It took us much longer than expected to exit the very large bay on Milos Island, being extra cautious of our manoeuvres, given the pitch black night; it was new moon, but lovely to see the myriad of stars against a midnight blue sky again, as well as a beautiful sunrise at sea.
Since Milos Island was the last of the islands we would be visiting in the Cyclades, once in open waters, we set our course for the Peleponnese region of Greece.
Deciding to wait for daylight and for Roy to have a nap before hoisting the mainsail, we initially motored, then motor-sailed on the headsail in the dark, enjoying a SOG (Speed Over Ground) of 6.0 Kts in relatively calm seas, shaving some time off our planned arrival time. However, although the winds were from the north, they were lighter than forecast, so, once Roy surfaced, rather than have the mainsail flopping around in the swell, we unfurled the full 150% genoa, placed it on the barberhauler and enjoyed the ride. It was a nice change to have the wind aft with a following sea.
After breakfast, Elaine took a nap, surfacing around 1000 and in time to spot the coastline in the distance. Leaving the Cyclades, we were also leaving the Aegean Sea and transitioning to the Ionian Sea. Although we sailed around the Ionian Islands in 2012, we never expected to be sailing around them again on Paw Paw; the Mediterranean Sea was never on our circumnavigation itinerary, but we were looking forward to our explorations nonetheless.
With plenty of cargo ships for company, we unfortunately also had the usual numpties to deal with; crew members who aren’t paying attention, resulting in their vessel coming rather close to Paw Paw before they realise and alter course.
By 1500 we were approaching Elafonisos Island, bordering the eastern edge of the Gulf of Lakonikós and by 1530 we were anchored behind the narrow sand spit separating two bays in an absolutely stunning setting; crystal clear turquoise waters lapping fabulous golden sandy beaches, one at the head of each bay.
It didn’t take long for the anchorage to fill up, though; not surprising, given the spectacular scenery. When we arrived there was one yacht, but, by this evening, there were six of us, even though there was a slight swell coming around the headline and into the bay. This was clearly a staging area for yachts transiting between the Peleponnese and Cyclades regions of Greece, with fabulous scenery to enjoy as you did so.
Before bed we perused the latest forecasts and, to our surprise, the low pressure system developing to the west of us, between Italy and Greece, was now forecast to stretch further eastward, changing our plan for another early morning departure. We did, however, acknowledge that we would have re-anchor, as two of the late arrivals had anchored on top of us and we needed more wiggle room for another blow. Unable to anchor as dusk approached, since we couldn’t see the sand vs the weed patches, we reconciled ourselves to yet another early morning start, but just to re-anchor before the blow arrived with vengeance.
Waking to sunny skies, we weighed anchor after breakfast and returned to the first anchorage we used when we first arrived on Milos Island, just off the little town of Adamantas.
Once settled, we dinghied ashore with the intention of completing our clearing out process, as well as to pick up some provisions and enjoy a morning coffee. However, facing the same challenge as we did when we first attempted this exercise, all we encountered were more rude, unfriendly, unwelcoming, obnoxious individuals telling us where we couldn’t leave the dinghy and chasing us away, rather than where we could. To be honest, this has been the worst encounter we’ve had with locals in trying to find somewhere to leave the dinghy.
Deciding to leave the town harbour area and explore the shoreline further east instead, we found a robust dock belonging to a restaurant, Mangata Milos by the Sea, whose owners were more than happy for us to leave the dinghy there and go about our business. What a complete contrast to the idiots in the town harbour.
Anyway, after clearing out, but not before Roy had to ascend a set of very grubby steps to reach the Port Police Office, something Elaine was not prepared to do, and picking up our provisions, we returned to the restaurant and enjoyed a morning coffee with a delicious baked delight; orange cake with Madagascar vanilla ice-cream and it tasted as good as it looked. It was also a pleasant change from cheesecake and baklava, but, more importantly, the restaurant owner restored our faith in human kindness and what a difference a welcoming smile makes.
Returning to Paw Paw, but not quite getting back onboard before the wash caused by the massive ferries serving the island hit us, we sanitised and stowed our purchases then lounged around, whiling away the rest of the day doing as little as possible, although Roy worked on his latest enhancement to the Anchor Plus application and Elaine finished some paperwork she forgot to do yesterday.
This evening we returned to Mangata Milos by the Sea, where we left the dinghy and enjoyed a sundowner and delicious seafood dinner, served at the adjacent sister restaurant, Nostos. Of course, we couldn’t resist another serving of the orange cake with Madagascar vanilla ice-cream, but not before we sang Happy Birthday to our wonderful, kindhearted grandson, William, who turned eight today. Hard to fathom where the years have gone, but we hope he has a fabulous day.
Our day was wrapped up after completing all the activities required for our imminent departure before heading to bed.
While Elaine completed the rest of her paperwork that’s been sitting around since we left Turkey, Roy completed a few routine maintenance tasks, including checking the oil of the engines and saildrives, washing the louvre windows of the saloon and the plastic windows of the helmstation weatherguard so we could see out of them again, lubricating all the rope clutches, polishing the stainless steel on all the winches and cleaning all the stanchions and turnbuckles to remove all the red sand that had accumulated on them.
While catnapping, though, we were both a little perturbed to notice the winds change to easterly and we still hadn’t had the forecast westerlies that were supposed to be screaming through at 20-25 Kts, gusting to 30 Kts.
Another perusal of the forecast still indicated westerlies, so we waited. In the interim we enjoyed the entertainment of our floating neighbours swimming in the freezing water, concluding that we must be the wussies, but there was absolutely no way either of us was jumping off Paw Paw for a swim. Of course, having a French flagged yacht next to us meant we had to endure their butt naked bodies strolling around the deck before they took the plunge; never a pretty sight!
The strong westerlies eventually arrived, but we didn’t feel the effects of the wind and the fetch too much; it was the swell coming into the bay at a different angle to the wind that had us rockin’ and rollin’ more than we would have preferred when the gusts came through, briefly turning Paw Paw side-to the swell.
Regardless, we had no choice but to suck it up and hope the moderated winds arrived as forecast overnight.
Dinner and a movie brought a rather frustrating day to a close, frustrated that we were yet again waiting out another blow in less than a week. On the bright side, we had a pretty sunset and lovely scenery to content us.
Given the gloomy, overcast start to the day, though, once we were anchored and had had breakfast, we both went straight back to bed.
It was close to lunchtime when we surfaced, the winds had calmed, the sun had peeked through and the temperatures had increased to the extent that we both put shorts on; the first time in months. This was our second cue of the day; head ashore in the dinghy and enjoy a lovely long walk along the beach bordering the bay. This was our first walk, on a nice beach, since leaving the Maldives last year and, although the beautiful turquoise water lapping the golden sand was like ice, it was fabulous nonetheless. We’d found a beach again, at last!
Roy walked a little further than Elaine, so, by the time he got back to the dinghy, the winds had started to set in; it was time to return to Paw Paw.
Back onboard, while Roy pottered around, Elaine completed some administrative tasks and then started the process to catalogue all our latest photographs, before heading for a nap. Afterwards we re-looked at our options of getting over to Italy and how much longer we may well still be in Greece.
We knew getting across Greece would be a challenge from a weather perspective, but became slightly more of a challenge with the limited time we are permitted to stay in Greece, a complication we definitely weren’t expecting; one caused by our agent in Symi Island that was not easily rectifiable, although it didn’t impact our plans per se. However, we just don’t want run the risk of possibly getting a hefty fine. Regardless, we’re progressing nicely and moving west when we can, although we’ll probably be in Greece a week longer than we originally planned, mainly due to the weather constraints we’ve had.
Unfortunately, like most of the forecasting we’ve come to love, instead of southwesterlies today, we got northwesterlies; the exact direction we didn’t want for the anchorage we’ve chosen. Fortunately they were light and the wind changed to the forecast direction this evening. Now we just have to wait out yet another blow, before continuing west.
As soon as we rounded the headland leaving Folégandros Island, we picked up the light northerly winds that had been forecast, unfurled the headsail and enjoy a lovely sail across to Milos Island.
As we neared Milos Island, though, the wind dropped, so down came the sails and on went the engines for the rest of the way.
By noon we were anchored in our chosen anchorage, but not before we took advantage of the very large bay in calm weather to recalibrate our electronic compass.
After a coffee onboard, Elaine dropped Roy ashore to clear in with the Port Poilice. Turns out each office has there own set of rules and their own tin god to deal with. Today was a smarty pants telling us we have to depart with 24 hours, something we had no intention of doing because we would be hunkering down here for bad weather, forecast to arrive tomorrow and stick around through Thursday. When Roy pushed back and indicated we would not be leaving, he was told that he then has to return to the Port Police Office to obtain our outward clearance stamp; this officer refused to do the two together, as every other officer has done thus far.
Needless to say, we are so over Greece and it’s bureaucracy. In all the years of sailing we’ve never experienced anything like this before and quite honestly, if we’d known, we would have sailed right on by; heading to Malta instead. We only hope Italy isn’t as pedantic and bureaucratic.
As for the little town we anchored off, it didn’t look very touristy at all from a distance, although there was a large charter base located in the bay and we did have three other non-charter yachts for company, increasing to seven before evening fell.
After an afternoon nap and a nice hot shower, we dinghied ashore for dinner, surprised to see just how many tourists there were out and about, together with the numerous charter yachts and day trip boats all returning; it was mayhem actually as they all jostled for their spot along the town quay.
Our challenge, however, was finding somewhere to leave the dinghy. After circling around and being chased from a number of spots, we were eventually informed we could tie off from two rafted work boats; absolutely ridiculous that there are no dinghy docks provided.
Our dinner at the restaurant, Flisvlos, was delicious, though, enjoyed after a stroll around the little town.
Given that we had decided to catch the first morning bus into Fira (Thira), we were the only ones at the bus stop, but what a treat we were in for.
As soon as we left the outskirts of Akrotiri, the landscape changed completely and, for as far as the eye could see, there were rolling hills cultivated with vineyards, learning that Santorini Island produces its own Santo wine, a wine Elaine had enjoyed with her dinner last night at the taverna, but hadn’t realised.
The contrast of the green vineyards against the backdrop of the deep blue Mediterranean Sea, flanked by step cliffs dotted with white country homes produced absolutely spectacular scenery.
Reaching the city centre, our first stop was finding the Fira Theotokopoulos Main Square and from there the Port Police to clear in. Fortunately Roy had a much more pleasant experience with this officer, but he wanted to know the minute details of our sailing itinerary through Greece, which we both found rather bizarre.
With the paperwork stamped, we were free to explore, starting with a walk along the cliff edge to the Three Bells of Fira, enjoying magnificent views out over the Mediterranean Sea and the Santorini Old Harbour hundreds of metres below us, as well as along the cliffs, were the numerous white buildings, for which Santorini is famous for, clung to the cliff edge.
Famous sights we passed as we strolled included, the Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist, the Catholic Church of Saint Stylianos and the Catholic Church of Koimisi Tis Theotokou.
Coffee and the most decadent chocolate pancakes were enjoyed at the Volkan on the Rocks restaurant, savouring not only our pancakes, but the fabulous views.
By 1200 we were back on the bus returning to Akrotiri and not a minute too soon; the thousands of cruise ship guests had started to arrive in droves, but we’d had a wonderful morning, full of unexpected treasures.
Back on board, we weighed anchor and set sail for Folégandros Island, taking advantage of the calm weather to continue west and by 1800 we were safely anchored in our chosen anchorage for the night, with five other yachts for company.
Folégandros was a very picturesque island and the anchorage we’d chosen revealed a non-touristy, neat and tidy village, with a lovely small beach at the head of the bay; albeit that the beach sand was green, as was the cliff face surrounding the bay. There weren’t too many buildings, but they were all brilliant white, well maintained and sloped down to the beach.
Being Mother’s Day, Roy decided on a barbecue for dinner, but not before we’d enjoyed sundowners on the foredeck; our first in heaven alone knows how long, but there was no wind and it was simply peaceful to sit out and listen to the sounds of the village, including the sheep high up on the mountain slopes.
A nice chat to Keenan, Brooke and the grandchildren, who were all enjoying a family camping trip, brought a busy, eventful day to a close.
Happy Mother’s Day to all the wonderful mothers out there. We hope you all had a fabulous day.
To pass the time Roy enjoyed a long chat to Keenan, who was modifying his trailer (aka caravan) to make better used of solar energy, while Elaine took the opportunity to get the laundry done.
The stronger meltimis arrived as forecast, packing 25-30 Kts and gusting 32-35 Kts.
What ruined the day, though, wasn’t the weather, although it wasn’t very pleasant, it was news from South Africa that Elaine’s youngest sister had fallen victim to fraud / theft when all her bank accounts were emptied of every penny she owned, leaving her with 26c to her name. The thieves took everything, including reversing all her debit orders, so as to take as much money as possible, thus leaving her in debt too.
She has no idea how it happened and the bank was clueless too, but opened a fraud investigation nonetheless, something that will take up to twenty-one days. Regardless, she was left penniless.
Distraught doesn’t begin to describe how she felt, but a heartbreaking situation for the rest of the family too. Needless to say, as soon as she opened a bank account at another institution, money transfers were flying in from all over the world, but, sadly, whatever we all do as a family, it won’t recover what she’s lost. Just terrible!
A phone call to Elaine’s folks helped put their minds at rest, given that Deborah had confirmed receipt of our first transfer, which would, at least, tide her over until the rest is cleared. Our only hope is that the bank figures out what happened and can return her money.
Although you hear of these events happening all the time, when it hits closer to home, it certainly brings with it a huge amount of anxiety, stress and worry about what the consequences would be if it happened to you and had us reevaluating the online security access to all our funds. Just shocking that this kind of thing can happen and the proceeds of a lifetime of hard work can just vanish in an instant.
While the winds moderated in the afternoon, we were still seeing gusts of 23-25 Kts. It was our cue, however, to prepare for our departure.
Today we were up at daybreak to weigh anchor and set sail for Santorini Island.
Based on the forecast and the winds continuing to howl all night, we knew we would have a rough start, but conditions were expected to moderate the further west we sailed.
By 0715 we’d cleared the island, hoisted the sails and were sailing for the first time since leaving Djibouti last February.
Reaching speeds in excess of 9 Kts on a double reefed main and full genoa, we added a reef to the genoa and settled in for the morning. Being on a beat is never a particularly pleasant sail, but the swell on the beam made it more uncomfortable and made for some tricky manoeuvring around Paw Paw, as well as moved objects that haven’t budged while underway in more than nine years of sailing and it had been a while since we had water hitting the topside and splashing over into the cockpit, Regardless we were making good timing.
By 1030 we’d reached the island of Anáfi, another barren, desolate looking island, but from seaward, it looked like someone had chopped off the one end of the island and removed it. On the opposite end, the town sat perched on the mountain top, similarly to what we saw on Astipalaia Island, except here the homes meandered down the side to the waters edge. We were, however, enjoying the relief from the horrible swell in the lee of the island as we sailed on by.
By now, though, we had both sails reefed down to the 3rd reefing point and we were still flying along; the weather had clearly not moderated as forecast. Oh surprise, surprise! We hadn’t used our 3rd reef in the mainsail since our passage from Samoa to Tonga, when we had to divert to Niuatoputapu.
By 1415 we had reached our anchorage on Santorini Island, but not without having to motor-sail the last few nautical miles as the wind became very flaky and kept backing, giving us a terrible angle to sail. Fortunately, though, the sea moderated a little, but still made for an uncomfortable sail.
It’s fair to say, neither of us was too impressed by what we saw; yet another stark, desolate landscape, but this one was grey, including the beach sand.
Wondering, once again, what we were missing, we nonetheless decided to dinghy ashore, have an early dinner and go for a walk. We were delighted to discover a dinghy dock offered by the Dolphins Fish Taverna, where we enjoyed a sundowner followed by a very tasty light dinner. The host was also kind enough to give us the “lay of the land” so to speak with regards to a bus schedule, the closest bus stop and the touristy highlights of the area.
Armed with this information, our walk took us along the cliff tops to the Red Beach, passed the Church of Agios Nikolaos, where we encountered more Chinese tourists than we’ve seen in three years. It was a beautiful beach, though, lapped by crystal clear water.
Then, while Roy walked to find the bus stop, Elaine watched a farmer till the soil of his restaurant’s vegetable garden. With the sun dropping behind the mountain and casting sunlight over the fields, it was a picture perfect sight to behold.
Back on Paw Paw, we both enjoyed a hot shower and climbed into bed. It had been a very long day!
