Simon and Noelia enjoy orange & champagne breakfast before departing First Light III

Simon & Noelia join us in Thessalonika and after provisioning and refuelling the next morning we head off for Nea Skioni 60nm away. The winds are light and we are able to sail for part of the way but finally end up motoring. We make fresh water, have showers and enjoy sundowners on the go before we reach our destination just on dark. Having stayed here the week before, we are familiar with the layout of the harbour and have enough light from the village to negotiate backing in and tying up. A quick tidy up and we are off to a local taverna to enjoy a delicious light supper. The following day our guests spend swimming, cycling and sightseeing and the following morning we are up early and set sail for Alonnisos one of the islands of the Northern Sporades, 40nm in a SE direction. We enjoy some good sailing conditions and are able to give the spinnaker its first outing for the season. It is early afternoon when we arrive at Patitiri, the main town of this island. It is a very small harbour and while tied up to the quay, we experience a lot of surging backwards and forwards due to the wash from the continuous ferry traffic. We are pleasantly surprised to see a yacht next to us flying the Australian flag. 'Rafiki' is sailed by Peter, Deborah and their son Andrew who are ex Melbournites. So we enjoy swapping sailing stories and anchorage experiences with them. It is good to hear the Aussie accent again. In no time at all, Simon & Noelia have our bikes off the boat and are ready to scale the very steep streets of the harbour village up to the old town sitting on top of the island a few kms away. It is an extremely steep ascent out of town and too tough to cycle in the heat of the afternoon, so bikes are exchanged for a swim in the clear waters of the harbour. Over the next few days we enjoy some protected anchorages on this island, swimming and taking it easy before sailing over to the next island of Skopolos.
Skopolos is a fertile mountainous island where pine trees grow to the waters edge and fruit trees, olive groves and grape vines grow in abundance. The highlight of this island is the mountain village of Glossa a typical Greek village of white washed houses with blue window shutters and magnificent sea views of the island of Skiathos to the west. These old towns were built high up on tops of the mountains to protect their inhabitants from pirates. It is only in the last 100 years or so that settlements were built down around the coast.

Simon & Noelia hire a scooter to explore the island and Bern & I ride our bikes up the steep climb to the village. This island's recent claim to fame is being the place where 'Mumma Mia' was filmed. The island has many beautiful beaches and is a popular holiday destination during the summer months.

It is nearly time for our guest to leave, so with Noelia at the helm we enjoy a gentle sail over to the island of Skiathos, where Simon will fly back to Denmark and Noelia catch a ferry to the mainland. We are able to anchor off the main town also called Skiathos and are blown away by the number of ferries that come charging into the harbour on a consistent basis. We are also anchored just off the end of the airport's runway and every hour or so a jet flies past us at eye level just before touching down. You can actually walk to the airport from town, it is that close! Skiathos is a 'jumping off point' for the other islands and a hub for all the ferries and flights. Despite the frenetic activity of arrivals and departures on the waterfront, a few streets back you find a sleepy town with very pretty narrow laneways and well maintained white washed houses with little piazzas and local tavernas. After farwelling our visitors in the evening, we are kept awake for most of the night by head banging music pumping out of the discos that line the waters edge! Where are those earpliugs!!!