I decide to put on an old pair of white cotton trousers I have had on the boat since last season and never wore because they are hell to clean.  We have thought it would be helpful to find someone to look after the boat while we are away.  We are directed to the harbour officer, but we cannot find him until rather late.  The ferry is due to leave at 11:25 and it is at about 10:45 when we finally speak to the right person.  He then suggests it would be best for us to move the boat!  There is now space at the far end of the harbour where there are pick up lines and where we wanted to moor in the first place.  He says it is safer and less affected by the swell caused by the ferries.  The only problem is that we have little time to do this and catch the ferry.  But Richard is determined to do so.  So we slip mooring.  We were worried about the anchor, one reason for moving.  However, when I take it up it is clear there was nothing to worry about.  It was very well set and comes up with a ton of thick mud.  The holding was good and it clearly was well dug in.  When we get to the new mooring, there is no one there to help us with lines.  So it is all a bit of a mess with Richard having to get off the back to deal with the lines leaving me to manoeuver the boat!  Also there is no one to tell us which pick up line is ours.  The result is that I take the wrong line to begin with, finding that the one I grab is already on the boat next door.  To top it off I get mud all over my newly cleaned white trousers and have to change before leaving the boat.

With all this going on I am convinced that we will miss our ferry, but miraculously we make it and within an hour we are in Santorini.

We are staying in the most photographed of the villages on the Island, Oia.  We have booked into an hotel which is a group of old houses turned into chalets.  It is all very sweet, built into the cliff.  In fact, there is a huge rock on one wall in our chalet from the cliff.  You have to be fit here.  The village is hanging on a steep cliff and there are steep steps to get anywhere including our room.  Richard has counted 90 steps down to our room (and of course up again to get to the main street in the village).

The place is really beautiful.  All whitewashed with blue domes on the churches.  We could have brought the boat here, but we would never have got up to the villages especially as there is nowhere safe to leave a boat.

Well, it is now late, so I’ll sign off.  We are not sure what we will do tomorrow, so we will see how it all works out.

Thursday 18 June 2015 - Ios

In the middle of the night the wind shifted and a swell came into the anchorage making the boat rock most uncomfortably.  I even had to get up and take a seasick pill to get back to sleep.

So we were not unhappy to start out early to make our way to Ios.  At first there was actually a bit of wind.  For about an hour we actually sailed in a force 4, though it was from behind and we were going rather slowly.  But the wind dropped and the engine was again on.  From time to time the wind picked up to 7 or 8 knots and the sails helped pull the boat along.  But mainly we were motoring, yet again.  We will really need more diesel soon!

We had breakfast under way, but although it was lunchtime as we approached the harbour in Ormos on Ios we thought it best to moor up first.  There are at least two other boats trying to make their way into the harbour with us.  In the light of the weather forecast for very strong Meltemi winds tomorrow we are concerned that the harbour may get full.  We are not wrong about that.  We had hoped to tie up to a pier that has pick up lines, but they are all taken.  There appears to be a space, but it is not clear that the other boats haven’t already used the forward lines.  So we go on the next pier, right next to the ferry boats.  The other boats wait for us to moor up.  We have to use the anchor.  We think we have set it OK and someone off a very large sailing yacht helps us to tie up.  However, when a professional skipper moors up alongside us, he says that we put our anchor out too late and we should have more scope.  However, we are now wedged in between two large boats and it is simply impossible to go out and try again.  The professional skipper comes on board and sets our lines.  He says that in the light of the fact that the wind will push us off the pier tomorrow, we should be fine, but when he comes back from Santorini in the afternoon we can tie up to him as his anchor is well set.  We shall see what is necessary.  In the meantime after fiddling with lines for an hour we feel fairly secure as is.

We have a late lunch on board and then make our way around part of the town to decide what to do.  It is possible with the bad weather coming in that we shall have to be here for a week.  What we do want is to go to Santorini.  It seems there is nowhere there to put a boat, particularly in bad weather, so the best alternative may be to take the ferry which leaves from just past our boat and takes 40 minutes to get there.  We also go to the tourist information and find that there is a very smart hotel up the hill with what is considered to be the best restaurant on the island and which also has a spa.  We are due for massages, so we book into the restaurant for tonight and we will book in to the spa for tomorrow.  We will also try to find accommodation in Santorini for Saturday and maybe Sunday night.

We stop for an iced coffee on the waterfront and have a nice chat with the waiter.  He points out two lovely bays on the island where we can anchor.  They both seem well protected against a north westerly Meltemi, so we may go there on Monday and or Tuesday.  In the meantime we have paid the princely sum of 10 euros for two nights berthing.  We will have to pay for water and electricity on top, but for the moment we have found an electricity point with credit left on it, so we have free leccy!

As we are going to dinner at a smart hotel I actually dress up.  I am in a dress and have put on make up.  I haven’t done that since we got to Greece.  Dinner is worth it.  It is certainly the best meal out we have had since we got to Greece.  They call it traditional Greek food with a contemporary interpretation.  We even drank a decent wine from Santorini.  We have booked in for our massages tomorrow evening.

Now back on the boat and ready for bed.  There is a boat which acts as a nightclub which is moored about 5 boats down from us.  So far it is not very noisy.  We hope it will stay that way.

Wednesday 17 June 2015 - Poliagos

We finally had a really good night’s sleep and woke up rather late.  I went to the bakery to buy us breakfast.  They had nothing I would call breakfast pastries, so I bought some very rich honey cakes, one with chocolate and one with apple.  Too much to eat, so the apple will wait for dinner.

We then set off to the supermarket to top up the few things we need and to buy more bottled water as we will top our tank up with the non-drinking stuff.  The day is very hot and by the time I get back from shopping I feel rather poorly.  I have not been wearing my hat, thinking that it is still morning.  But I think I may have got a touch of heat stroke because of it.  So I take it easy in the cockpit, sitting in the shade and eating ice.  We decided to buy a bag of ice cubes just for the fun of it.  We don’t have room in the fridge for it, so the ice cubes will melt quickly, but it will cool us off in the meantime.  By the time it is noon, I am feeling better.  So we go and collect the laundry.  We also stop for an ice cream.  It is a bit too early for lunch and with this heat we aren’t too hungry anyway.

Back at the boat we just dump the laundry (I still haven’t even looked at it) and decide we don’t want to stay in town.  So we decide to move on to find an anchorage where we can swim and cool down.

First we just go into the bay where the port was.  There is a cute town there called Kilma.  It is all whitewashed and built on very ridge of a hill.  Down by the water there are just a few little houses built into or up to the hill.  These have been done up as holiday homes.  We put the anchor down where the pilot suggests.  When R goes into reverse to dig it in the boat stops so fast and hard it nearly knocks me over.  When we swim Richard goes over with his snorkel to look at the anchor and finds that it is caught on a rock.  He doesn’t think it will cause any problem, because it will come free if we motor over it.  So we have our swim and a lunch of dips and pitta bread.  After lunch R goes below to work out where we should go next.  I am convinced that our anchor is dragging.  The wind has changed direction and we are facing the opposite way we were.  We seem to be going forward.  It isn’t crucial, as we are leaving shortly and there is no one around.  But it is a lesson.  When I take up the anchor it is not snagged on anything, so is almost certainly was dragging.

The slight problem we have is that the weather forecast is for strong winds (the Meltemi) and rain on Friday.  So we want to wind up somewhere on Thursday that will be safe and comfortable in those conditions.  But we want to be out at anchor tonight so we can swim and cool off.  Richard finally identifies a bay between Manolonisi Island and the island of Poliagos.  The pilot book describes it as “a delightful utterly secluded spot”, which pretty much sums it up.  However we are not alone.  When we came in there was a big day boat here, but that soon moved off.  In the next bay there is a super yacht and one small sailboat.  So not bad really.

There is a nice breeze blowing and at anchor the wind scoop really does its job so I am able to cook my chicken tangine without getting desperately overheated.  Tomorrow we set out for the island of Ios.  We hope that will be good in the bad weather.

Tuesday 16 June 2015 - Milos

I had a terrible night’s sleep.  That is very unusual for me on the boat where I tend to fall asleep the minute my head hits the pillow.  After tossing and turning for hours I suddenly remembered that I had forgotten to e-mail judicial bookings for my next three months hearing dates and the deadline is tomorrow, when we will be at sea.  So at about 2am I get up, turn on the internet hub and write my e-mail.  In the end I don’t think I properly got to sleep before 3am.  That was all the more unfortunate because we have a long passage to make today and the alarm is set for 6am!

When it is time to get up I am exhausted.  Richard tells me to stay in bed, but that is not fair.  So I get up and help release the lines and do my ‘deckwork’ putting away mooring ropes and fenders.  Then I make a fruit salad for our breakfast later and finally go back to sleep for two hours waking up just before 9am.  Then we have our breakfast under way.  It is a cloudless day with the sun pouring in the cockpit.  There is very little wind.  We have over 60 miles to do, so R sets the motor to make us go at 6 knots.  We put the sails up to make what use we can of the 8knots from behind.  It therefore turns out to be a long boring day of motoring, with both of us struggling to stay awake.  We have to be a bit sharp because there is a fair amount of commercial shipping about.

The only thing of real interest really is that it was a good day for wildlife.  As we left harbour one of the resident turtles came and swam past us.  

The water is so clear that we could see him very well.  In the late afternoon 4 dolphins came to play with us.  They jumped by the side of the boat and played in our bow wave for about 5 minutes.  I think this means that every time we have been on the sea on the last three occasions we have been visited by a dolphin.  It is such a delight to see them.

So by 5pm we have arrived is Milos (from where the Venus de Milo comes).  The port is in a typical Greek village all full of whitewashed houses.  There is a lot of room for boats, so we needn’t have worried about finding a berth.  The only problem is that we are on the outside of the pontoon and it gets very rocky when other boats go by.  We may stay tomorrow night, but we will try to move to the inside, if possible.

After we arrive all wind has died and it is terribly hot.  The saloon is showing 32C on the thermostat!  We cannot move.  But after a short time we make it in to the town.  We just stop at a café to get free WIFI and a cold drink with ice!  Then I notice a sign saying that there is a laundry nearby.  We find it.  It is not self service, but the lady who runs it must have lived in the US because she speaks perfect English with an American accent.  She will do a 7kilo load washed, dried and folded for 15 euros.  So I get rid of my one set of sheets and a whole lot of tee shirts and underwear.  New rule, never pass up on the chance to do laundry.

We suss out the town, finding a fish stall, bakery, and supermarket.  We are not sure what we will do tomorrow, but we will have to collect the laundry by mid-day.

Dinner on board.  It is still too hot to do much cooking, but I had planned a very easy quick prawn dish, so that is OK.  We have showered being somewhat profligate with the water because we have water and electricity here.  The water is said not to be good for drinking.  However we understand the real problem is that it is desalinated and the pipes are old.  It is said to be fine for cooking and washing.  We usually drink bottled water any way.  The only thing is whether we now want to make coffee with bottled water.  We will check our supplies out in the morning.

It’s getting late and after last night we really need to collapse in to bed.