Saturday 28 May
We're still anchored out of Koufonisia and had to 'endure' another very windy day today so we hung around inside having a very bumpy and rolly day in the swell. The advantage of being forced inside was that Francis could finish off the new web page showing Clio's 2016 journey (find the map here). Looking at it (see photo) we've been making quite some Aegean tracks over the last couple of weeks. Time to slow down, we're running out of Aegean Sea!

Sunday 29 May
At last the wind has dropped again and we head for shore via the small harbour, where we found out from a German crew that they were paying €23 per night including water and electricity, that is the most expensive we have come across in Greece, so far. But, with the austerity measures in place it makes sense that port taxes have increased, still cheaper than marinas though. And we are fortunate to have our solar panels providing us with enough power so we can anchor for free.
As it is a glorious day we explored the village and then headed for the beach for a game of beach tennis and our first beach swim for the year. The water is 21 degrees, still a bit cool, but great once you are in.

Monday 30 May
Time to move on again so up with the anchor and we motored the 7 nautical miles to Ormos Mirsini on Schoinoussa Island. We arrived and anchored in the very small harbour and after Chris hung out the washing and Francis did some running repairs on the rudder chain on the starboard side, we rowed Cloe ashore to enjoy a delicious lunch in the local taverna, followed by a very cool swim in not so very clear water. Later in the afternoon 8 yachts bearing lots of not-so-quiet-Italians motored into the tiny bay and we watched in wonder at what they planned to do. A large motor boat was tied (permanently, we understand) alongside the small quay, taking up what was at least four yacht spaces if tied astern. The Italians tried to negotiate with the motor boat owner to tie stern to but he would not budge, so at least 80 Italians motored back out again, each of the 80 or so making sure the motor boat owner knew what they thought of his behaviour. We wonder what the two taverna-owners think about this motorboat sending away potentially a week's worth of income.

Tuesday 31 May
We moved on this morning as Mirsini wasn't really that great, motoring for a whole half an hour to Nisos Iraklia and the bay of Yeoryios. We dropped anchor in this very picturesque place and after a while decided it would be a good idea to run a line ashore, so Chris braved the cool-ish (22 C) waters again and swam ashore. Francis went snorkelling in search of the elusive critter he failed to find in Serce Bay and failed to collect in Symi and was bugging him since last year. Success at last!!! He found small colonies of the critters and brought some back to be examined under the new stereo microscope. The critters were not moss-animals (Bryozoans) as previously thought but turned out to be Corallina pinnatifolia. It is a red seaweed from a genus (Corallinea) that produces a calcareous skeleton. This is the second species from that genus that took a fair while to figure out, the first one being Amphiroa rigida. It starts to be clear that after the sponges, the red algae are a very varied and abundant group in the Meds and also one of the hardest to identify correctly. There are around 7,000 species of red algae (seaweed) recognised worldwide (only 1,500 green algae). They also include a range of encrusting species and the more 'normal' soft-tissue species. It'll keep us busy for some time to come.
Meanwhile, in the real world, Chris was enjoying swimming and laying in the lovely warm sun. We went ashore at 1.45 to find a supermarket, but of course, it was closed for siesta. So after 4.00 we returned and stocked up on more essential supplies.

Wednesday 1 June
We were woken this morning by the water tanker which came in sometime during the night and connecting a long hose to a small pump house on shore commenced the many, many hours of pumping water onto the island. This was interrupted for a bit when the large blue star ferry arrived, so "Maria", name of tanker, headed out and waited offshore until the ferry departed and then came back in for some more pumping. This went on until late afternoon, Chris was amazed at how much water could be stored in this tanker. At last they were done and peace was restored.

Thursday 2 June
This is obviously a very popular spot for French people as most of the yachts that come and go are flying French flags. We have also been spotting a small sailing kayak with two occupants turning up at the last couple of anchorages we have been at, we admire their courage.

Another trip to the beach today and it is time for Chris to learn to drive Cloe, after a couple of failed attempts to start the outboard the cord kicked back and wacked her on the hand, so Francis to the rescue, getting it started before we landed on the rocks. Chris then managed very tentatively to drive us into shore and after much fumbling about, Francis took charge of the landing. Still a bit of work to be done on take-off and landings, the in-between bit is fine.
After a refreshing swim and lying in the lovely warm sun, it was time to head back to Clio. Chris opted to swim back, for the exercise, she says!

Friday. 3 June
We decided to move on to the island of Ios today, but first we need to get water. For this we need to tie up stern to on the quay and hope that our hose will be long enough to reach the one tap on the other side of the quay.
We managed to get the hose to our aft tank (closest to the tap), but it would not reach our forward tank. We had pulled up alongside a charter boat flying an Italian flag, so had assumed that the occupant was Italian. Francis asked if he was and he was Greek. We got to chatting about the islands in this area and he told us he was from Kalymnos and, of course, his father had lived in Melbourne for a time. He offered us his hose to connect to ours so that we could then fill our forward tank and give Clio a very quick wash to remove her salt coating, keeping in mind that water is sparse on the island.
Our helpful neighbour then in turn used the longer hose to also fill his tank and give his yacht a quick wash as well. One of the great pleasures of this life is the friendly and interesting people we meet along the way. We cast off and motored with the wind right on our nose, all the way to the party island of Ios.
Ios has a reputation of being the only island that tolerates nude (sun and other) bathing and attracts young backpackers who like to party. We are happy to be here at the beginning of the season as it is still very quiet and not yet overrun with tourists. It will be a very different place in July and August. After taking a little while in some wind to manoeuvre Clio into a position where we would not cross anchor chains with the neighbours, Francis reversed her into place and we tied her to shore. Chris got the washing hung out to dry (loving the travel washing bags that do the wash using the movement of the boat while we are underway), and then indulged in a lovely warm shower and shampoo. Meanwhile a number of very large ferries came and went and onto one of them went the sail kayak that we had seen a couple of times, they must have come to the end of their journey and were taking the easy way back.
After paying the port tax to the friendly tax collector, who spoke very good English, because his mother is English, he recommended a taverna on the beach to get pizza for dinner. We wandered around the harbour and checked out the Carrefour supermarket to see if they had our essentials, sadly no chocolate of our choice. Chris then spotted a small timber pirate-like boat which was a cafe/bar flying an Australian flag and another flag bearing the words "off the beaten track", so we figured there must be Aussies on board, let's hop on for a drink. We were greeted by a young Greek woman and Chris asked if this boat was owned by Australians, but no, she told us it is to attract the many young Australian backpackers who visit in the summer. Obviously an Ozzie-trap.
We went on to the beach taverna that was recommended by our port-tax collector and enjoyed a delicious salad of melon and prosciutto with walnuts and rocket, followed by a very tasty pizza while sitting at a table on the beach and watching the sun set over the hills. Life is pretty good!