Mike and Kathy's Cruising Adventure

Scooter day with Dirk and Annie!  First stop was Melissani Cave.  Part of the roof of this cave fell in over fifty years ago, revealing an underground lake.  We lined up for the boat tour with all the other rubes, and it was certainly worth it.

We hopped back on the bikes and headed up, waaaay up.  Mount Ainos is home to a national park and is the tallest mountain on the Greek islands.  It smells like home as it is covered in fir trees.  Greece is quite barren in general, but Kefalonia is a verdant wonderland.

 

We tooled around for a bit more, stopped for a tasty lunch and then Dirk and Annie continued the scooter tour while Mike and I headed back to Eufimia to make sure Coral made it through the late afternoon influx of boats safely.

The next day we decided to test Annie’s sealegs and motored over to Ithaca with a little jib action for flair.  We tied back in a beautiful bay, Ormos Sarakinko, just over the hill from Vathi.  Dirk and Annie hiked over the hill to check out the town, but Mike and I spent a lazy afternoon.  Well I did, anyway.  Swim, nap, swim.  Good times. At around 7:30pm a swell started to creep into the bay, which made for a rolling night.  Imagine sleeping in a giant water bed. Oops, not very good hospitable planning on our part.

We decided to keep it simple for Dirk and Annie’s final night and headed back to the dock in Sami, Kefalonia.  We had gyros and ice cream for lunch and then they took us out for a wonderful dinner at a tasty taverna.  So good!

The next morning we rented a car to take them to the airport.  After hugs and besos, they were en route back to Spain.  They must have had a good time because Dirk emailed to say that Annie made Greek salad for dinner last night!

Mike and I took advantage of the rental car to explore a bit more. First stop was Argostoli, the capital of Kefalonia.  It’s a large town with very very narrow streets, or at least they felt that way to me, I’m not used to being in a car these days. We stopped near Koutavos Lagoon, a haven for Loggerhead turtles.  This guy was more than accommodating to the tourists, swimming in circles, taking adorable gulps of air and posing for photos.

Close by is the recently restored Drepano Bridge.  Full disclosure, it was too hot to walk all the way across.

We hopped back into the car and headed north, stopping at a lookout to admire the view of Kriaki Beach.

A little further north we took a winding road down from the hilltop to Myrtos Beach.  It is a beautiful spot and the water was seriously as warm as any bath I would take.  Weird.  Mike snorkeled over to the cave while I floated in place.  Did I mention that I don’t have to do anything to float in the Mediterranean?  No joke, I can be vertical in the water, perfectly still, and I float.  Please spare me your comments on my BMI, I think floating is a good thing.  I am now fairly confident that if I fall overboard I will not die immediately!  Yay salinity!

We had lunch in Myrtos and then continued north to Assos, but it was crazy busy with no parking, so we resolved to visit in the boat someday soon.

Returning to Sami we stopped for this nice view of Euphimia.

The next morning we headed south and anchored on the SE coast of Kefalonia in Ormos Katelias.  Mike entertained the idea of trying to launch his kite from the boat, but as Ruth would say, I offered it up and went to shore to launch him.  He had a pretty good run as the only kiter in the bay, and I once again crushed some serious candy.

 

Next stop, Zakynthos!

 

 

 

While Mike kited on day one in Lefkas, I wandered from the marina into town in search of a WiFi password for a network I could see from the boat.  No luck on that front,  but I did have a tasty gyro (is there any other kind?) and take this ridiculous photo of charter boats ready to go.

Our visit to Lefkas continued the next day with oil changes for the engine and generator,  laundry, leaving the propane tanks at the fuel dock with fingers crossed for a refill, and more kiting for Mike.  This time I accompanied him to the beach to help launch him and then keep a seat warm at the bar while making good use of the bar WiFi (Game of Thrones episode 1, I’m looking at you.  HBO wouldn’t follow this blog,  would they?  Of course I’m just kidding about GoT…)

The next day we hung around until 3pm when Ioannis at the fuel dock (when in doubt,  ask for Ioannis. Kidding,  they’ll just ask “which Ioannis?”) got to work. And… propane tanks filled–woohoo!  Three more months of curried chicken and pasta with fried dry salami!

We left our golden berth and headed south intending to anchor off the Onassis’s private island.  I’m sure you can imagine how that went– threatening signs basically saying don’t even THINK about it!  So we continued puttering to Ormos Kapali, Meganisi.  We tied back to the shore in a small bay with crystal clear water for our first swim in five days and it was magical.   Mike went for a night swim and there was some mild bioluminescence in the water–amazeballs. I was a smidge concerned about the book’s warning of bold rats who will board the boat via the lines used to tie back,  but we were tied to some pretty jagged rocks and I have not heard any weird noises since, knock on wood.

The next day we rendezvoused with Dulcinea again for lunch at One House Bay on Nisis Atoko. Can you guess how it got its name?

We decided to sail together to Kastos for the night.  It was very fun transiting with our sister ship!

That night we hung out on board Dulcinea for a couple hours with the Baird-MacKenzies and the visiting Weiders before heading home to Coral for some of the aforementioned pasta with dry salami.

The next morning after another raid of Coral by David (he’s kind of like a pirate,  except he’s stealing his own stuff) we bid each other farewell again and had a vigorous sail to anchor in Ormos Pera Pigadhi, Ithaca (I vetoed Nisis Pera Pigadhi, the island close by, due to more scary rat talk in the cruising guide).  It’s a beautiful bay with two small beaches and no buildings.  One of the beaches was hosting a small group of camping kayakers. I got some varnish stripping done and we had another great stargazing night.

En route to Sami, Kefalonia the next day,  we spied a cute little boat with unorthodox sails.

Arriving in Sami we did the usual Med mooring routine,  and when we were settled,  Mike got the best compliment  a Mediterranean sailor could ask for from the Brits next door:  “I wish everyone parked like you.” !!!!!! Bliss!  Very proud of Captain Mike!  We celebrated with curried chicken, bien sur.

The next day we prepared for the arrival of our guests,  Dirk and Annie from Belgium,  but now living in Spain.  My Dad and I met Dirk in Oshkosh at Airventure 2001. He and Annie visited us in Brittany, France in May 2005 and then hosted us in Benidorm, Spain in September 2005 for a glorious week of sunshine, paella and swimming in their pool. Good times!

After their arrival we went for a swim at the beach and then popped in on the newly arrived Dulcinea to give them the grand tour and meet our landlords (boatlords?).

Last night we hit TripAdvisor’s #1 pick for Sami, Il Familia, for a very yummy meal.  I had saganaki with honey and sesame seeds (so decadent!) and lobster risotto (also extremely decadent!) Sorry, no photos of food, but here is one of the gang. Clearly Dirk inspired the haircut I gave Mike at the beach that day.

This morning we started slow with a putter around the corner to Andisamos for a swim to test Annie’s sealegs, and then we turned around and anchored in Eufimia for the night.  Mike and I were there a while ago for a night but didn’t venture ashore.  Today we rectified that with a gyro lunch and some scooter rental scouting for tomorrow.  And… I found a full-face snorkel mask of my very own! Dare to dream!

 

Very happy to leave the jellyfish in the Gulf of Corinth, we spent 3 nights in Vathi, Ithaca varnishing, polishing, and swimming. This is where we are supposed to expound on Homer’s Odyssey and talk about how exciting it is to see these places firsthand, but full disclosure, neither of us has read it.

After a slappy first night near the fuel dock, we moved and dropped anchor next to a little island in the bay (with a church on it, bien sur) and last Saturday they had a wedding there.  When Mike got up at 7am the next morning they were still partying.  Impressive! There was a little thunder and lightning during our time in Vathi and Mike rescued an Italian runaway dinghy.

On Tuesday we headed southwest to Eufimia, Kefalonia, which felt like a teeny tiny version of Vathi.  That is, until the charter boats started to roll in.  We got a good couple of hours of entertainment watching boat after boat try to berth at the dock in windy conditions. Then, true to the Ionian weather patterns, the wind dropped out after sunset and we slept peacefully in our calm anchorage.

Wind the next day from the northwest meant fun sailing up the channel between Ithaca and Kefalonia. Traffic! Great practice for deciding who has the right of way,  and are you REALLY on a collision course? Thinking that a 2pm arrival at the little harbour of Fiskardho would make for easy docking,  instead we found a swarm of sailboats jockeying for position as ferries came and went among the throng. Not our scene! We backtracked to a little cove that wasn’t full, and dropped our anchor for a great night where the stars didn’t have any competition from street lights. Oh, and a fine chicken curry!

In the quiet of morning we snooped around Fiskardho harbour and decided it was worthy of an early arrival to avoid the congestion, but the promise of a refilling station on Lefkada kept us moving north, and a beautiful west breeze convinced us that Vasiliki, straight north, was a good next stop. Well….

Over two hundred windsurfers speeding over the water in a swarm of organized chaos, swanky resorts lining the beach with row upon row of new boards and sails rigged in the stables. Since I’m a fan of windsurfing, you’d think that Vasiliki, Lefkas, should have been on my radar, but as it happened, this was just where the wind carried us as we sailed north. All was calm when we sailed into the bay, but by 4 pm it was pretty clear that we’d stumbled on one of the biggest windsurfing holiday destinations in Europe. Huh.

Not one kiter in the bunch–undaunted, Kathy launched me from the beach and I had a fun kiting session, though gusty and squirrely wind at times. The wind that had quite suddenly appeared at 4pm shut down for the night at 8pm, and apparently this pattern occurs almost like clockwork all summer long. Unfortunately for kiters, the geography that encourages this wind effect means that the steady breeze happens very low on the water’s surface, and I  can attest that up where my kite was flying, things were not so perfect.

To add to our delight in Vasiliki, the next day Coral’s owners, David and Carolyn, sailed into the bay on their new boat for our much anticipated rendezvous!

Wonderful to see friends and be hosted for a fun evening aboard Coral’s big sister, Dulcinea. With boat guests making for a count of 10 people aboard, it was easy to see why David and Carolyn have taken it up a notch. Dulcie’s guest John is a windsurfer, so we agreed over afternoon drinks to rent gear later in the day and join the melee, and what a great session! Admittedly I eventually ended up way downwind and had to be ferried home by the resort rescue boat (all part of the decadence!), but I’m blaming the underpowered sail I selected. John, by contrast, had so much power he was getting driven upwind. Hey, two old men survived winsurfing in Vasiliki! Unqualified success!

Dulcinea is truly a marvel–a floating three bedroom apartment plus crew quarters.  I’m still dreaming about the beautiful blue upholstery in the salon (this is Kathy writing again, in case you hadn’t guessed).

We will be hooking up again in the coming days. Maybe I’ll drink less next time, maybe not–this crusty old bird was happy to be socializing again!

The next morning we all cleared out out of Vasiliki, Dulcinea heading south to Kefalonia and us heading northeast in search of propane in Vlikho.  Vlikho is a funny little bay, very protected, pretty swampy looking and a breeding ground for a new jellyfish we had not yet encountered–the Mediterranean fried egg jellyfish.  They are freaky looking and not harmful.  I’m a little surprised that there are so many boats anchored in a spot that isn’t nice for swimming, but maybe people just park them here when they aren’t on the boat because the bay is so protected?

Our search for propane was futile.  After a march to the gas station with our tanks we were told that we had a male connector but needed a female, or vice versa, I forget. We consoled ourselves with a great meal at a restaurant CM recommend, Seaside.  Behold more food photos of Mike’s snapper and my chicken risotto.  My belly was very full and happy.

This morning we continued north up a pretty narrow channel and settled into the marina in Lefkas Town for two nights.  We had already told the guy how long we were staying when we got the price–60 Euros/night plus water, electricity and shower privileges!  Yikes!  Usually when we go to the dock it’s a municipal marina that charges about 7 Euros/night.  Guess we’re living large for the next two days.  It is actually freaking hot, so I’m taking advantage of the shore power to indulge in some of Coral’s A/C for a few hours. No complaints!

Mike headed to the beach and did some kiting, returning to report that Lefkas definitely was kite central for the Ionian. We might be here a while….

 

 

We made it!  A rendezvous with Team Baird is now imminent!

To bring you up to date, when last we blogged we were hanging in Galaxidhi. First of all, can someone please explain to me what the difference is between Lamb and Meat from Baby Sheep? Maybe I don’t want to know…

After acquiring our fancy new phone, we headed to Delphi in our rental car.  I was getting pretty hangry, so we stopped for lunch in town before hitting the historical site.

Pizza in our bellies, we proceeded to the site.  It did not disappoint!  It was a steaming hot day, but the ruins were spectacular enough that we hiked all the way up to the top, marveling the whole way that such a place in the mountains would even exist.  Seriously, if I lived in a time without cars, I would be dwelling at sea level at all times, but maybe that’s how they kept the riff raff out.

We returned to Galaxidhi where we braved dinner at the taverna we could see from the boat in the hope of getting some WiFi I could use to download the season finale of Silicon Valley.

The WiFi was a NoGo, but we did make some delightful new boat friends, Paul and Janet!

The next morning while I slept, Mike went for an early morning walk and did some Greek rock stacking.

We then pulled up the anchor and headed west in the Gulf of Corinth.  Next stop was Trizonia, a small island with an apparently abandoned marina that is freaking full of boats.  We anchored in the bay–the water was pretty murky, but it was so hot we went swimming anyway.  That decision may or may not be related to the earache I’ve had ever since.  Mike convinced me it wasn’t worth going ashore, but I’ve since heard otherwise.  Note to self–don’t trust Mike.  You’d think I’d have figured that out by now!  He redeemed himself with some delicious bean burritos for dinner, using the perfect avocado we had waiting in the fridge.

The next morning we continued west, stopping in Navpaktos for breakfast and a stroll.  The guidebook said it wasn’t as nice as Galaxidhi, but I would argue that point–it’s a great spot with medieval walls around the harbour and lots of cute shops with reasonable prices.

This was our last stop before passing under the Rio-Antirrio bridge, as seen on The Amazing Race.

We soon arrived at the marina in Patras where we backed into our berth for the next two nights.  Shore power allowed us to indulge in the ultimate luxury–air conditioning.  Yes, Coral has air conditioning!  Generally Captain Mike would never permit the drain that it would make on the batteries (it’s all about the batteries, folks), but the combination of shore power, oppressive heat, thumping music, and the stench of Patras convinced the good captain to close up the boat and have at it.  Ah, sweet relief.

The next morning we headed to the train station for a little tourist adventure.  First some breakfast, where the restaurant menu offered a little taste of home.

We had purchased our tickets the night before for the Kalavryta-Diakofto Railway, a narrow-gauge, rack and pinion railway through the mountains.  A lovely day awaited us–bus to Diakofto, an hour to Kalavryta, lunch and an afternoon in the mountains, and then the return journey.

For some reason, the lady at the train station put us on a bus that arrived in Diakofto at 11:15, the exact time the train was to depart.  Needless to say, we missed the train.  So, we walked to the beach and drank until the 2:30 train, fell asleep on the train because we were half in the bag, did not get off the train because the last train back left in 2 minutes, and then missed our bus back to Patras, waiting another 2 hours in Diakofto. It was a boozy, Diakofto kind of day.  I’m not really complaining–I’m Irish, what’s not to like?

Water and diesel tanks full, the next day we headed to Mesolongi, apparently the place Lord Byron died, and a major salt cultivation spot in the Mediterranean.  More importantly, it’s where we once again bumped into our new friends Janet and Paul!  We went for drinks and the next thing we knew it was 1:45 am and we’d had bar peanuts for dinner.  Again, not complaining!  Our waiter was impressed with my new Greek phrase “another round”. He said I either must drink a lot or travel a lot, lol.  He returned later to apologize if he had offended me, but I assured him it was no problem, he was correct on both counts.

We had planned to hang around Mesolongi for a few days while I crammed some varnishing in before the Bairds see Coral again, but it’s a pretty swampy bay that we both were less than keen about swimming in, and it’s freaking hot.  And so now we find ourselves anchored in lovely Vathy on the island of Ithaca!   No jellyfish in sight,  a dinner of pork and couscous with the yummy peanut sauce Marc and Deb brought from home, and I am a happy girl.  I was afraid that the summer boat crowds would be oppressive, but it doesn’t feel any worse than what we’ve been experiencing for the past two months.  I am a little leery of encountering the charter folks again, but if that’s all I have to complain about, life is good!

Side note, we have a neighbour flying a flag that is a white iron cross on a red background. Anyone know what that represents?

Well, not quite, but Kathy did get a couple of minor jellyfish stings the other afternoon as she bravely swam back to the boat from a beachside taverna. Oh, and I knocked a glass of water over the same night and killed my crappy ZTE phone. Good riddance! I now blog to you from a shiny new Samsung J5. Sadly not waterproof, but at least I won’t subconsciously be trying to drop it overboard.

Rented a sporty VW to go phone shopping and visit the ruins at Delphi today, while Coral hangs at anchor in Galaxidhi. Living without a smartphone for 2 whole days was barbaric! Oh sweet Windytv, Googlemaps, and Gmail!

Whew, feels like a bit of a whirlwind for the past few days. Skirting giant cargo ships outside of Athens (think of turtles crossing a highway in a friendly nature reserve – pretty safe… but), we sat out some very gusty weather for two nights, anchored off the quiet beachtown of Peranis on the south shore of Salamis Island. No wild salami or perani spotted, probably for the best.

And so on Tuesday we closed up phase 1 of the sailing adventure by motoring through the amazing 5 km Corinth Canal, out of the Aegean Sea and into the Gulf of Corinth. A cool €231 for the transit, which is only €0.046/metre!

The gulf feels like a very different beast, with few easy anchorages, choppy waters and variable, gusty wind. These photos do not reflect that, but trust us.

We’re parked today under the north shore off of yet another beachtown, Paralia Saranda, but here we needed all the chain on the boat to stay put in 20 metre deep water. You know I trust our windlass, so letting out 80 metres of anchor chain is always fun. Good thing we’re the only boat in the bay!

Oh, and a follow-up from Canada Day: I got my fireworks! An amazing 30 minute show. Clearly the budget for the 150th celebration got way out of hand.

 

July 1! Wow! Definitely a party vibe in the beachtown suburbs of Athens, but I think they’re celebrating Saturday, rather than Canada Day. We’ll have sweet disco thump reverberating from 6 different beach clubs til the wee hours tonite. Maybe we’ll get invited aboard the neighbouring 200 ft megayacht.

That’s mega-dinghy in the foreground.

To back up a bit: Yesterday’s wind never cooperated for our little passage back from Kythnos to the tip of the mainland, to park under the shadow of the Temple of Poseidon at Cape Sounion.

The diesel engine purred along for 4 of the 5 hour trip, and our batteries are nice and full (which is the standard rationalization when not sailing). Some nice snorkeling this morning off the cape, and almost accidentally made my first speargun kill when firing just to unload the spear from the bungee and almost impaled a 3 inch wrass. He looked disdainful. Possibly embarrassed for me, not sure.

So, a short chug up the mainland coast today, with about 25 boats charging by us escaping Athens on a Saturday. I felt like a salmon. Our destination, Varkiza Beach, is in search of a suburban gas station that sells propane (autogas is slowly growing in popularity in Europe). Coral’s american propane tanks are a real beeyatch to get filled, and today’s walking/bus riding/begging adventure proved fruitless. A combination of regulations and wrong adapters foiled my pleading at 3 stations. Oh well, I’ve had a swim, I’m into a big beer, and I’m looking west waiting for those 150th fireworks to start!

Happy Canada Day !

Here in the Cyclades, the dominant weather pattern in the summer is sunny skies and a heavy north wind that can be fun for kiting, but not so fun for keeping a sailboat happily secured. I asked a local how long the meltemi season typically ran, and he said “July 1 to August 11”. Sir, why so vague?

So, with my trusty forecasting mobile app predicting a real honker next week, we’ve decided it’s time to wander towards the Ionian Sea on the west coast of Greece, where the kiting should also be good, if a little unpredictable.

From Plato’s Gialos, we sailed in light west wind up the left side of Sifnos to Chirronisos Cove.

Best snorkelling yet in Greece, lots of little colourful fish, a school of baby barracuda-types, but nothing big enough to take a shot at with my speargun, which spares me the test of my aim.

Another short sail on Wednesday across the 7 mile strait to Serifos, into the big protected bay, overlooked by the old whitewashed hilltop town.

I’m told it’s a great walk up to the top. We took the bus. Drinks in the town square after strolling the labyrinth.

Then yesterday, a mix of sailing and motoring to cover another 18 miles to Stephanos Bay on Kythnos. Cracked open the bottle of PC peanut sauce (thanks Deb!) for our old camping favorite of pork and couscous. And I scratched back a couple of games in the ongoing backgammon tournie (Kath still winning 71 games to 65), AND first night swim! Just me this time, but Kathy’s at least considering it!

After a terrific couple of weeks with Marc and Deb, and with no wind in the forecast, it’s a good window to catch the ferry southeast to Santorini. The dock in Sifnos was a perfect spot to leave Coral under the watchful eye of Spiros, the port manager, and our friendly neighbouring sailboats at the dock.

First stop after the sheer chaos of the Santorini ferry port (complete with hustled car rental and the outrageous cliff drive up from the port) was the scorching black sand and warm sea of Parissa Beach.

Yup, that’s Kath out there swimming cooling her nearly burnt feet.

Then on to our hotel in the cliffside village of Oia for strolling, gazing, shopping and sunset staring over drinks and a little maki roll.

Did I mention it’s HOT? Sweet cooling AC made our first terrestrial sleep in several months very decadent!

We apologize for the delay in posting. The arrival of Marc Labonte and his partner Debbie has demanded that we spend more time socializing in real life than virtually.  Not helping is the fact that half of my laptop keyboard has stopped working, meaning I either blog from a phone or use a tedious on-screen keyboard, neither of which is a preferred option. I know, your hearts are breaking for me, eh? Anyhoo, grab a snack, this is a long one.

Leaving Antiparos, we headed north and across the straight to the also adorable town of Parikia (or Paroikia). We anchored in the large bay and scouted the sites.  

Mike was here last March and he took me to his favourite little restaurant under a giant tree–I liked it too, and I suspect this photo provides a clue as to why.

 

Then we visited the Church of a Hundred Doors, the oldest church in Greece in continuous use and a building so remarkable that the mentor of the architect who designed it was so jealous that he pushed his pupil off the roof. Said pupil grabbed his master’s foot and they both plummeted to their deaths. Okay, my keyboard issue does seem less dire now.

The next day we decided to head to the dock so we could fill the water tanks and indulge in shore power as we awaited the arrival of Marc and Deb. We started to raise the anchor, but halfway through everything came to a halt. Damn windlass!!!  How could we Med moor at the dock without a functioning anchor?!?

Well, I may have previously mentioned the horseshoe lodged up Mike’s butt–it’s still there!  Parikia harbour has mooring lines for the berths on the interior of the quay. No anchors allowed, the first time we’ve encountered this in Greece. Whew. Mike raised the rest of the anchor by hand, removed the windlass motor, dingied to shore, dropped it off with a mechanic, made nice with the port authority, Yannis, and upon his return to the boat we puttered to the dock, picked up our mooring line and  commenced provisioning. Ah, sweet water and the promise of a few consecutive days of showering.

Marc and Deb arrived Sunday, June 11th with a bucket of kiting gear and a small dose of jetlag.  Oh, and goodies from home! Bottles of fish and peanut sauce, plus our very own sheets, freshly laundered by Thelma–thanks Mother Hasson! We kept the welcome festivities simple with a walk through town, snacks under the giant tree, and gyros for dinner.

 

The next two days were a blur of happy kiters, booze, and tasty food.  I am happy to report that TripAdvisor’s #1 pick for Paroikia, The Little Green Rocket, lived up to the hype: a funny waiter, amazing food and a damn tasty margarita.

Note, Debbie and Marc take better photos than us with a much nicer camera, so we will do a supplementary post with some more pictures and video of their visit soon.  For now I will proceed with my crappy phone photos.

On Wednesday the wind went away, so we refilled the water tanks and headed around the north end of Paros to Naoussa, stopping for lunch and a snorkel along the way.

Continuing on to Naoussa, we anchored in Ionnis Bay in front of the standard adorable church and local boatyard.  Our new friends Ota and Petra, who we met while staying at the hotel in Aegina waiting for the boats to be readied at Planaco, were already anchored in the bay, so they joined us for a drink and brought me birthday bubbles! I like these two!

Ota and Petra couldn’t join us for dinner because they are traveling with a beautiful young dog, Bauki (birthday bonus: some doggie love!)

The four of us piled into the dinghy for the long trek to town–thanks David and CM for having a dinghy motor with so much power! We wandered around the chic (also adorable) town of Naoussa, had drinks by the water and dinner at a less sucessful TripAdvisor pick. I wanted birthday pizza, but it did not measure up to the pizza from Lollo’s in Antiparos.

The next day we went back to  town for a delicious lunch with Ota and Petra (best calamari so far).  Then Mike and I went in search of a good hardware store.  We stumbled onto an amazing one about 5 minutes before they closed for siesta and made two exciting purchases: a fancy heat gun kit to aid me in my varnishing chores (complete with multiple scrapers and shrouds to protect nearby stuff) and two 10 litre jerrycans for topping up our water tanks. On a sadder note, until that day I was convinced that the Greek cats were either immortal or invincible.  Suffice to say, I have now seen evidence that they are neither. Back at the boat the kids used the dinghy to wakeboard with their kiteboards, video evidence is forthcoming.

The next morning we left Paros for the next island to the east, Naxos.  Mike and Marc sail together like a well-oiled machine, so I spent the passage crushing some serious candy. Approaching Naxos Town you are greeted by the Portara gateway from the unfinished Temple of Apollo.

We stuck our nose into the harbour and decided to anchor there for lunch. Marc used some leftover gyro pork to make his mom’s rapeure, and oh my, it was fantastic potato-y porky goodness!

Bellies full, we hauled the anchor up and dropped it again a couple kms south in Ormos Ayios Prokopiou. There was only one other boat anchored, but the beach area is quite developed: we even saw our first lifeguard. Actually we met him when he shooed us in the dinghy off his beach–no motors allowed!  He directed us down to the little dock waaaaay down in the south end of the bay in Ay Annas (again, very thankful for the 25hp dinghy motor!), which was better for us anyway as that’s where the provisions were. After filling up the dinghy gas can we hit the beach bars for lunch and people-watching (our first topless sunbathers).  Back at the boat, Marc made tasty pad thai for dinner using the fish sauce they kindly brought us from home. Too hungry to stop and take a photo!

The next morning the kids went for a hike up Mount Zeus while I enjoyed a day of lazy swimming and solitude–not a single other boat in the huge bay. Bliss.

The next morning we toodled a bit further south to Mikri Vigla, another large, quiet bay. Mike and Marc tried to kite with varying degrees of success both before and after lunch at the local taverna.  David, the boys broke out the Fortress to be our stern anchor and now it is living happily on the deck.

When we tried to leave the next morning, our old friend the windlass got cranky again.  This time it was a corroded wire on one of the operating buttons. Happily, there was a new spare button on the boat. Nice inventory, David.  Next stop, a return to Antiparos!

We had a nice sail between islands, along the south side of Paros, and north up the channel between Paros and Antiparos, approaching Antiparos harbour through a sea of kiteboarders.   My photos are not worth sharing, but I’m sure Marc took some that are much better. Stay tuned. We anchored near our old spot  in Antiparos harbour and after a quick trip to town for gyros and groceries, the kids headed over to Poundha in the dinghy to do some kiting. I succeeded in my lobbying to return to Lollo’s for pizza and it was even better than the first time. Ah, pizza itch scratched! For now, anyway…

After dinner we went to the highly recommended Vicky’s for ice cream–good call Henley, Duncan and Arlo! I had one scoop of salted caramel and one scoop of banoffee. Nope, it’s not banana and coffee–it’s banana and toffee!!!

The next morning I decided to be sociable and go on the group epidition. How cranky would I be if they had lunch with Tom Hanks while I was sitting in the cockpit watching Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt!?!  Marc rented a tiny car (we wanted to get scooters but they claimed at the rental place that you need a motorcycle license–isn’t that a bit overkill?) and we headed south. First stop–Soros Beach for some beach pong. I played but instituted my golfing rule of not keeping score. Isn’t it enough that I got some exercise? The others kept score of their games, but I don’t know who won.

When the wind knocked all of our drinks over onto the sand, we took that as a sign that we should move along. Next stop, Cave of Antiparos, an enormous cave in the centre of the island  in the edges of the mountain of Ai Yiannis. It’s the only upright cave in Greece that isn’t full of water. It has stalactites, stalagmites, and a huge rock formation that has been used as an altar. Deb took a selfie of the four of us that I’ll post later.

Continuing around the island, we went to our previous lunch spot, Captain Pipino’s, near Dhespotico because I remembered their french fries so fondly.  They did not disappoint, and this time the calamari was baby calamari, which was tiny, crispy and decadent. So yeah, I’m still not losing any weight on my Mediterranean diet.

From there we continued zooming through the hills to Monastiria Beach on the west coast, where waves were breaking and a guy was actually surfing.

Dinner was a meandering affair with multiple stops throughout town for drinks and nibblies. Marc and Deb made a new friend in the form of this little hedgehog. I refused to touch him, but I guess he was just too cute for the vacationers to resist.

This morning the kiting wind took her leave for awhile, though that didn’t stop Marc from trying to squeeze in one more session, launching from the dinghy just before we headed out of the harbour.

We picked him up on the way by.  Shoutout to the guy from Poundha who came out on a seadoo to make sure we were together and Marc didn’t need a lift back to the beach. Very thoughtful.

The kids had an exciting sail to Sifnos, hitting 8.7knots, while I huddled below and blogged.  We are now anchored in Plati Yialos on the SE coast of Sifnos. Marc and Deb have gone ashore to take a walk and play some beach pong, Mike is napping in the cockpit, and I am refreshed after my saltwater bath and freshwater rinse. All is right with the world, or at least I assume it is–I’ve been too busy blogging to check the news today. Ignorance IS bliss!