Slow route to Ios

L in going to learn to scuba dive in Ios and this seems like a good time to do it. The Summer winds haven't kicked in yet and the water is starting to warm up. We decided to circumnavigate Milos as some of the coastal scenery is spectacular and Argosea have not seen it. It lived up to expectations other than my internal compass failed miserably and I failed to recognise the spectacular anchorage of  Kleftiko and we went right past it!

We arrived at Manolonisi - a lovely little bay tucked underneath a small island. Warm(ish) clear water over gorgeous white sand. The wind was not the same direction as the slight swell so, really more for practice than anything, we decided to put out a kedge anchor. This involves letting out a lot more chain on the main anchor, backing up to the end of it, chucking in the kedge and then winding in the main anchor again so we're balanced between them. After a bit of discussion on what was the best way to organise chucking in, we figured it out and all went smoothly. We were very smug when we rolled around a lot less than any of the other boats. But...
What a nightmare the next day. The wind had strengthened and gone round to the side so both anchors were pulling hard sideways. So hard in fact that I couldn't pull in the kedge. We tried sterring the boat backwards over it but, apart from the danger of getting it round our prop, it is very difficult indeed to make the boat go where you want it with the bow anchor still attached. We couldn't let it go or the wind would have swung us onto the rocks. In the end we managed with a cats cradle of line around 4 separate winches. Took us over an hour to get the damned thing back on board!

And so off to Sifnos. Its only about 10 miles but was dead up wind. We beat until about half way when the wind died on us. Anne and Tony took a more southern route though and sailed virtually all the way. We planned to go to Faros which is a 3 headed bay on the South East tip of Sifnos. Unfortunately we were unable to get the anchor to stick anywhere in the East or North bays despite an hour of trying. We eventually managed to get the hook down in the West bay which ha slots of good clean sand - but there was enough of a swell to make it worth deploying Kay and Peter's "Flopper Stopper". Worked a treat. There is a lovely church in the bay which I took the opportunity to paint.

By 0700 today (Sunday) we were sailing with a lovely 10-15 knot wind behind us. With the Spinnaker up, we made well over 5 knots most of the way. Lovely! We dropped into Ios town to pick up water and milk and get our papers stamped and we're now anchored in a bay just south of there where we expect to stay for a week while L takes her PADI course.

Paros

We weren't looking forward to the voyage to Paros. We were expecting strong wind and swell on the nose and a long slow uncomfortable passage. We only went because the forecast for the next week was even worse.
The plan was to go into the port at 0800, do a quick shop then back to Milopotomas for L's last diving lesson. But the conditions in the port were horrible so we decided to go as soon as we had supplies. As we came out of Ios port, all our misgivings were confirmed. It was horrible. The only good thing was that Lucifer, having had a pill shoved unwillingly down his throat, slept through it all.
Luckily, after a couple of hours, once we got away from Ios and Sikinos, the wind moderated quite a bit and as we got closer to Paros the swell died away too. I couldn't decide whether to go between Paros and Antiparos or between Paros and Naxos - there were advantages to both. In the end, we let the wind make the decision and did the first. I had been worried that we would hit breakers in shallow water as we got beyond the shallows in the middle of the straight. I needn't have worried though, there weren't any!
We finally pulled into Naoussa bay and anchored in the North West corner and anchored on strong safe sand. And here we have stayed for 5 days, safe and comfortable, while the first Meltemi of the season has whistled round our ears.
The only short interlude was an abortive attempt to spend a night in Port during a lull. Unfortunately, it turned out that Northerlies send a vicious surge in and yacht moored where we were (under the new breakwater) are rolled and shoved sideways. With a forecast of it getting worse over night, we bailed out and went back to the Anchorage for a comfortable night.
We will probably stay here tomorrow too and then set of for Delos on Monday.

Milos

It's a long way to Milos so we got up at 0500 and left half an hour before dawn. The wind was whistling at 30 knots in the rigging which wasn't predicted. I guessed that it was a mountain effect as it was coming from the South through a valley. The good news was that as soon as we were out of the harbour it would be behind us all the way to Sikinos and I guessed it would die down as soon as we were clear of Ios.
Wrong!
It blew 30-35 knots until we rounded the top of Sikinos. We soon began to wonder if we were mad and should turn back. Luckily I was right about the direction and with just our pocket-handkerchief jib up, we were whistling along at over 7 Knots. Being with the swell, it was quite gentle. As we rounded Sikinos, it moderated a bit and the swell was stopped by the Island. We put up a double-reefed main and were soon glad we did as 35 knots came screeching out of a valley - and then again a few miles later.

Polonia Harbour

Once we cleared Sikinos, the wind dropped and turned westerly (on the nose). What with left-over swell and light winds, we had to hoist the iron topsail all the way to Kimolos. We had a look at Aliki beach where we had anchored on a previous trip but the residual swell from the wind overnight looked uncomfortable so we tried Polonia a mile away on Milos itself. Swell was OK but no room to swing because of laid moorings everywhere. In the end we anchored uncomfortably close to a large concrete barge 1Km South of Polonia, stayed for the afternoon then went back to Aliki where the swell had died and we had a comfortable night.

Day boat from Adamas

On our previous trip to Milos we had an uncomfortable time on the outside of the harbour wall. As we were expecting strong Westerlies the next couple of nights (it never seems to stop!) we tried to find an anchorage on the west side of the caldera. Some nice places but none with good holding so toddled over to Adamas to take a look. Surprise! The have added a huge new pontoon - very heavy and deep - which provides excellent shelter, free water and electricity and a modest charge (€23 for 3 nights regardless of size). It has good lazy lines but for reasons we never fathomed, everyone uses an anchor too and is encouraged to do so by the harbour master). The anchor has to be dropped in 2-3 Meters avoiding the huge concrete blocks and chains of the lazy lines.
We had a comfortable, if occasionally choppy, 3 nights whil a Westerly 6-7 howled round our ears - the worst direction for Adamas.

We thoroughly enjoyed Milos along with Anne & Tony of Argosea. They hiked up to the Chora one day then we hired a car and toured the island seeing amazing volcanic landscapes early Christian catacombs and re-visiting Polonia by land. We also ate a good meal reputedly cooked by volcanic heat under the restaurant and searched for a hot spring in the sea - unfortunately it turned out to be tepid at best although slightly sulphurous. A lovely place to swim though. Rather than a tedious write-up, I've just put some pictures below.

Catcombs

Lane in the Chora

Windmill

Caldera from Chora

Eastern Milos

Papafragas

Sarakiniko

Santorini

Tris Klithies

We headed off at the crack of dawn to get a gentle northerly wind through the notorious straight between Paros and Naxos. It turned out to be a gentle Westerly but it would be churlish to complain. The wind gradually strengthened from the West (as expected) as we approached Ios and we had already decided to anchor in one of the deserted bays on its East coast. We headed for Thodotis which look great on Google Earth. Unfortunately, we didn't get around to looking at the charts till we were almost there only to find that the bottom is covered by disused submarine cables (otherwise known as anchor traps). So we headed down to Tris Klises which turned out to be much nicer than expected. Almost deserted, clear turquoise water and good holding. Had a nice relaxing evening and night before cracking on next day down to Santorini to meet Anne and Tony on Argosea.

Oia from the crater

We sailed through the crater on a gentle breeze. What a way to see this most spectacular of Greek Islands! Vlichada is the only safe mooring on the island and we knew serious winds were arriving the next day so we headed there nice and early to be sure of getting a good berth. We arrived to be greeted by a "marinero" who was a complete waste of space - knew nothing about how boats worked and kept pulling the wrong ropes and telling us to do things which were plainly impossible. We ended on a concrete wall with chop and winds grinding us on and were in serious danger of damage. I finally managed to get off the wall again with great difficulty (he wouldn't put the ropes where I wanted them to spring off - thank heavens for the trusty bow thruster and even more trusty L with a balloon fender. We re-moored on a hammer head which was much better. Argosea came in an hour later after a very long run from Crete and were rafted up outside a yacht about half their size - by the same "marinero".
All this didn't bode at all well for the next day when an easterly gale was expected which would blow big waves straight into the entrance and onto our boats. Luckily the manager was on and he arranged for us all to be moored inside on safe moorings and all was well in both the Easterly and an immediately following Westerly.

The house of the Ladies - Akrotiri

4500 year old house at Akrotiri - complete with plumbing

We hired a car for a day from Dimitri's for €30 and set off to see the sights. The most impressive was the ruins of Akrotiri which is a pre-eruption city buried by volcanic ash. L and I had been to Santorini before but this site was closed as the roof had collapsed and killed a tourist! The new building which completely encloses the huge site is itself pretty impressive. Much of it has only been partly excavated and typically, in this country, nobody had bothered to try and tell a story with signs and posters. Still we speculated a lot, read what little was available and earwigged on some guides shepherding Japanese tourists around and got a pretty good impression. Some of the houses wouldn't have been out of place in the posher parts of London - they were complete with rainwater guttering and plumbing. And all this 4500 years ago!

Oia - Santorini

We went on to Oia, a spectacular little white-washed and blue painted Cycladic village perched on the Northern tip of the crater. It's very touristy but beautiful for all that. We avoided one very expensive restaurant by the skin of our teeth and found another just down the lane with a better view, nicer stall and much cheaper. It certainly pays to shop around. After a leisurely drive up the east coast, we did some shopping (there is a Lidle) and then went back for a snooze before eating a good meal back at Dimitri's above the marina.




It looked like we were going to be trapped in Santorini by winds for several more days but fortunately a very short weather window opened up for us to rush back up to Tris Klithies on Ios again - this time with Argosea in tow. After another good night, we set of for Sikinos on our way to Milos -only to be hit by a horrible wind and swell on the nose. The cat was sick, lots of things fell on the floor and we eventually gave up and headed back to - guess where - Ios again, this time the town quay where we waited out the wind for a couple of days. I though it would be awful but turned out to be surprisingly nice. Good quality harbour, pretty little town with an even prettier (if touristy) Chora above it.