June

Hi all Sue here

Well we eventually left Symi on the 21st June after our unexpected delay. The Radar arrived and is now installed and fully functional again. Although we hadn’t planned it we thoroughly enjoyed our time on Symi and did some really nice hikes around the island. We also met up with Terry & Julie who we had met over the winter and enjoyed some BBQs and Mexican Train games.

Erimopoulis Bay, Symi	Shady Churchyard above Symi Town

 

The windmills above Symi Town	Pedhi Bay

Nisiros was our next stop, another return visit to one of our favourite islands. We sailed there along with Terry & Julie. It was quite a lively sail again and we had a few problems getting anchored and tied back due to the big gusts. It’s always nice when you do get safely in, you can then breath a sigh of relief and sit back and watch the other boats coming in!! Dave and Shirley off Jaxon arrived the following day so of course we had to have a BBQ and Bubbles to catch up. We hired bikes again to tour the island and see how it had changed in 3 years. Some parts of the Volcano have been fenced off now and I imagine if we were to return in another 3 years the fenced off area will have expanded. Such an amazing place to visit. When we returned to the boat we had new neighbors or should I say old, It was our friends Rod & Sandra off SY Barola who we first met in Lagos in 2011. This is how cruising life works.

Around Nisiros	Volcano at Nisiros

Natural Sauna in the Rocks	Volcano Crater, Nisiros

 

Impressive Brickwork, Paleokastro, Nisiros	Back Streets of Mandraki, Nisiros

Wednesday the 25th May we sailed across to Kefalos (Kamares), Kos with Dave & Shirley off Jackson. It was a bit lumpy, just for a change!!, but at least it was only 10 miles. We went out to eat that night as it was Dave’s Birthday. The restaurant we chose was called Aphrodite and it is one of the best places we have eaten at. Michael and his wife made us feel very welcome and the food was excellent, they also have a floating pontoon in place now where you can tie your dinghy up. There was an elderly gentleman their called John who has been coming to Kamares on Kos for years and always eats at Aphrodite. We really enjoyed chatting to him and telling each other about our lives. This is one of the reasons cruising life is so special, you get to meet such lovely and interesting people. It was so good we went back the next evening and that is unheard for us!!.

Daves Birthday meal at Aphrodite	Jackson leaving Nisiros

Friday 27th May found us on our way to Astapalia, an early start as once again the wind was due to pick up in the afternoon. But hey ho it was already windy at 06.30am and we had a lively and lumpy 6 hour sail. Don’t know what is going on with May this year but at least we are sailing instead of motoring, albeit a tad too breezy at times!!

Astipalia	First catch of the year, a 3 kilo Tuna

Monday 30th May was an early start to go to Amorgos, here we had arranged to meet up with friends, Mark & Cathy. It was a long day and for the first time this year we had to motor sail all the way.  Chris managed to hook a 3 kilo Tuna, first catch of the summer but a much bigger one escaped. Never mind 3 kilos was plenty for a BBQ. We anchored in a beautiful tranquil bay and went for sundowners on Mark & Cathys boat. Then at around 6pm the wind started picking up and the tranquil bay was tranquil no more!!With rocks behind us and the wind showing no sign of dying down it was decided to re anchor across the other side while we still had some light to do it in. Eventually the BBQ continued on Nimrod around 9.30pm and we gave the Tuna a lovely send off!! This is the bit of sailing I don’t like, the forecast that isn’t forecast!!

Monastery built into the rocks on Amorgos	Brief trip ashore on Naousa, Paros

Wednesday 1st June we crossed to Skhinousa where we anchored for one night before heading to Naousa on Paros. We have visited both these islands before and they are just hops on our passage towards Athens this time round but we will revisit them later in the year. Next stop Rinia. We were meant to just stay overnight in Rinia but it was so beautiful we stayed for 2 nights. You do get the odd trip boat coming in during the day but they don’t stay long thank goodness!! There are some ruins ashore but little else apart from a couple of smallholdings. A very peacful place in sharp contrast to Mykonos across the bay!!

Beautiful Anchorage after the Trippers Leave, Rinea	Ford 4000, circa mid 70’s – It Probably Still Runs

 

Rinia with Mykonos across the bay	Company on way to Karystos

Sunday 5th June and we are on our way to Andros. We only spent one night at anchor here but it is meant to be a really nice island, unfortunately we weren’t on the nice side and it all looked very bland. It was very busy with large Ferries coming in, at least 5 came and went on the evening we were there.

Monday 6th June we sailed to Karystos to hide for a few days as there were some strong winds forecast. Had a lot of company on the way and all a lot larger than us!! We have visited here a few times. Once again we met some really nice people and had drinks with them a couple of evenings. We left Karistos town on Friday and did a quick sail across to Porto Rafina to do a big Lidl shop. As all cruisers will tell you when there is a chance of going to Lidl you do it!!

Karystos	Picaso’s House

We are now going to anchor around a group of islands called Nisidhes Petaloi until we have to cross to Porto Rafti around June 15th for me to fly back to the UK for a week. It is a lovely place to spend some time. Saturday night we were anchored outside Picasos house and just a bit further down is Nisis Tragos that is a strictly private island with a very large villa on which even has it’s own little harbour!!

Nisis Tragos	Nisis Tragos

After a few quiet days around these islands it is time for us to head to Porto Rafti for my flight back to UK. It will be a full on week as usual but I love catching up with family and friends. Then my sister and her husband will fly back with me for 3 weeks. So the next blog will be full of our adventures.

Chris’s Turn Now!!

Well after Sue has told you all about the Islands there isn’t all that much left for me. After our lively, windy start to the summer between Crete and Symi it seems that normal service has been resumed with the wind either being in the wrong direction or non-existent. So since we left Symi it has been mainly motoring or motor sailing apart from a quick downwind trip from Kos to Nisiros with 20 – 25 knts of wind. Fortunately the wind had only just started so the sea was fairly flat and we had a good trip, although trying to tie stern to in Nisiros harbour with 25knts blowing us sideways was a bit hairy. The sea state got much worse as the day progressed and we were glad to be safely in port, apparently the other harbour at Mandraki was too dangerous for even the ferries to use it. We had the usual entertainment later in the day with some yachts making a complete mess of berthing and tangling with other anchor chains and bows – they missed us thankfully. Although a couple of days later in pretty benign conditions our next door neighbour decided to pull our anchor up as she was leaving by getting their rudder snagged on our chain – we were away on our scooters so Dave from Jaxon and a German skipper reset our anchor with no harm done.

So far it seems very quiet around the Islands with only Amorgos, of all the Islands we have visited, being fairly full with yachts. Not very promising for the Greek Tourism Industry although Turkey is almost devoid of tourists and yachts so much worse over there.

After our radar problems in Symi Nimrod has been very well behaved so I braved the water to give the hulls a good clean and scrub for the first time since we left Crete, we are now much quicker through the water with our clean hulls and shiny props. The only problem we have at the moment is the fact that every time we get any rain it seems to come loaded with dust from N Africa so we end up with a very dirty boat and another cleaning job to do ready for our visitors in a weeks time.