Pic shows kingfisher at the marina - there's only one and probably too tame and trusting - apparently its partner was eaten by one of the local feral cats!

Now securely berthed in Aghios Nikolaos marina getting ready to fly to Kathmandu with the many last minute jobs on the boat still to do before we leave, including replacing the marina's rather spindly looking stern ropes. The marina is run by the town council and is generally well run, small and compact. The council threw a party in the square by the lake yesterday with music, Italian flag waving and free Cretan food, beer and raki to which the whole town it seemed was invited. The little city was celebrating International Tourism Day, which may be the saviour of the local economy in these troubled times - the town is still teaming with tourists on sun loungers and many cruise ships make Aghios Nikolaos one of their destinations as well! There is not much blue and white in evidence and it doesn't quite have the stunning scenery of Santorini.

We had left Santorini more or less on a whim at about 11 pm at night, and safely navigated our way through the middle of the caldera and out into the Aegean. The wind forecast on Bouy weather showed 9 to 12 knots WNW / NNW winds. As it turned out we actually had a great beam wind that blowed at a magic 10 to 15 knots right across to St John's Point (Ak. Aghios Yiannis) at the entrance to the Mirabella Gulf on Crete. As we approached the coast, the wind freshened to the occasional 17 knots, still on the beam. We thought that it would probably lighten as we sailed into the lee of the cliffs but it didn't. Up to 28 knot gusts swept down from the cliffs as we turned towards the entrance to Spinalonga lagoon. Never mind. The water was a vivid deep blue colour and we could see 20 metres down to the sandy bottom. This was easily the best 80 mile sail we have had either in Turkey or Greece so far.

Spinalonga is a fantastic anchorage as long as the wind does not blow too strongly from the North but it is possible to find an anchorage for pretty much every wind direction- the water is clear and shallow and the lagoon is entirely enclosed and it is easy to access either the shops and services on one side or the uninhabited peninsula and the fortress on Spinalonga island on the other. The entrance to the lagoon is 8 m deep at first then it does drop to around 3m as you progress a mile or so southwards and then off the small sun lounger lined town of Elounda it rises again to a depth of 5m - all in sand and no weed. Winds sprung up to 25 knots now and again while we were there but the holding was good and access to the shore was still easy. There is a regular bus service into Aghios Nikolaos.

Our gentle Grecian gyration has been just that for most of the nearly five months since leaving Finike. We have clocked up about eleven hundred miles but have had only one annoying windy bash - inside the protected Evia channel at that. Having the modem and access almost everywhere to good weather forecasting sites as well as not having too much distance to cover made all the difference.

Crete is our 24th Greek island and easily the biggest. The potential for exploring looks good -there are plenty of mountains and tracks to tramp. Aghios Nikolaos is a touristy town with the fish and chip mob burning themselves to pieces on the beaches at the moment but no doubt it will have to transform itself back into a genuine Greek small city by the time we return from Nepal.