The town of Hydra was very busy as we approached a large cruise ship anchored off with its attendant lifeboats ferrying passengers back & forward. The main Quay was filled with Large motor super-yachts and their seemed little chance of getting a berth so we continued past and anchored in the bay of Mandraki Most boats were Tied with a line to shore. As we planned to leave early the next day I didn’t fancy swimming to untie the lines at 03:00am so we backed in Dropping the main anchor then continued backing till we were in 3 Mtrs depth and dropped a stern anchor pulling ourselves out again so we were moored between the two. Now when we were ready to leave we just let out the main anchor till we were over the stern anchor, recover it, then pulled in the main anchor, No swimming! The theory was fine till a German flagged boat came in at 22:00Hrs and dropped his anchor on top of ours. I yelled across to tell him he was on our anchor and were were leaving in the early hours 'No Problem' was the reply. I don’t think he really believed us but at 2am when we started hauling chain he finally realised we were telling the truth. He didn’t complain but I am sure he wasn’t happy at having to get out of bed in the early hours.
The Night was Pitch black, No stars, Moon or any other light once clear of the bay it was difficult to tell where the cliffs started and the sea finished. Relying on the GPS & Chart-plotter we set a course for Kithnos. Once clear of land Jackie want back to sleep & Pete Kept watch. Half way across there was a whole mass of red flashing lights Checking the Charts showed no Buoys, or other obstructions in the sea. Looking at the timing it seemed that half of them flashed in Sync and the other half were out of Sync. We worked out that they were probably wind generators but nothing was marked on the map and the depths seemed to preclude them in the water. Even so we approached carefully. As it got light we realised yes they were wind turbines, but on a small island the whole of the Island was covered in them. Probably installed after our charts had been published. Either way panic over. On rounding the north of Kithnos we headed for Ormos Livadhi Strong winds were forecast for the following few days so we wanted somewhere sheltered. Approaching the harbour we were hailed by the harbour-master who directed us alongside inside the Harbour arm. As we sat there relaxing, boats just came & came. Eventually we had three boats rafted alongside outside of us and the outer arm was also full of boats at final count we reckon about 50 boats came in there that day the poor Harbour master was rushed off his feet Jackie Kept him topped up with juice much to his delight & amusement. One great feature at Livadhi was the Hot water spring on the Beach. We were able to sit and relax in hot water watching the yachts go by into the harbour. Pete said this was his first hot bath for seven months! Livadhi was a great little place again the main tourist trade had lowed down but the tavernas had a late season boost from all the boats coming in to shelter from the winds. After 3 days the winds declined and we left for Siros with just Jib out we scooted down wind at 7.5knts down around the bottom of the island and up to Ermoupolis here we entered the large harbour and tied up against the town quay right in front of a taverna.