Monday in Mykonos

The winds keep me awake for most of the night as it rattles and rolls the yacht. We are tied down secure but the noise from the wind is unsettling.

We are hiring a car today and touring around the beaches on the south side as they should be protected.

We head south first to Super Paradise Beach which reminds me of Potato Head in Bali. It's pretty cool with very comfy sun beds on the beach and good music. The water is still too cold for swimming however we enjoy a cold drink and a little lie in the sun. Next we are off to Agrari Beach but not as nice and not so protected either, we give this one a miss. We are now heading back towards Mykonos city on our way to Paradise Beach and they advertise a beach party every afternoon. It's similar to Super Paradise with way more speakers everywhere but not so cool music. We find some sun beds and and enjoy some lunch and refreshments. Think we will be spending tomorrow here as we wait for the winds to die down.

On the way home we try to find an open laundry but have no luck. Hopefully we can get it done first thing tomorrow, we then can return the car and grab a taxi to the beach and relax.

We arrive back at the marina about 4 pm and its still gusting to 35 knots. It's actually the windiest part of the island, go figure. I feel sorry for the yachts arriving and trying to tie off. The marina guy here has his worked cut out for him as he helps everyone; sometimes rolling on the wharf to catch the lines etc. He has told us there will be 100 yachts arriving tomorrow so it will be very packed but we are fine for another night.

The forecast looks like we can get out on Wednesday hopefully.

Three nights in Mykonos

We wake to a windy morning, actually it blows 20 plus knots all day. After coffee we re do our lines and add some more just to ensure we don't budge or hit the wharf. Luckily for us we used the lazy lines as everyone else who used their anchor got is fouled when they left this morning.

While Greg visits the Port Police in town, I do some domestics and move our bedroom from the port aft to the front of the yacht as the noise from the water lapping last night on our stern kept us awake for ages.

For lunch we have returned to the Olia Hotel for their Greek Easter lunch. It's a set menu featuring lamb and potatoes for the main plus salads, dips and orange syrup cake for dessert. It's delicious. The lamb has been cooked in a paper bag so it's really moist and there is very little fat. We spend a few hours there enjoying the ambience and view and then return to the yacht for a siesta.

We've checked out the forecast for the next few days and its not great. It's blowing a Beauford 5 and 6 (approx 25. -30 knots) from the north over Mykonos for the next few days, great if you're heading south but not for us heading east to Turkey. Anyway we will check it each day before we leave and make plans closer to our departure date. Worse case scenario we stay here a few days longer. There is no charge for the marina so that's a positive.

Tomorrow we will be hiring some form of transport to do some sightseeing around the Island so should be fun.

Mykonos here we come!

It's quite balmy at 5am as we prepare to leave the marina and we finally get away at 5.30, it's still dark but there is plenty of lights from the marina and surrounding cities on the coastline. We are heading SE for most of the day and it takes us three hours to recover the ground we had to back track on Thursday.

The sails goes up and down as the winds change direction (mostly we are headed into the
wind) as we weave around the Islands of Kea, Kithnos, Yiaros, Siros and Tinos. It goes from dead calm to winds maxing 25 knots; so it's a very quiet day and there are not many other yachts around.

Our final turning point just north of Siros has us heading directly into the harbour of Mikonos. We are pretty much on time so happy with our progress. It takes us 13 hours.,

About 90 minutes out the winds pick up as we past Tinos and gust to 25 knots. It just makes for an unpleasant ending. The day has been long and boring and bloody cold, well I'm cold and Greg has been out in his budgies polishing as usual. As we dock we are reversing into strong winds but mange a perfect reverse docking.

Although we should be having a siesta we have a cold drink on deck and meet a few of the other yachties already tied down. We decide to have a shower and head straight into the city of Mykonos via the Olia Hotel where we stop for one drink.

Paris from Olia recommends a restaurant in town plus the Lola Bar for a drink. We catch a taxi into town and have dinner at one of the harbour side restaurants. After some confusion we also find our way to the Lola Bar, it's really cool gay bar owned by Dimities who is very friendly. They are playing music from our parents era like the Tijuana brass band, the soft furnishing are lovely and it's a very friendly place for a drink. The drinks are very strong and it's time to head home after just two. It's all cobblestone walkways and we find ourselves caught in the middle of all the Greek church celebrations. People are everywhere with their candles and the priests are chanting. It's hard for us to find our way back to the harbour but we finally do.

Mykonos city reminds me of a smaller version of Dubrovnik but a little prettier with all the white washed building and pavements. I'm looking forward to going back tomorrow for some more people watching and checking out a few more amazing bars.

Recovery day

Alimos Marina is huge but very quite of a night time so we have a great nights sleep. We spend Friday preparing the yacht for tomorrow's journey. It's going to be a 13 hour slog across the North Aegean Sea to Mikonos.

The weather forecast is perfect for us so fingers crossed it does not change. They are predicting winds from the W / NW for most of the day only gusting to 20 knots so very comfortable.

As Greg hoses I scrub the deck to remove all the dried salt and mud and grime. The cockpit cushions also get cleaned. We have to pay the charter company for the use of their water which is fine so we top up our tanks as well. We retie the main sail lines and fix the reefing lines once more. Everything is ready to go. We enjoy a walk into town for provisions and I make our lunches for tomorrow. We finally get a chance to sit back and enjoy cocktail hour on the yacht with some yummy appetisers.

I make a delicious port sagonaki for dinner and we watch an episode of Game of Thrones and just chill out. It's early to bed as we plan to leave around 5am. That's about in an hour or so, yeah I can't sleep!

Some videos

We almost made it to Kea!

We leave smelly Methena at about 7.30am and have a very pleasant motor sail till lunch time. The wind is from the NE / NW up to 15 knots, just perfect for our Easterly bearing and we are averaging 7.5 knots.

As we round the southern mainland down from Athens we are hit by the Meltemi at gusts of 40 knots (gale force) and we were not really prepared. The Bimini feels like its going to take off when the wind gets under it. We are not going to make it to Kea now as the winds are too stong for us to proceed and plan B heading for Olympic Marina is a no go as well.

We retreat to a little bay and drop anchor to make our yacht ready for the weather and decide what to do next. We remove the Bimini and tie down everything and anything on the deck. Everything down below is already stowed away. Plan C is to head for a marina heading north towards Athens on the mainland.

As we leave the bay it's still gusting to 40 knots and I mange to walk into the bimini frame, now I have a third eye and bruising all down my nose. Anyway we are looking forward to being tied down in a marina in an hour or so. We are heading for the Marina at Vouliagmeni; unfortunately although there is room we are told this marina is not for us. We are not a $200,000,000 super yacht so go somewhere else.

Disappointed we turn away and then have to decide what next? Our next best bet is another marina further north, at this rate we will soon be in Athens! We arrive at the Glifadha Marina and head for the biggest one, yet again there is now room for us. So we really are going to Athens!

Plan E is the Marina at Kalamaki, not really Athens but much too close for our liking, we have back tracked at least 25 nautical miles by now. We are really hoping there is room in the Marina. It has 1000 berths and mainly supports the numerous charter companies. After trying a few spots on the pontoons and told to move we finally find a gap and can tie off for the night, thank god!

We have to then visit the Marina Office and the Port Police. Once all the admin has been taken care off we find the closet restaurant for some well deserved cold drinks and a meal. The food tastes really good!

After our hot showers it's bed time and we are looking forward to a good nights sleep; as we are spending two nights here we don't have to get up real early. Tomorrow is maintenance day so we can take it easy and recover.

Corinth Canal

It's an early start as we have agreed to met up with a Belgium couple we met at Trizonia and travel with them through the Corinth Canal. We leave the harbour just before 7am and head straight for the entrance. It's looks pretty quite so we get the green light straight away. It takes about one hour to travel the length of the canal, its about 3.2 miles long and cost us 210 Euros. On one side you have the Greek mainland and on the other the Peloponnese. We stop and pay at the east side. While I run ashore to do the business Greg chats to a local who recommends a visit to Methena where they have sulphur baths, sounds interesting so we decide to head that way. Methena is just north of Poros so we can still go there if we don't like this destination.

By 10am it's full on sun baking weather and the day just gets hotter. We finally have the wind behind us so we can put the headsail up for a while. It takes us about five hours to motor sail to Methena and we are in luck and find a easy reverse park in the harbour.

Everything is closed already for siesta time so we have lunch on the yacht and a siesta as well. At about five we head to the springs, we are aware that they smell god damn awful, but it's worth than expected. It's in need of some tender loving care, we decide to give that plunge a miss.

Greg has a shop and finds a fishing rod so we can have some fun across the Ageana. We also have a few friendly ducks in the harbour that come and say hello.