Firstly, an update on Andreas health. After his last meeting with Christos, it was agreed that he would continue with the medication for another month and then go back at the end of September when hopefully an ultrasound scan will tell us all the stones are gone. We talked about the back pain he had been experiencing and that we assumed it was the stones but Christos said it was not related to his kidneys but was muscular. The pain was causing Andreas difficulty walking – he was stooped and quite slow – and his balance was also affected. Christos himself had very recently had back problems and recommended a course of EMS Therapy. Electrical Muscle Stimulation. He knew just the person and gave us his contact details. We called him the next day and made an appointment for the following afternoon. Ironically, he is also Andreas and his practice is in Argos - the same town as where Christos is based.

The meeting was very interesting. Basically, Andreas is trussed up in what looks like a wet suit and plugged into electrical pulses all at different frequencies. The frequency is controlled by Dr. Andreas who increases the pulses to the point where Andreas just starts to feel discomfort. The result is a 20 minute workout that does the equivalent of a 2 hour session in the gym working all his muscles. I asked how it felt and he explained that he felt he had no control over his body and his whole body was vibrating.

The next 20 minute session involved sitting on a chair which sends impulses up through his groin and to the core of his lower body thus stimulating the prostate. This will help to reduce the size of Andreas’ prostate as there are simply no physical exercises that can achieve that.

Dr. Andreas said that he would like to book Andreas in for 2 sessions each week for 4 weeks. We agreed on Monday's and Thursday's.
Yesterday was his third session and today, we were out walking and Andreas is upright and walking at my pace as opposed to lagging behind. We are keeping everything crossed that by the end of September the EMS has worked, the stones are gone and his prostate is back to normal size. The cost of 8 sessions? €100 (£84). We looked up the cost for the same therapy in the UK. Available at our local Spire. The same number of treatments (8) but only 30 minutes and the cost.......... £1450.00. Outrageous!!!!!

Its a 3 hour round trip to Argos, plus a 1hour session with Andreas on Mondays and Thursdays . This has impacted our sailing but all is not lost. There are lots of places locally that we can explore, and have been doing. We can head off Tuesday morning, find a nice bay for an overnight stay and get back to base Wednesday evening. Friday morning we can go a bit further afield as we don't need to be back to base until Sunday evening.

If we get the all clear from Dr.Andreas and Christos at the end of September, we will have 3 clear weeks to go further afield before making our way back for lift out on 31st October.

So, this is where we are now, today, 12th September.
We are fully resigned to the fact we can't go far but have enjoyed just pottering about and also being able to spend time with Aunt Koula and Cousin Joyce.

We are near the junction of the Argolic and Saronic Gulfs so we are very lucky that within an hour or two in any direction we have places we can cruise to with some stunning anchorages.

It was a very good call to make Kilada our base for the future and we feel very much at home here. We know our way around Kilada and Kranidi and our drive to Argos involves crossing 3 mountain ranges with some seriously spectacular views. This part of the Peloponnese is truly stunning.

My thought for this post: Do something naked today. We prefer to be naked. There is nothing like swimming without a swim suit or bathers !!! And who on earth wants to wear ANYTHING when it's 40 deg C ???? Go on, try it. You may be very surprised!!!

Hopefully this will give you an idea of exactly where we are. It's a great cruising ground. We are soooooo looking forward to spreading our wings next season.

The local football club held a concert to raise funds. A very well known male singer was the main attraction. It was held on the quay and the day before we watched as tables and chairs were set up, the stage erected, lighting and sound systems installed. On the day, paper table cloths were put on all the tables and down one side of the quay a fishing net was erected to stop rubbish being blown into the sea. A clever idea, that sort of worked. A BBQ offered Souvlaki, and there was popcorn for the children . The concert started at around 10.30pm when the heat of the day had dropped and went on until 4am.

The rubbish that was left behind was shocking. The fishing net did a relatively good job of preventing plastic and paper being blown into the sea but to my disgust didn't stop all of it as the water around Stiletto was littered with plastic water bottles, beer cans and disposable cutlery, all of which would eventually finish up on the town beach.
To me, the simplest answer was that everyone scooped up their rubbish and placed it in bins at the exit. Too easy I guess. Instead, it remained being blown around until the next day when it was eventually cleared up.

Fredo Espresso – iced coffee. Perfect for a caffeine fix when it's 35 deg plus. I'm hooked.

Dr. Andreas and Andreas,
The Torturer and The Tortured !!!