Can’t quite believe it’s more than a month since the last blog! We flew back to France a month ago to arrange work on our apartment. We attended the annual meeting of the co-propriety which was slightly stressful as it was conducted in French and we became a little lost in a long and animated discussion about the removal of a tree from the communal land. There was even more debate about the cost of mowing the lawns with vociferous proposals regarding the use of ‘moutons’ to keep the grass under control! Happily, when it came to our requests on the agenda, there were few questions and we were successful in gaining approval from our neighbours to begin building work. We managed to order all the building materials and talked through the final details with builder, plasterer, electrician and plumber so it is all now in their hands. I had time to return to the UK to see mum and some friends and, back in Ste Foy, we had lots of BBQs on the terrace, cycled to La Rosiere for lunch a few times and had a lovely walk at Bonneville sur Arcs.
We returned to Merryn in Zea Marina, Athens and were joined by our friends Linda and Colin for a few weeks of sailing. We first met on a ‘Sailing Holidays’ flotilla in the Ionians in 2007 when we formed a breakaway group and shared some fabulous evenings at anchor. We then invited them to sail with us on our first boat “Wheal Music” when we had disastrous rain and F9 storms in Cornwall. Somehow they weren’t completely put off and still joined us in the Baltic on our second boat “Freyja” where we had a much sunnier time.
Athens was hot – 38 degrees – so we headed out to the islands the morning after we all arrived. The winds in the Saronic Sea made passage planning difficult, with south-westerlies by day and a full 180 degree swing to north-easterlies at night, so the choice of anchorage was challenging. We spent our first few days heading south to Aegina and Poros with little on the agenda but to find nice bays where we could swim and cool down! before heading north to Sounio and the stunning Temple of Poseidon.
As the winds became more consistent we headed eastwards to explore the Cyclades. These are quite dry, barren islands with small populations but feel authentically Greek with blue shuttered, whitewashed houses spilling down the hillsides and narrow streets winding up through the Chora. Our first port of call after leaving Sounio on the mainland was Korissa on Kea. We arrived in the midst of a thunderstorm, lashed with rain but happily moored on the harbour wall right opposite a lovely restaurant where we found shelter, delicious food and lots of beer and wine! Fortunately that has been our only really bad weather.
We then sailed southwards visiting the beautiful islands of Kithnos, Serifos and Sifnos where we found lovely anchorages by stunning ports and beaches. The winds remained from the north giving us some lovely downwind sails and the seas were mostly calm so we could swim and paddle board in all the bays. Highlights were Kutala bay in Serifos where we ate at ‘Grandma’s cafe’, tables balanced on the beach pebbles under the shade of tamarisk trees, and Vathi on Sifnos which is a quiet and stunning tiny resort with a pretty strip of beach and fabulous tavernas. Low lights were some of the beaches that had been taken over by beach bars with huge speakers pumping out deafening brain numbing techno sounds. At one of the prettiest spots on Kithnos the ‘music’ forced us to abandon and move on.
After Sifnos we headed eastwards to the interestingly named Despotiko Bay between the islands of Despotiko and Antiparos, a lovely wide shallow anchorage where the wind blasted between the islands and the only signs of life on Despotiko were the goats and sheep grazing near the temple ruins. Next stop was the bay of Naoussa, on northern Paros where we spent a windy night but found a fabulous taverna ashore, and then we headed around to Paroikia, Port of Paros where Linda and Colin would catch the ferry to Athens. We spent the remains of their stay testing out some of the fantastic food on offer and enjoying the beautiful old town of Paros. We’ve had a fantastic few weeks together sailing, paddle boarding, swimming, exploring, eating and drinking way too much and sharing so much laughter – true ‘bon viveurs’.
Linda and Colin departed yesterday and had a fairly lumpy ferry trip to Athens. The Meltemi wind was already building. We had a reservation to moor in Paroikia Harbour but were unable to get in as it was filled with charter boats, so we waited for two nights at anchor and managed to snaffle the only place that became available yesterday. It was 34 knots eating dinner aboard, hanging on to our wine glasses. We are reasonably sheltered but there are some boats on the outer wall bobbing like corks despite being over 50 feet long – the anchorage in the bay seems safer. We’ll probably be here for the rest of the week as the winds are due to peak at 40 knots or more over the next few days and the sea is looking rough. At least we can go ashore, explore the island inland and enjoy the lovely old town.
