Mykonos Greece,
Never is there enough time to do all the things that you want to do. This is one of the items that we have been putting on the back burner.
Well, the last entry had us leaving Palma for Greece! Didn’t exactly go that way as we kept running into weather that was not forecast and we had to make a couple of stops. Out of Palma we were supposed to have north west winds of 20 to 30 knots. What we got were winds of 40 to 60+ Knots!!! Not any fun at all with waves in excess of at least 8 meters and very close together. The Med seems to go from calm to wild in minutes. It took us two and a half days to get to Cagliari, Sardinia where we kissed the ground and stayed for six days waiting for the winds to abate. Finally the forecast was good so off we went. Not bad for the first ten hours or so and then the winds came up again. This time not so strong, only up to fifty knots in the gusts but not nice so we decided another stop was required. This time it was Palermo, Sicily. We arrived in at midnight in rain and wind and just found a spot and tied up and went to bed. We awoke the next morning to sunshine and light winds, so fuelled up and headed off again this time sailing under light winds which eventually died away and left us motoring towards the Strait of Messina which separates the bottom of Italy with Sicily.
We arrived at the strait at day break and dodged around all the freighter traffic and were rewarded with a great view of Mt Etna. The winds stayed light and we motor sailed right across the Ionian Sea for two more days arriving in Patras Greece around 9 am. April 3rd. We contracted a shipping agent to handle all the legal and custom requirements and managed to get away a little after noon sailing up the Gulf of Corinth to an anchorage that was snug and secure and only thirty six miles from the Corinth canal.
Up at dawn in our calm bay only to find the wind outside was from the east which was just the way we wanted to go! We had to go back and forth as the winds were about forty knots and even with the engine going this boat does not go into that with any speed at all. Finally at five thirty in the evening we arrived at the canal and made our way through. It is just a big ditch which they, the Greeks, charge a lot to transit. Anyway out of there it was just another thirty miles to Athens. So through wind and rain we finally arrived in Athens at midnight. We had managed to beat Nevan and family by seventeen hours. No problem but were we tired.
Nevan Sarah and Elise arrived on time on the 5th of April at 1700 tired but happy to be with us and have a bed. We spent a day in Athens with them and then headed off to the islands. We have anchored out for a couple of nights and enjoyed the starry nights with no moon. We spent two nights at Siros and are now in Mykonos after enjoying the antiquities of Delos. It is an amazing place that was the center of this area 8th to 6th century BC. Now we are planning on leaving tomorrow if the winds die down. It has been blowing hard all day and we have been tied up to the mole. We rented a car and drove around the island.
Marian and I have been having a great time with Elise who is having no problems with all the travel and strange noises on the boat. We have had a couple of good sails with winds in the 25 to 30 knot range. We hope to be in Santorini in a couple of days, depending on the weather which so far has been sunny and bright.
