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