Mikonos

We had an easy run up to southern Mikonos where we stopped at Ornos, another "good shelter" spot that had strong gusts. We took a taxi to the chora (next to the harbour as usual) because the bus service had shut down early for siesta. There weren't too many tourists and the area had characterful narrow lanes, however it seemed to lack soul. As with most places, the last 20 years has seen many houses in the old quarters converted into tourist shops and eateries. It preserves the buildings and facades but destroys the essence of the place. We thought about taking the ferry to Delos, a restricted island, to see the ruins. There's not much left to see of this famous city and the ferry was closed for the day. If they couldn't be bothered, neither could we.

Ormos Varis on Siros had a new mini castle built over looking the bay. We explored the area and met the owner. The buildings had not been completed and were overrun with cats and weed. All a bit odd.

Ormos Kavia on Kea was reached after a six hour windy run with two metre waves but at least we got a sail up. With just the genoa we were getting 8 knots on a broad reach out of a very gusty 15 to 22 knot wind. The girls felt the boat was heeling enough without adding a reefed main.

Chapel Cove at Ormos Anavissou on the mainland was another place you needed good anchor tackle. The meltemi gets you wherever you go and in many ways spoils the afternoons and evenings. We didn't go ashore because there were no tavernas nearby but instead watched a wedding in the little church that gives the bay its name, whilst swinging wildly from our anchor. This is normal for our shape of boat in high winds. Our bow roller side extensions are now bent from the constant strain, even when using a long snubber. The pilot guide usually says "good shelter from the meltemi but gusts". We had 40 knot gusts last year at anchor but have only scored 30 so far this year.

We pushed on to Athens. The smog was bad and the water along coast was polluted with rubbish. All the marinas are normally full and we would have given this patch a miss had it not been for continual problems with our Raymarine smart pilot and plotter. We're not down to pointy things on paper yet as we have a backup computerised GPS navigation system but the Raymarine autopilot works for a while, and then the course goes haywire. The autopilot did an impromptu tight circle on the way close to the harbour. When motoring at nearly 7 knots this is not a comfortable sensation, especially on the rail tying on fenders and setting up lines.

Having fuelled up from a tanker at one marina with no berths, we found at spot at Zea marina at Piraeus, the port of Athens . It was no surprise to find that they wouldn't take credit cards for the fuel, even here in Athens. Note that in Turkey almost everyone takes credit cards. People at the quay were unhelpful and they did the hose pipe trick. There is nothing you can do to stop them ripping you off for 10 to 20 litres. It works like this. Normally the nozzle is passed to you to fill up. They insist they put the nozzle into the filler as they jump on board. This is to cover the fact that the long thick hose is empty. The fuel is turned off at the pump but the hose contents are drained into a jerry can before you arrive. When you leave the hose is now full and you find that your fuel consumption is more than normal.

The Raymarine dealer was closed despite a sign saying he was open. We managed to contact his service department but they couldn't give us a date. Getting anything done in the Med is a problem, especially Greece. We have emailed Raymarine a few times. You get no answer from Med dealers but the UK and US distributors hand out the usual "we'll get back to you" response. We didn't want to see the historic sites again so rather than hang around for a week at 40 euro a night, we did some chores and will leave for Corinth canal tomorrow.