We were so thrilled to welcome our next guests, our dear friends Kay, Chris and Alice. They had experienced a traumatic two days getting to us, their original flight out having been cancelled but not until they had been seated on the plane for three hours ending up being surrounded by fire engines!

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/breaking-gatwick-airport-closed-fire-30719576

We spent our last night in Naxos having a ‘Hello, Goodbye Party’ consisting of dinner followed by cocktails to mark the handover from previous guests to new guests who have all been friends for many years.

The following day, after a quick food shopping excursion we set off. Our first stop was to the island of Koufonisos in the Little Cyclades, a 22 mile trip taking us just south of Naxos.

A tiny bay with no Taverna, we were happy to eat the wonderful food that Kay whipped up for us! Heaven!

Having a few restful days in a bay gave us the chance to explore the depths of the remaining unchartered locker! We knew there was a ‘Fatboy’ bean bag in there but to unearth it meant pulling out the very heavy sets of sails that had been nicely nestled on top of it for over a year!

With a faultless strategy i.e. sheer brute strength, Jacques and Chris brought the Fatboy to the surface and we enjoyed the evening sun on a variety of seating options!

The Paddle Board was re-inflated and new contenders for mastering it queued up. We were glad to have Alice’s skills on hand to assist Chris when another daring rescue mission took place – this time of a green cotton towel!

It was quite a complicated rescue including a snorkel mask, the boat hook and the dinghy anchor! Also, lots of shouting from Alice and pained expressions from Chris!

As if that were not enough drama for the day, our next activity was to cheer on the Lionesses. We have on board most of the flags of Mediterranean countries (you need to always be flying the flag of the waters you are sailing in) but we do not, it would appear, have a St George’s Cross (probably as the likelihood of sailing in English seas is approximately zero!)

It is also courtesy to fly the flags representing the nationalities of the people on board so the Union Jack we had and that would have to do!

Next stop was the a bay in the south of Ios, which was graced by semi-detached tavernas on the beach. We took the dinghy over to shore and first approached the taverna on the left, The Grand Blue, asking to look at the menu. Ten strides later we were at the second taverna, AntonIOS, asking to see their bill of fare and decided that was where we would eat. Neither taverna was very busy but we got chatting to a lady from Cambridge who is spending the summer living and working in Ios. She explained to us that the tavernas are owned by two brothers who had a big falling out and now don’t speak to each other! When the lady decided to change her accommodation from one brother’s villa to the others she was instantly barred from the first brother’s taverna!!

Sikinos was our next stop and what an unexpected gem it turned out to be!

This time the Paddle Board took a back seat in the Water Toy Wars to the now inflated Kayak! Huge fun! I actually swam out to Alice and managed to climb on to the Kayak without capsizing us! Those of you who are familiar with my prowess on water based inflatables e.g. lilos, would have been very impressed. There is no photographic evidence which is fortunate as just because I was successful in my quest, it does not mean it was achieved with any grace or elegance!!

We headed for dinner at the one small taverna, not sure if it was open as the lighting was almost non-existent. When we enquired we were told that there was an island wide power cut and only then did we notice that very few buildings around the bay had any light shining. The staff brought us candles for the table and dinner was a selection of cold meze and one portion of Calamari – it was all delicious!

We learnt the next day that the cause of the power cut was a large unknown boat ploughing straight through the underwater electric cable. We were pretty sure it was nothing to do with us but we do have history in this department!

Back in 2012 we were in Turkey, in the marina of the small and lovely town of Datca. The marina was over run with ferrel cats, and a few dogs, and we had already experienced a group of cats chasing each other, jumping from the front of one boat to another, making those blood curdling noises you associate with childbirth!

The plan was that the last of us to bed would pull up the gangplank as the distance from the quay to the boat was too far for cats to jump. I was the last one to bed and mindful of my duty set about pulling at the thin ropes that keep the plank attached to the boat. What I had forgotten was that also attached to, or rather entwined around the plank, was the thick electric cable plugged in to our boat at one end and to the electricity box at the other.

With a force I did not know I possessed, I yanked the plank upright and on board and yes I did hear a splash and perhaps a sizzling noise. When we awoke to find out that not only we were devoid of electric but that the whole marina and its thirty plus moored boats were also the victims of some kind of electrical issues we made a hasty exit!

Our next destination was Folegandros which we had all been to on our previous sail of the Cyclades seven years (almost to the day) before. On that occasion we had not gone ashore except for a quick bread shopping run the morning of our departure. It has become slightly more built up but still essentially a small, charming, laid back village. The approach was stunning and our skippers were very happy that the wind was with us and the sailing a pleasure.

We decided to stay for two nights so that we had the chance to visit the Hora which was a 20 minute bus ride up (as usual) a very steep road!

We had so much fun in the bay and at the restaurant on our first afternoon and evening.

The next afternoon we took the bus to town! How splendid it was and the views spectacular.

And one restaurant offering a burger for every occasion! And also actually sold souvlakis!

From Folegandros our next sail would be to the star of the Cyclades, Santorini. This was a very special experience in many ways and deserves a short post of its own in a few days time – once I have recovered from the experience!!!

Here’s a small taster of the magnificence of the island…..

Happy Bank Holiday to you all.

Love and hugs

Tracey

xx