We continue our journey from Symi towards the Peloponnese. The Meltemi blows quite strong and the sea is rough – but our GrosDoux can endure such conditions easily, – we are even under the impression that she enjoys herself a lot. No wonder, she has about 16 tons of weight to oppose to the Forces of Nature and a lot of ballast which keeps her amazingly stable in all conditions.
Our further journey leads us to Astypalaia and there into the Vathy Bay, – a almost closed, but very large bay so that it reminded us more of a lake than the sea, – accordingly it is extremely quiet and we spend two relaxing nights. Especially for ‘peace-seekers’ the bay is highly recommendable, because you don’t even have phone reception (unless you are on top of the masts).
Nevertheless we are not only for pleasure but also for sailing here, so we continue to Naxos. The bay in the south of Naxos, which looked good on the charts, turns out to be quite rough, so we move on the next morning.
Next target is the small passage between Antiparos and Despotiko, – a beautiful space which looks quite a bit like the Maldives. Unfortunately, it is chilly-windy (27° C, but much colder then what we are used to) through the still fiercely blowing Meltemi. We decide to go ashore and visit the restaurant on the seafront. The fish (Dorade) is exquisite and the host and the waiter very friendly. As there is no shop close by, they offer to have fresh bread for us the next morning – a perfect trip indeed!
Then we go off to Sifnos in the ‘Ormos Faros’. Faros is a pretty little place which invites to take a walk to the chapel at the hill. Otherwise, very touristy, albeit more for ‘locals’.
The northerly blowing Meltemi sends us to south-west where Kimolos lies with its long sandy beach. – Another beautiful place, and amazingly: we are the only boat on anchor.
On Serifos, our next destination, we explore two bays: the first is Ormos Koutala which is nice although the gusts brought us up to 40 knots during the night. Ormos Livadion, right around the corner, is much quieter at least in regard to the wind. In the latter we again go ashore having dinner in a nice beach restaurant: both the food, service as well as the price-performance ratio is very good, whereas the company is excellent:
A thunderstorm with south wind is announced, so we take refuge on the island of Paros in the Naousa Bay, which has many sheltered corners. Naousa is a lovely place; although touristy it has charming corners, which look a bit like a mix of Amsterdam and Venice. Next morning, just before we wanted to go back to town to rent a car for a ride over the island, the storm comes back and we have to move to another corner of the bay. So we decided to stay on the boat – better safe than sorry – and decided to sail to the main town of Paros: Paroikia next morning.
Said – done, and also the weather is much better.
In Paroikia, we first go to an internet store that was recommended to us so we can check why our internet doesn’t work anymore; despite we had bought a sim card with 3.5 GB on Symi. – And surprise: the SIM card, which was sold to us on Symi can only be loaded with a maximum of 1.5 GB per month, the extra 2 GB which were sold to us do not exist, – the receipt the seller gave us for the additional 2 GB amounting to 25 Euros respectively of the total amount of 50 Euro is a normal receipt of a supermarket and has nothing to do with our SIM card! – Cool, we would never have thought that we get cheated at such a serious-looking store – but now we are clever and in future will be sure to watch out better in this respect. – Thus, we warn all Symi visitors who wish to acquire a Greek SIM card to pay close attention to what is sold, and please do not leave the store during the charging process; – because the young man in Symi told us that the charging process will take at least 30 minutes thus it would be better to do some shopping and then come back when everything’s done – ;-). In fact, the charging process takes only about 5 minutes, as we learned in Paroikia …. One more tip: if you need only Internet it’s better to buy a SIM card that offers only Internet, a mixed card, which also includes minutes for calls etc. is much more expensive. If you really need both, it is cheaper to buy a separate SIM card for every need, – disadvantage: you need two mobile phones.
The town Paroikia is very touristy but also has its charm. You should pay attention to the typical tourist traps, which for example offer “happy hour” drinks. Our experience was that these drinks are more expensive than those in the restaurants next door at the normal rate.
In the next morning we are surprised by a nice wind, although none was announced; thus we sail away. The wind growths stronger and stronger therefore carries us till Kythnos (about 50 miles from Paros), where the bay, Kolona ‘ looked just lovely at our charts. Unfortunately, the bay was pretty full and an uncomfortable swell comes in. Since we are already a bit late, we stay and had an unpleasant night. In our opinion the bay’s landscape was also not as lovely as described, which may have been caused by the unfavorable conditions. – However, we could enjoy a pretty sunset:
Now it is time to move on in the direction of the Peloponnese and we sail with a super wind in the direction of Ydra. The bay, which we had chosen on Ydra is already a bit too crowded for our tastes, and all others have a Landline, – which we try to avoid if possible. So we decide to try Skintos Bay on the neighbor island Dokos; a wide bay, which is almost empty and looks rather quiet, thus we stay for the night.
Despite the forecast ‘little’ thunderstorm we set off the next morning intending to reach the east coast of the Peloponnese. After around half an hour the storm kicks in, but is still far away. Then it changes direction and aims on us. It is getting dark and a threatening black wall is coming towards us, which is only broken by enormous, blinding flashes, – frightening – brrr. In spite of us running away, the storm is directly over us within no time: thunder, lightning, downpours and strong gusts break simultaneously upon us. That makes it clear: Robin has more or less to hold the position alone, and I, the mega fraidy-cat, was allowed to sit downstairs with closed eyes. The few minutes we were in the eye of storm seemed to me like hours; – but then it went away and we are already on the way back in the bay that we left almost 2 hours ago. Obviously we have had enough adventures for today and therefore make ourselves comfortable in the safe bay. Shortly afterward, the sun is shining and the world is perfect again. – One benefit of the rain: the salt crusts on our GrosDoux are washed away.
The next day (27.9.) we only sail to Ermioni – directly across from our bay, to have a nice, relaxing day. Ermioni is a pretty little town with two sides: the port side (NNE) with many taverns and small shops and the south side with even prettier taverns. The crossing takes about 10 minutes on foot and is worthwhile especially when you want to eat some delicious fish. We have opted for the fish tavern, Tzieris, as in addition to delicious fish dishes it also offers a beautiful view to the sea and surrounding islands and hills:
Finally we proceed to the east coast of the Peloponnese …, – and thanks to very favorable wind conditions we even reach Gerakas: a charming little place in a pretty sheltered location.
but how shall we find the exit again – can you see it?
After a quiet night we set out to Monemvasia, a historic site, which is connected to the mainland only by a narrow bridge: impressive, one really feels transferred back to a bygone era.
September was in many ways a busy month: in terms of sailing as well as in terms of dialogues with other Amel-owners – and we look forward to continuing our trip in October.
Hallo Ihr zwei…….
Sehr spannender und ausführlicher Lage- und Segel-Bericht; Danke.
Hat denn Irisli ihre Gewitterangst noch nicht besiegt ??? Wäre dann langsam Zeit, den Blitzen in die Augen zu schauen.
Da kommt alsdann womöglich noch mehr auf Euch zu.
Und dann ist Robin am schlafen und Iris am Ruder…..
Iris: Do muäsch durä…. gelle.
Grüsse vom Bodensee……..
Pietro & Jlse