Wednesday 29th May 2019
Our next stop was supposed to be an island with a very different vibe from Tinos - the glamorous and rather fabulous, party island of Mykonos, where we were going to do a recce for our future boat guests. However the sea was far too swelly and uncomfortable so we diverted to an anchorage on the teeny island of Rinia, next door. This turned out to be a brilliant decision. The anchorage was gorgeous, so tranquil, shallow, clear blue sea with a sandy sea bed. It Reminded us of an anchorage we found on the Spanish island of Formentera, (next to Ibiza) an unspoilt, natural oasis, a stones throw away from it's 'happening' neighbour island.

This was such a relaxing place, there were even fish to see snorkelling! Bad grammer again, sorry, obviously the fish were not the ones snorkelling, although that does conjure up rather a cute image. We could have stayed for days but needed to head over to Mykonos to suss out the lay of the land, in particular where the ferry was going to drop Gordon and Debs off.

On route checked out the island of Delos and decided that Delos and Rinia would definitely be on our list of places to visit, wind permitting - yep, that 'Law of Sod' again, Guests were arriving along with the strong winds!

In the stretch of sea between the island of Delos and Mykonos we saw a circular rainbow around the sun. It was amazing - not sure the photo does it justice. I have since found out (thanks to google) that it is an optical phenomena called a 22 degree Halo. It is produced by light interacting with ice crystals suspended in the atmosphere. And the 22? That is because the reflection and refraction of these ice crystals takes place 22 degrees from the sun. As one of my heroes is Dr Brian Cox - I hope I have interpreted this correctly. Although They may not be that rare, (I once saw one around the moon in Droxford,) to us it was quite magical.

When we arrived at Mykonos marina it was full - yikes! We needed a plan B! But first - lunch. We headed to the beach just south of the old town, dropped an anchor, admired the view and ate our club sandwiches. It was a pretty place, but as the bay was open, the wind, coming from the North West, was creating a bit of a swell. Looking at our chart we could see a U shaped bay called Korfos that looked like a snuggly place to drop an anchor. It was perfect,local sandy beach, clear water and protection from 3 sides!

We stayed here for five nights it was a good base, from which to get a feel for the island and check out where things were. We even managed to get our cruising tax sorted, thanks to a very sweet girl in the 'Scooter Hire shop' who kindly photocopied our paperwork for us to take to the bank. Sadly many others agreed that this was a wonderful spot and by the time we left it was as full as Tesco Car Park on a Saturday morning. I must say though, there was no squabbling amongst the sailors, everyone was incredibly polite and welcoming as yet another boat squeezed alongside.

Tuesday 4th June 2019
We headed off around the South Western point of the island hoping to anchor on the bay opposite Korfos Bay. This was the very chic Bay of Ornos. As the wind was shifting and coming directly from the North, it would make a safer anchorage. We picked up a bouy next to the very glamorous beach amongst the even more glamorous Gin Palaces, But Ricky wasn't feeling it, so we headed back over to our spot on Rinia to chill and think. No Tavernas, no super yachts , no 10 euro sunbeds, no crowds - Perfect!

Two days later, because we ought, we dragged ourselves back to Mykonos. Here we secured a safe spot inside the marina to sit out the strong winds and of course get the boat ship shape for Gordon and Debs . They arrive on Monday - whoo hoo!