Well. I don't know quite where to start - which I think, is a first for me!!!!!

But I will start by saying that our welcome to Skyros was way, way, beyond what we had expected.

We had left Skiathos, silently, at 06.10am and after 55 miles, on the engine (of course!!!) we arrived on the island of Skyros just before dusk at 19.00 hrs.

We were just outside the port, putting out our fenders and preparing to go 'stern to ' on to the small quay that, in our pilot book said was reserved for visiting yachts, when we saw a rib approaching us. Andreas said ' is he coming to meet us??. I said, 'don't be daft! But in actual fact, he was. George. Lovely George . Met us in his rib. Asked us what our plans were. We said we were planning to stay 2 nights. He asked us if we would like to go 'alongside '. We said yes please. He helped us with our lines and at the time of posting, we are still here - 9 days later.

So as a typical Brit, I will talk about the weather. Quite frankly, the weather pattern of this season has been very frustrating and also worrying. The Meltemi, which normally blows during the months of July and August finishes in September. It is still blowing, sometimes for days and most times very hard. The result of days of strong winds is a horrible sea state that has meant that we have stayed longer than originally planned in quite a few places.

Skyros has been no exception. Today, the ferry that runs across to Kimi on the island of Evia has not run for the third day due to the sea state. That says it all.

If we are going to be stuck anywhere, this is a fabulous place to have to hunker down. The port, is very small but has everything you need. You can moor your boat alongside or stern to and there are lazy lines so you don't need to drop the anchor. Superb toilet and shower facilities. A laundry that includes Aerial pods and Lenor softener in the price of a wash. Two mini markets, a few tavernas and cafés. Scooter and car hire. A shell petrol station on the quayside, next to where the ferry docks. It also has a Blue Flag for its sea water quality - unheard of for a port.

The people are lovely and this is the only place that we have visited in the 4 years that we have been cruising the Greek islands that actually 'gets it'. They understand what visiting yachties need and they have gone out of their way to supply those needs. And the reason they are trying so hard is because they understand that us yachties put a lot of money into the local community. We are, after all tourists and although we don't stay in hotels, we eat out, we hire cars or scooters, we spend money in the supermarkets, we buy fuel, we pay our berthing fees. And consequently, word gets out and people will come.

Knowing that we would be here for a few days, we hired a car and toured the island (and spent a lot of money in the supermarket). This island has two halves. One half is lush, very green with dense pine forests. The other half is very rugged with high peaks devoid of any vegetation. And there are sheep and goats absolutely everywhere!!!

Beautiful bays with gorgeous long and sandy beaches on the southwest side and by complete contrast, on the northeast side huge reefs and rocks. It really is an island of two faces. There is also quite a lot of wildlife. The Eleanoras Falcon, Bitterns, Moorhens, Bee-Eaters, purple and grey Herons, Egrets, Swallows and House Martins can be seen on the wetland of Palamari on the northeastern coast during spring and early summer. Not forgetting the lovely Skyrian Ponies that roam the Ari Plateau. If you are into hiking, there are 8 planned routes. We really like it here.

Most days we saw maybe just one or two other cars as we were driving around. Most of the hotels, B&B's and tavernas were closed up for the winter. The main tourist season is well and truly over. We virtually had the whole of the island to ourselves.

To my complete surprise the poet Rupert Brooke is buried here. There is quite a story to be told about him - in my next post.

Once again, Andreas has taken lots of lovely photographs - he just keeps getting better!

Muse for this post: Build it and they will come.