Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
The Cyclades
I have been looking forward to this week since I found out what I would be doing, about a month ago.On Friday 8th July I flew to Athens from Corfu and then boarded a sea cat ferry to the island of Paros in the middle of the Cyclades islands.Already, while getting lost in the back streets of Paros looking for my hotel, I can tell everything is different again.The streets here are very narrow and all the buildings are the typical striking white and sky blue and very well kept.Very touristy area though.
Tomorrow I am starting my second skipper charter - one week around the Cyclades islands.There will be more wind here - the meltemi can blow up to force 7 (28 - 33 mph) winds but it is not forecast.I can't wait!
After a night in a hotel in Paros town I met up with my crew at the harbour at midday.The party are all from New Zealand, although Warwick and his wife, Michelle, are now living and working in London, along with Warwick's parents, John and Dawn, who own a motor launch.Already in the first meeting everyone could sense a common debate over sailing versus power and the benefits of each one.After saying hello to the charter rep, (another Michelle) we were finally allowed onboard our Bavaria 42ft, Hannah at 2.30pm.We set off at 3pm into some big seas and headed west to Sifnos.When we entered the bay at 8.30pm there were two chapels and some excellent, sandy beaches, all covered with people having separate parties.We anchored off one beach, had a swim, enjoyed the scenery and watched the sun set over the hill.
As we are all early starters and the wind is very constant here we have decided to get up nice and early at 7am and make our way straight to the next island.So we put Michelle on the helm and sailed 30 miles south east to Ios, making 8 knots.Brilliant!Ios is well known as b being a destination for young backpackers and nudists.While we saw lots of young and lots of backpackers, we managed to evade the nudists.After making a whistle stop in the main port for ice, beer and souvenirs we headed round the corner to a sheltered bay for the night.The bay was near a beach and for a few hours we were harassed by powerboats towing banana boats and inflatable rings and wake boarders.They finished at 8 and meanwhile we were joined by a yacht that must have been at least 100 feet long - 30 metres.Our yacht was 42ft - about 14 metres.The two interesting things were that they did not know how to anchor and when they did they came very close to us, so we could see the very short mast on the boat.Our mast was longer than theirs.There is a picture of this yacht in the album.The mast had snapped and I assumed that the owner is carrying on with his holiday while the new mast is being made and shipped out here.There was no ensign or port of registry so we could not see where it was from, unfortunately.
On Monday 11th July we headed south to the island of Thira or Santorini.All the guide books say that this is the island to visit in the Cyclades.It was formed by a volcano thousands of years BC.Records say that the volcano erupted again in about 1440 - 1450 BC and destroyed the Minoan settlement on the island.From the guide book, "The principal island, Thira, is shaped like a new moon encircling the rim of the crater now filled with water.To the NW Thirasia forms another part of the rim and in the middle a black mass of cinder and lava is the volcanic plug."A very impressive and thought provoking collection of islands.However, not to my crew who are used to land being formed by huge volcanoes in New Zealand.I dropped my crew in the main town and did not stay there because of ferry wash and the sea bed is all boulders, which I did not fancy anchoring in.The guide book said do not leave your yacht unattended there.So while my crew explored the main island I motored off and picked up a mooring buoy by myself right in the crater.As the book said, it is all black boulders here.Not somewhere I want to drop the anchor at all.After about four hours my crew returned to the harbour and a cruise ship had turned up and was floating nearby, discharging all its guests via small ferries right onto the pontoon where I wanted to jump onto to pick up everyone.As soon as one left, two more arrived.After ten minutes I decided to run the gauntlet, shot into a space, my crew jumped on, and I managed to escape unscathed.We motored over to an island on the west side of the crater for the evening and I found a very decent mooring buoy to pick up.We snorkeled the area and saw lots of small fish minding their own business and a couple of fishing baskets that were sitting on the sea bed.They were much like wasp traps in that there was bread inside the trap and it was easy for the fish to swim into the basket but not out of it.When you pick up the basket lots of small black fish got very excited.Before too long, however, a day tripper boat shooed us off the mooring so we went back to where I was for lunch and found another mooring buoy for the night.We were not told to leave that one so stayed the night there, among bleak but beautiful surroundings.
Tuesday was our longest sail north east to Amorgos.This island is the second best island to visit in the Cyclades, after Santorini.We started sailing in a force 4 but managed to create a riding turn on the furling line so we could not put the genoa away.Pretty soon the wind had picked up and before we could sail to any shelter to drop it the genoa ripped in half!We managed to get the sail down and motored on to Amorgos.The charter company were excellent and they told me that another sail will arrive on a ferry that will arrive at Amorgos at 2.50am.We were anchored in a bay half a mile away from the port so I got in the dinghy at 2.30 and motored to the harbour to wait for the ferry.I was still waiting at 3.30 when the ferry finally arrived and they told me that, in order to send the ripped sail back, I needed to wait for the office to open at 5.30!So I had a lovely morning watching the sunrise and waiting.Grrrr.Still, we had a new sail at no cost, as we'd paid the insurance excess and were covered.My crew spent the Wednesday visitng Amorgos and a monastery there and we went back to the same bay for the night.Did I mention that it was very popular with nudists.My crew were used to them by now, and actually complained that we were anchored too far from the beach!More so to get away from the waves, of course.
The forecast wind for Thursday 14th was a lot less - only force 4 to 5, so we sailed 35 miles upwind to Naxos town.As it was quite a long day we decided to get up at 6am, have a quick breakfast and go from there.My route took us through the 'Little Cyclades,'about 6 small islands that are sparsly populated and supposedly more sheltered and then up the channel between Naxos and Paros.It turned out as we were sailing by the first island, the wind blew up to a gusting force 7, so we quickly furled a lot of sails.We were still making 7 knots speed with just the two sails the size of hankerchiefs up.Incredible.It was John's birthday today and, unbeknown to all of us, the town had organised an excellent fireworks display right on the water front and we had a prime position.We later found out that the fireworks were thanks to a wedding and a case of who can out-do whom.The fireworks were excellent and were some different ones. We were anchored in a manmade bay surrounded by harbour wall and quay with an ancient ruin on a nearby hill, overlooking the sea.The ruin, on close inspection, looks like it was constructed last week.
On a lesser note on Thursday we had a bery bad smell of piss on the way up to Naxos and the cause was a blocked holding tank.On Friday we sailed west to the bay of Naoussa on Paros and tasked ourselves with unblocking the pipe.We managed in the end by filling a bottle with water and squeezing it up the pipe.Warrick then squealed and swam very away very fast from the outlet as a brown ooze came out.Problem solved. This anchorage has another beach, popular with nudists with sunbaked rock and some greenery.As tonight is the last night and we will be sailing early tomorrow morning back to Paros harbour we need to eat and drink the rest of our provisions today.Lovely!
The Cyclades were different to anywhere else I have sailed in Greece. All the buildings are the same design and stark white colour, which adds to the character. The area is heavily dependent on tourism so the towns are very clean and tidy, well maintained and the local are very friendly and helpful, which they have been all over Greece.
- comments