We arrived in Crete at early dawn the morning of Sunday May 11, after an overnight sail of 120 miles from the tiny island of Astipalaia. The marina at Agios Nikolaos on Crete had a helpful "mariner" to assign us a berth and help us to dock. After a good nap, we got out the folding bikes and explored the nearby town. A fresh cappuccino and croissant were the perfect treat for mid morning. This town has a small but very deep lake connected to the sea by a narrow channel. There are many cafés and restaurants along the lakeside as well as along the harbor front. Traffic was busy and riding our bikes here was the opposite of the island of Kos with its nice bike path. We felt like we were taking our life in our hands riding up and down the narrow streets !

The cruisers in this marina invited us to their Sunday afternoon barbecue and we enjoyed getting to know several British couples who have been here for several years. It is always helpful to get local advice on what to see and visit. Cruising has been described as "fixing your boat in exotic places with hard to obtain parts". So getting local knowledge is always helpful. Our shopping list included marine grade electric wire for a new panel switch, isinglass protector spray for the new Bimini clear window, and a new glass top for our coffee percolator. We have still to find any coffee percolator AT ALL on the entire island. Many electric kettles but nothing to make coffee on our gas cooktop. I checked on line and I could order the broken piece for $4.99 each but of course this isn't available for shipping to Crete! We are spoiled in the US with the ease of purchasing so many things!

So Dave in his usual creative manner, fixed the broken glass top with silicon, and we once again can enjoy a good cup of morning coffee.

Our second day on Crete, we did the tourist thing and rented a car to drive to the famous Minoan ruins of Knossos, where King Minos is said to have ruled in an ornate palace around 1700 BC. The British archeologist Sir Arthur John Evans led excavations and reconstruction of the palace from 1899-1935. While his reconstruction has been critiqued, we found that it helped us envision the true splendor. Later in the day, we visited the Museum of Archeology in the nearby city of Iraklion, where we could see the actual wall frescoes and objects from the site. We also drove to some smaller mountain village in eastern Crete and enjoyed the amazing scenic views over the ocean.

On our 3rd day on Crete, we motored the short distance up the bay from Ayios Nikolaos to Spinalonga Lagoon. This protected harbor is about 15-20 foot deep and could easily hold 100's of boats at anchor. We anchored alone in a very calm corner and took our dinghy over to the town of Elouda for a light dinner snack at All in One, a restaurant recommended by our new Aussie friends on The catamaran "Dominos". At the north end of the lagoon is an island with a Venetian fort, famous as the last place to surrender to the Turks in 1715. The island was used as a leper colony from 1903-1957.

Once again a study of the weather caused us to change plans and aim for a very early start the next morning at 5:00 am (there was a full moon to help with visually making our way out of the lagoon), and head 70 miles west on the island of Crete to the town of Rethimno. Winds were predicted to be light so we planned to motor sail the whole day. So much for weather forecasts. This was perhaps the most unusual day of sailing we have experienced in a long time: we had flat calm, we had perfect winds of 15 knots on the beam, we had gusts of 37 knots with 4 foot steep chop on the nose, and we had sustained winds for the last 4 hours over 30 knots...so around 5:00 pm, we had enough and ducked into a little bay called Ormos Bali, about 18 miles short of our goal. We anchored for the night and were relieved that the gusts off the mountains eventually calmed down, our anchor held, and we were able to get some sleep. Again at 5:00 am under the full moonlight, the next morning, we upped anchored and set out to cover the last 18 miles to Rethimno. Even though it was very early morning, the waves and wind were already strong, and we were glad to finally arrive at the nice harbor mid-morning. There is a ancient Venetian harbor but we were waved away (it is small and already crowded with local boats) and sent to the nearby marina. Some nice Brits on the dock helped us find a spot and tie up since this marina has no staff on duty. Once again the cruising community is the most helpful.

We again rented a car the next day and this time, we drove to the south side of Crete and into the Amari Valley, in the shadow of Mt Ida, which still has traces of snow at the top! We were amazed at the fertile valleys and diverse agriculture. There are steep gorges to hike and sandy beaches and green hillsides. At the small village of Hora Sfakion (no, that is not a typo and no, I can't pronounce it!), we learned of the final stand in WWII of the Brits, Aussies, and New Zealanders to hold Crete for the Allies against the invading Nazis. These soldiers walked over the rugged mountains we had just driven on a crazy winding road, but there was no road for them. Every night for 5 nights an Allied rescue ship would come from Alexandria Egypt to load as many soldiers as possible from the beach at this small town, before the Germans attacked again. More than 5000 of the Allied soldiers died or did not get rescued so were taken as prisoners of war. It was quite moving to see the monument to these soldiers at the small harbor.

Rethimno itself has a huge Venetian fortress built in 1570s and touring it gave beautiful view of the harbor and marina where we were berthed.

Once again the weather is taking center attention because our route is due west northwest, and there is a prediction for an usual favorable easterly wind for the next few days. So we leave Crete at 6 am tomorrow,(May 19) headed 175 miles to the west coast of the Greek Peloponnese peninsula. Originally we had planned to harbor hop short distances between here and there, but an easterly wind is too good to pass up. So we are preparing for a 38 hour crossing, and our next blog will be from mainland Greece in the port of Pilos -- we hope!