Anti Anti Antiparos

After a restful day on Levitha, we headed out of the bay pulling up the sails and following the island's southern coast east.  Turning to the northeast after the island, we sailed on a close reach to Leipsoi island.  A nice moderate breeze allowed us to reach the island in a few hours and we dropped anchor with many other sailboats in a large bay on the southern coast.

Having seen many other sailors recommending the nearby taverna, we decided to check it out and were very pleased to enjoy a fantastic meal with the whole crew.  

The next morning we were surprised by more wind than forecast when we raised the sails to head to Fournoi, 20nm northwest. We ended up tacking north and fighting against some current between Leipsoi and Patmos on our way but reached our anchorage before sunset.  There we felt the Meltemi picking up again as strong gusts came down the bay during the night.  

With a lighter Meltemi blowing and some shelter from the waves provided by the large island, Ikaria, to our north, we made our way southwest to Donousa. Just after leaving Fournoi, we remembered that we were still towing the dinghy but were just too slow to take it on deck before the towing ring ripped free.  Luckily, our new dinghy suffered no further damage but we had a fun time performing man-over-board maneuvers to recover it before continuing on our way.  At a beam reach, we sped to Donousa and found shelter at Kalotaritissa on the northeast end of the island.  

The next morning, we invited Eveline, to join us for a sail around the island and we dropped her off in Kedro Beach and then continued to the Mini Cyclades.  With excellent sailing conditions and smaller waves as they were blocked by Naxos, we were happy to continue sailing to Schoinoussa.  

Once there, we dropped anchor with several other sailboats of our size by a beach and enjoyed one of the most peaceful nights so far in Greece with excellent shelter from the swell and wind.

The following day brought lighter wind from the north again. Leaving the anchorage, we started sailing strong but quickly found ourselves in a hole where we were also pushed backward by the current while we waited for an occasional gust to pull us north.  Finally making it north of Irakleia, we had a surprising fresh breeze that led us to reef the main.  

As we made our way west the wind steadily decreased to a gentle breeze and we ended up slowly tacking into a nice shallow and clear bay between Antiparos and Despotiko.  Dropping the anchor in the dark we had another very peaceful night with flat seas.  

While pumping up the dinghy the next day to explore some ruins and caves on the shore, we were delighted to spot a sea turtle swimming by our anchor that was clear to see in the pristine water. Leaving the caves in the late afternoon, we sailed around Despotiko to Paroikia, the main port on the island of Paros. Having set off late in the day we approached Paros in the dark and enjoyed navigating around some small rocky islands to the town's east. Lucky to get one of the last spots in the harbour we moored stern to the quay with many friendly sailors from the harbour keen to help us in the dark.  

We wished Regina and Francy a safe journey home as they caught the ferry from Paros the next day, and from there we restocked the Goden Wind with groceries and water before continuing to Mykonos to pick up Felix that same evening.  We started making good progress, but the wind continued to decrease on our passage so we decided to set the spinnaker.  Unfortunately, it only carried us 4nm before we took it down again when the wind died completely and we expected it to return from the north.  

To avoid drifting backward and not leave our new crew waiting in the dark we used the engine to pick him up in Aghios Ioannis and then continued 3nm west to drop anchor in a quiet bay on Rineia.  This was an ideal place to sleep in order to make a short hop over to Delos the next day where we enjoyed visiting the ruins of this ancient city.