Paros

We made landfall on Paros at Aliki. It's a large, fairly nondescript bay on the South side. It has good holding but not really any facilities. The tiny quay is choked up with local boats and the surroundings are full of permanent moorings. It made a good enough overnight stop ready to go on to the main port (Parikia) and then Naoussa bay.
We had a lovely calm Spinnaker run up to Parikia. We moored stern to on the outside wall of the harbour as all the lazy lines inside were taken (including one selfish devil who had taken two leaving a gap in the middle). It was OK for a shopping trip but we were expecting big winds at midnight so L did shopping and then we sailed most of the way to Naoussa.

We initially anchored in the hooked-around bay at the North West tip with several other boats. It was so shallow that we bumped our keel. The holding was OK but not great. Suddenly at about 3.00, everyone disappeared. We enjoyed our isolation at first but then began to wonder if they knew something we didn't. Re-checking, we decided the South West bay was a much better bet and sure-enough, there they all were and some other boats besides. It's a large bay with plenty of room and a strong mud bottom about 8-10M deep. Perfect!
At midnight the promised wind arrived and climbed up to 8 gusting 9! Seriously nasty. The anchor held though except for one tremendous gust when we moved 30 Meters. Fortunately, the gust went and we dug in again. It made us get the Fortress anchor ready to chuck in as a second anchor if it happened again. The blow lasted 48 hours and we just hunkered down.

Next day, we needed supplies so considered anchoring closer to the town but ended up deciding to go for a bit of luxury and went on the quay. We were so glad we did! Its a little gem - nicely built and maintained, good lazy lines and everything is free including water, electricity and mooring.
The town is charming with a small river with an actual clean running water and Geese. It has lots of alley ways, tavernas galore and an Italian ice cream shop to die for - and you will when you see the prices. The pretty little Venetian harbour is full of local boats and surrounded by tavernas, a church and is complete with a fort. Above the town is a large church with a beautiful peaceful cemetery beside it. There are plenty of supplies including an AB supermarket. L was in heaven!
The petrol station is out of the port, turn right and walk about 1Km along the road.

We were sorry to leave, but we needed to get down to Santorini to meet Anne and Tony.

 

Koufonision

Sailing South of Koufos

After Amorgos, we sailed to a bay on the South of Keros - a small uninhabited island just South of Naxos. We had intended to just have a look but it was so nice and quiet that we stayed the night.

Lucifer "enjoying" sailing

Next morning we had a gentle sail round the island and up to Koufonisia, passing between Kato Koufonisi and Glaronisi.  At first I thought a tripper boat had brought some tourists to a cave on Glaronisi. Then to my amazement, I realised there was a headless carcass (probably a sheep or goat but possibly a pig) hanging by a rope from the roof of the cave. The people were all working at something - probably washing cloths. We have no real idea what they were doing but guessed that maybe they had russled the animal, butchered it in the cave and were just cleaning up before sailing off to sell it.

The harbour at Koufonisia town has been improved a lot since the latest pilot book was written. The old mole has been widened and turned into a proper quay and a new mole has been built to the West completely surrounding the new harbour. There are now some lazy lines and water and electricity. The harbour master helps you in but didn't make any charge for anything while we were there.

Kofonisia Church

Boat yard in a cove near harbour

The town is charming with beautiful houses, a lovely church and surprisingly good supplies for such a tiny place. It has lots of good restaurants. Apparently, it heaves with tourists from Naxos in July and August but while we were there in May, it was lovely.

Pori Bay

After shopping and filling with water, we went off to Pori bay on the Eastern tip of the island. Its a large, gorgeous, well sheltered bay with good sand to anchor on and warm turquoise water. There doesn't seem to be any permanent habitation or development although there are a couple of buildings in one corner. A walking route goes past and a very few bodies are scattered on the beach. A small, inoffensive tripper boat came in for an hour and moored on the stubby mole on the North East shore.

Amorgos

We had a couple of days notice of a serious blow so we made gentle progress down the south side of Amorgos and round the western tip to a tiny island called Gramvousa. We anchored in a completely deserted bay with blue water and a little white chapel. Water refreshing rather than cold and had a lovely calm night's sleep.
Next morning, knowing the blow was coming that night, we checked two obvious bays that would give us shelter on the way to the main port of Katapola - just in case the port didn't work for us. In the first was a fisherman who lives in the cave behind him. Both bays were fine but neither had any facilities so we pressed on to Katapola.

Our initial idea was to anchor rather than go onto the quay and be blown sideways which is what we did as there seemed masses of space. Holding was very patchy so we took a couple of attempts before finding a good spot. We took the dinghy into town to get supplies only to be met by a very nice Port Policeman who said we couldn't park there as the big ferry was coming in the night and we would be in his way. And by the way, could we tell the English yacht who was also there but hadn't responded to VHF. "Plenty of time though".
We did as we were told and, having finished shopping, toddled off to anchor stern-to. What a disaster! The first two times, the anchor wasn't holding properly. We tried a third time much further from the quay and it stuck well but we ran out of chain a few meters from the quay. Very embarrassing! Fourth time lucky - and we ended up with 60 Metres of chain and a well bedded anchor.
Not so our neighbours, who both had a lot less out and when the wind arrived in the early hours found that their anchors dragged. We ended up rigging a line across all the bows and to the up-wind quay to take the sideways force of the wind and luckily the anchors stabilised.
Next evening, after a lull, the wind was due back so we kept the rope on. The harbour master was concerned that nobody could get in because of it and asked us to remove it. Marcello told him he would if ordered to in writing - and he backed down as long as we dropped it if anyone wanted to come in. As bad luck would have it, a crazy Frenchman turned up, dragged his anchor all over the place then tried to squeeze into the space next to us which was much too tight for him even with the rope removed. Having caused mayhem including scratching our boat, he went of and tried elsewhere with even worse results.
Shortly afterwards, a boat anchored in the harbour started dragging its anchor the crew being ashore drinking in a Taverna at the time. Eventually, they saw it, rushed out, jumped into a tiny dingy and set out after it. When they got there, one tried to get in over the side and fell in, overturning the dinghy and dumping both in the waves. The Port police mounted a very efficient rescue mission involving two fishing boats and a live-aboard dinghy and in the end all was well but could have been very nasty indeed

Aigali Harbour

Tholaria

Chora Alley

Chora

On Saturday, we finally had calm so we hired a car for the princely sum of €20 for the day. It was great to see some of the inland areas of the island including the famous monastery, and the villages of Aigali, Chora, and Tholaria. The latter two were fabulous little cycladic hilltop villages all connected by steps, tunnels and alleyways. No cars and not even scooters. We spent a happy hour in each wandering around and soaking up the atmosphere. Lunch in Tholaria was good, reasonable, and eaten overlooking a wonderful view. Aigali was a pretty little port town with a little tourism thrown in.

Monastery

Icon at entrance

The monastery is amazing. Perched high on a ledge, halfway up an enormous cliff, it has never been sacked since it was built in the 11th century despite the area being infested with pirates for most of that time. It only houses three monks now but in its heyday apparently had up to 100. Where they put them all I have no idea. You can visit the church which is tiny but very richly decorated with icons, gold and silver. A monk greets you and offers a glass of rakimello and some water. It's all free although you can leave a donation if you wish. Well worth a visit.
We decided to leave the next day for Koufonision. Having spent 3 days together in adversity, we had made friends and had several drinks with our neighbours - one of whom - Marcello and Margerita, we already knew from Crete. Small world! So many "Au Revoirs" were said.

Levitha

As planned, left Astipalia on Wednesday and had a very pleasant (if slightly cold) sail up to Levitha. This is a tiny island with just one enterprising family living there. they have put 10 substantial buoys down in their very sheltered bay and charge the princely sum of €7 per night (free if you go to the Taverna) - and they were all full by 1700.
We were there a few years ago and at that time there were two families and considerable rivalry about which bay would attract the Yachties but there's no sign of the other family any more.
They really are an enterprising bunch - in addition to the buoys, they have several large flat fields growing a cereal crop and a very healthy flock of sheep and goats roaming elsewhere. They even run a small taverna 15 minutes walk from the tiny quay.
We took Lucifer for a walk but he was terrified of the goats. Tail like a bog brush. The goats were very suspicious of him too and wouldn't take their eyes off him. So much for the natural harmony of Nature!
We decided to push on to Amorgos tomorrow as the predicted winds are perfect.

Astipalia

Had a lovely run up to Astipalia - unfortunately the wind wend round onto the nose (as predicted but you always hope) half way through the night and it was a long motor the rest of the way. L did the last couple of hours once it got light and I dozed so we both arrived in reasonable nick. We looked at Skala - the capital but rather fancied anchoring so we could doze some more so we looked in all the bays until we got to Maltezana - but none were particularly attractive as the coast (and only) road runs right around the edge of most.
Heickel says that there is good holding - but we didn't find any! Messed around for




over an hour trying the hook in different places but it just ploughed through the soft mud everywhere we dropped it. In the end it seemed to be marginally OK and there was no wind present or forecast so we said "OK" and went to sleep. Went for a refreshing swim late in the afternoon and had a look at the anchor - the damned thing was just lying on its side on the surface - lucky there wasn't any wind. In the end, we decided to up sticks and head for Skala.

It's a pretty little place, climbing up a steep hill to the castle. The harbour is new but seems to be rather poorly maintained as only one electricity point was working (and already had 5 boats on it) and none of the taps were working. Luckily we didn't really need either.

Went for a walk up to the castle - quite a climb but well worth it when you get there. Lovely little churches, Lots of ruins and wonderful views.
The town has plenty of supplies so we picked up a bit on the way back down and L did a proper shop next morning - including a rather Priapic Aubergine!

The port police was a nice young woman who charged me €8 and wanted to stamp my transit log. I got her to phone her boss who confirmed that it only has to be done every 30 days.
Talked to a couple of Dutch boats who are going down to Ag Nik to check it out for the winter  gave them Tony's pilot.
 

Went round to Vathi expecting to have difficulty with the weed that Heikel reports - wrong again! Wonderful anchorage similar to Spinalonga, Panormites on Symi and Vlicho, perfect holding, loads of space and quiet other than 2 guard dogs who keep barking. They're driving Lucifer round the bend.
L has got the lurgy big time so we're staying for a few days till she feels better. Probably off to Levithia on Wednesday.

Spinalonga

We've been here a week now. The water's warm(ish) and we're just enjoying being out on the water again. We've tried the sails and made a few tweaks, but mainly just relaxed over the Greek Easter weekend.
Met up with Andy and Steph again and had a very pleasant evening nibbling and drinking. Andy showed me where to get water in Elounda (by the windmill at the root of the northern mole, there's a beach shower with a hose connection. Across the mole, in the palm trees, there's a tap to turn it on). Nobody seems to mind and they've been drinking it all winter.
Tony and Anne on Argosea came in Yesterday. They cooked a leg of lamb on a Cobb BBQ - wonderful! A real feast. Must have been quite an achievement getting lamb at Greek Easter as the population is decimated by ravenous Greeks.
It looks like we have a couple of days of cloud and maybe even rain then we should get a nice wind to blow us North to Astipalia over Thursday night and Friday. Its 85 miles so it will probably take 21 hours or so. Poor Lucifer is going to hate it. He hasn't got his sea legs yet and threw up big time on the shot hop to Spinalonga! It's travel sick pill time for him.
In the event, we set off at 1300 on Thursday. At first the wind was Easterly and we were able to motor sail and then sail for 3 hours. Sadly, it then died and/or went onto the nose and we had to motor gently for 16 hours. It was a lovely smooth crossing with a swell so gentle that Lucifer held onto his lunch. Just as well really as it was laced with seasick tablet that had him cross-eyed and staggering for 12 hours!
The night was reasonably warm and moonless with lovely stars including several of the shooting variety and great phosphorescence. The most impressive feature though was a huge series of Thunderstorms behind us over Crete. It was hard not to feel smug at having left in the nick of time as we hate lightning on the open sea - actually it was impossible and we did feel smug :-) Hope the several boats left behind didn't have too hard a time of it.

As dawn broke, Astipalea was in view and we reached it a couple of hours later. Skala, the capital, is a spectacular Cyclades village all pure white houses with blue domed churches and red roofed windmills climbing up half a mountain to a fortress on a crag on the summit.

I can feel some painting coming on tomorrow although it is relax time today.