On the Sea Again

With the epoxy set and the last new teak boards mounted in the cockpit after finally giving way at the end of our trip last year, we were able to take up the lines in Pireaus on Wednesday to start our summer voyage.

The Meltemi began blowing in Athens giving us a small relief from the heat wave that is making itself at home in the Greek capital, and we used this northerly wind to make a quick trip downwind to Aegina.  We arrived with the setting sun and dropped anchor outside of the town, celebrating our first night with the crew.

Expecting the Meltemi to continue blowing for the next couple of days, we planned to make our way to Kythnos the next day, but after rounding the southern end of Aegina with light wind and seeing an updated forecast, we changed course for Sounio.  We put up the spinnaker to aid us on our way with wind from the southwest.  Once we reached the middle of the Saronic Gulf, the wind lulled before shifting further south southeast and we took down the spinnaker with time for a quick swim before setting the number two foresail.  At the southern end of Attica, we found shelter behind the small island, Patroklos, and dropped anchor just before sunset.

The next morning began with a light breeze from the northeast that carried us past the temple of Poseidon.  The wind slowly turned to the east and we were able to make our way to Kythnos.  A midday lull slowed us down as we passed Kea, but it eventually picked up again to carry us to a bay on the west side of the island where we had a surprisingly relaxing dip in the natural hot springs in spite of the hot air temperature.  After a few hours there we decided to continue to the town of Merihas and spend the night in the harbor to fill up on water and food supplies.

Hoping that the morning and afternoon thermals would be enough to carry us to one of the islands south of Kythnos, we set off in the morning and followed the coast. However, by late afternoon, we were still drifting by the southern end of the island and the wind was not forecast to return until the following afternoon.  So, we made our way into the bay in front of Aghios Dimitrios beach and enjoyed the evening and morning snorkeling and resting in the sand.

The following afternoon, the wind did indeed return at first slowly but then picked up to a gentle breeze, but we decided to stop on the north of Serifos, after a short hop, seeing that the north wind would be back the next day and ideal for a full day of sailing.

Getting up with the sunrise, we were happy to be making an average of 6.5 kts on a beam reach to travel 40nm to Paros before the afternoon.  In Paroikia, we swapped our brackish water from Kythnos for the fresher water on Paros and spent a few hours in the town.  By early evening, we decided to try to make up for the previous days of light wind and continue on our way into the night as the wind was expected to continue blowing.  With the setting sun, we sailed smoothly between Paros and Antiparos.  We enjoyed navigating the gusty moderate breeze south of the island that is typical behind the Cyclades when the Meltemi blows.  Making good speed we dropped anchor on Schinoussa around 2 am.

The wind kept up the next morning and we sailed off anchor setting course for Astypalea.  Sheltered from the waves most of the way, we comfortably sailed on a broad reach making excellent speed at around 7 kts most of the way. Behind Amorgos, we reefed the main as gusts up to 25 kts came over the island, and we covered the 50 nm quickly.  We sailed around the south of Astypalea as the evening approached, and had fun tacking into the strong breeze as we approached the bay where we would drop anchor near the town.

At sunset, we dropped anchor and celebrated Lina’s last night onboard, and in the morning we tied up in the town to visit the beautiful castle atop the white-washed hill before waving goodbye to her as she departed on the afternoon ferry.