Photo: Santorini
Wednesday 2nd July, we motored across to South Bay, Rinia Island, there was a Meltimi due at the weekend and we wanted to see how good the bay is for shelter. It is beautiful, secluded with only a couple of big launches. We decided on Thursday to see how the south bays of Mykonos where for the Meltimi winds, it was blowing 20+ in South Bay so we upped anchor and set off for Mykonos. We motored around in 25-36 knot winds and decided to return to South Bay, Rinia. We now know that this bay is probably as good as it gets and although the wind does gust into the bay, it does not accelerate as much as it seems to around the southern bays of Mykonos. We managed to get internet access while we were at Mykonos, so got an updated weather forecast and emails; there is no internet access in South Bay. We sat in South Bay till Sunday, only us and a local barge, (no worries about other boats dragging their anchors down onto us), with the highest wind peak we saw being 49 knots, however most of the time it was 30 – 35, and we sat up on anchor watch on Saturday which was the windiest. Each day Brian snorkeled over the anchor and confirmed it had not moved, that is the beauty of the crystal clear water.
Sunday morning, 6th July, we woke to little wind and decided to head down to Paros to meet up with Paul and Gloria Scallywag. As we put the main up, (leisure furl) the mandrill separated from the boom, we quickly dropped the main and re-anchored. Our own mistake caused the problem, we had tied the spinnaker topping lift and other ropes back during the blow and had not released them before leaving, we think this put strain on the main causing the problem. No issue it is a minor repair, once the main was off and strapped onto the deck, we left and headed for Paros. About 6nm from the harbour entrance, our attention was drawn to a 46 Sun Odyssey yacht waving a red object at us, it turned out he had lost his propeller and with no wind, was requesting a tow to Paroikia harbour, Paros. We altered course, took a tow line and towed him into the harbour. Later that evening as we were having sundowners with Paul and Gloria Scallywag, the guys off the Sun Odyssey came over to thank us and gave us a bottle of Mumm champagne, they stayed for a cool beer and we learnt they were Austrian and it was the second propeller they had lost in 3 weeks.
The following day we went into town and found a small engineering workshop, the guy did not speak English and we did not speak Greek, but with sign language we managed to ask him if he could straighten the bent bronze fitting from the main mandrill (Main Sail reefing system) , which he did. Back to the boat, re-attached the fitting and put the mainsail back on the mandrill and all is working again. A walk around the old quarter of Paros, followed by dinner ashore, then we cleared out of Paroikia harbour on Tuesday and motored in sloppy seas to Ormos Naousis, northern anchorage, Paros. We put the main up and down to make sure it was working well. Ormos Naousis is a pretty anchorage, lots of small beaches, some clothes optional, a day resort with water toys, café, lots of walks and a ferry every 30mins across to the town or a 10 min dinghy ride. The water is crystal clear and along with walks, we enjoyed swimming every day. The bay also has several arms, so as the wind changed or increased we moved to another area. We took the dinghy across to the town, very cute with its narrow lanes and white buildings. We decided to stay until Monday to take the one day excursion to Thira, Santorini, as we will not take Dol down to the island – the anchorages are not great and we don’t want to go that far south. Sunday 13th July, we put Dol in the marina, went ashore for dinner and to watch the Football World Cup final.
Monday 14th July, we were picked up by coach at 07:20 and taken to Piso Livadhi to board the ferry to Thira, Santorini. The trip took just over 2 hrs and we were rewarded with the spectacular entrance to the harbour. Thira or as it is more commonly known, Santorini, is a volcano which still holds the record for the largest eruption on earth and some historians reckon it could be part of the lost city of Atlantis. Santorini is famous for it’s white dwellings and other buildings built around the rim of the volcano and the steep, switch back roads leading to the top. From the ferry we were taken by coach to Oia, this is the town most seen on photographs of Santorini, with the blue domed churches and white buildings on the steep rock faces of the volcano. The views are spectacular and you wonder where one house finishes and the next starts as they all cling to the cliffs. Oia is a very busy tourist town, with lots of retail and terraced bars and cafes, but certainly worth the trip. From Oia, we went to the capital of Thira, Fira, again more cliff hugging buildings and lots of retail, cafes and bars. After Fira it was back to the ferry for the trip home, a long day but an enjoyable one, we are happy we went. Santorini is spectacular; we did not see the famed sunset, visit the volcano or the excavated Minoan town which are things to see if you stay a couple of days.
Having spent several, unsuccessful hours trying to book airline tickets on line, we left the marina later than planned and went out to the anchorage for a swim and a quiet night. It is fun in the anchorages watching boats, especially charter boats, anchoring, even skippered super yachts do not get it right first time; we watched one take over an hour to untangle his two anchors which had somehow become crossed when deploying them. Wednesday it was time to say farewell to Paros and we had a great 30nm sail to Sifnos, dropping anchor in Ormos Faros on the southern side. Greece is certainly the land of the small church, there are four headlands in the bay and each one of them has a small church, the most interesting one is on a rock that has a natural hole through it, the top of the hole forms a bridge to the church, very pretty. The next day we had a short 5 nm motor around to Ormos Vathi, a land locked anchorage on the west coast of Sifnos. Vathi had a nice feel to it, small with holiday studios not resorts, tavernas and a mini mart.
Friday 18th July, having checked the bus timetables the previous day, we headed ashore for a day on the island. Basically buses run on island time, some people gave up waiting and took a taxi, we waited an hour before the bus finally arrived. We first went to Appollonia, the main town on the island; Brian commented how the entire island seemed to be terraced with dry stone walls, mile upon mile of them, for what purpose we couldn’t work out. Rather than waiting for the bus to Kastro, we decided to walk the 2kms. Kastro was listed as a medieval town with houses built into the wall, unfortunately the newer houses have been built alongside the old and they merge into one making it hard to distinguish the older parts of the small village. As the bus to Appollonia was due, we waited, should have learnt our lesson, it was 45 mins late. Appollonia was pretty small as a town which seemed to have a few ceramics shops with hand crafted pots, bowls and dozens of ashtrays. Unfortunately Greece has not yet banned smoking in public places and you forget what cafes and restaurants in NZ used to be like. Having walked around we spotted a bus about to leave for Kamares, the port, so we hopped aboard, had lunch at a seafood restaurant on the waterfront, nice apart from the smokers, and caught a taxi back to Vathi as there was no bus service.
Saturday we sailed to Kimilos, anchoring off the beach on the south side, Pirgonisi. Kimilos looks like a mining island; there are visible quarries and loading areas for ships. Will be here a couple of days while a blow goes through.