We checked into (Kos) Greece August 1st as we were expecting a few visitors to the boat. We met Meghan and Jesse in Kardemena on the island of Kos being the closest anchorage to the airport for their arrival, thinking that it would be an easy taxi ride for them to get to Kardemena. Would have been perfect except for the fact that that there were no cabs when they got in. They had to wait for a cab and share it with other travelers. It wasn’t until close to midnight before we were back at the boat. Kardemena was a great stop, cute town, waterfront area and good anchorage.

Went up to Kalymnos just north of Kos to tie up to the town quay. Enjoyed the day there, filled with water and all necessary port stock up after we headed to Telendos. We had heard that it was a good anchorage and cute little town. On Telendos there is a hike that you can do over the island and is rated as a moderate trail. When we got there and started to investigate, some of the comments were brutal saying that they had to get rescued off the trail. Thought we would give it a try and sure enough right at the beginning of the trail it turned into more that just a moderate hike. Abandoned that and went back to the boat for swim. Got a couple of great pictures though.

Left Telendos and went to Lakki on Leros Island. This is an area that we have spent a lot of time so we know the area. Meg and Jesse found a swim hole that was on the other side of the island but within walking distance, so off they went and Jac and I thought why don’t we rent a car and show them some of the island. The car was not the easiest to come by but we managed to get a decent car and off we went to track down the kids. The one place that we wanted to get to was the castle on top of the island. The castle was part of the Byzantine times. The fortress is believed to have been constructed in the tenth century and there is a former acropolis within the site. Managed to get up there in the little car. The route was not exactly the best and that’s why Jac and I hadn’t been up there before.

Finished up in Leros and headed back to Kos with a stop at Vathy. The weather was not great and turning even worse, so the decision was made that we would spend the night in Vathy and then go get tied up again in Kalymnos town quay. The kids arranged to get the ferry over to Kos so that they could spend a day sight-seeing in Kos town before their flight back the next day. The weather as predicted turned ugly which meant the Kos anchorage would have been …..! Sad to see them go as it really didn’t seem long enough.

Next Up

Our next visitors were Lauren and Gen. They were due to arrive a couple of days after Meg and Jes left and by that time the weather had subsided enough so that we could get over to an anchorage on Kos that we had been before. The arrival time for the girls was 4 in the morning and the wind was still blowing but good enough to be able to pick them up from the beach, via a marine landing. Pitch black and breaking waves on the beach. Had to do 2 trips and managed without anyone ending up in the water or getting luggage wet. Almost lost the dinghy when a wave came in while we were negotiating how to get everything into the dinghy.

Needed to move around to Kos town to check in again. (very tiresome this checking in to every port that we stop at). Had a good time with the girls. Visited Kardemena again and Kefalos. Made our way down to Tilos Island and explored Lividia. Lovely little town.

Back to Kefalos to drop Gen. She only had 6 days with us and after that it was time to go west. With Lauren in tow we did a couple of big trips across in some nasty weather. The Aegean is famous for it’s Meltemi winds that blow from the north. Made it to Astypalaia after a great sail across. Ios was the next stop at Maganari beach and then up to Mylopotas where we ran into the nasty beach patrol who took his job a little too seriously. Just wanted to beach the dinghy on the left side near the rocks out of everyones way but noooo he insisted that we bring it into the channel for all the other tourist boats and beach it there. To the point of suggesting that anyone with a boat license would know that. If our dinghy engine was bigger than a 2.5 horsepower then a boat license might be required. Not impressed so Jac’s thought it would be a good idea to take his pic and post it onto Navily for others to know.

Wanted to get to Milos from there and had another great sail across the Aegean. Rough seas and we took a few waves over the side. Lauren experienced a little bit of that. Got to the outer island of Milos and worked our way over to the Kleftiko Caves where we took the go pro in for a few underwater shots.

Met our next travel buddies there on Belvedere (Jeff and Jamie, travelling on a well laid out Beneteau 57).

Stayed for a couple of nights and had a nice evening drinks aboard Belvedere. Went into Adamantas for a night before heading south to Chania, Crete. Had a nice downwind sail from Milos to Chania and set the sails to goosewing. Lasted a short time but still we did it.

It is in Crete that we needed to drop Lauren at the airport and to pick up Shelley. Chania is a 2 hour drive to the airport in Heraklion so we set it up that Lauren would grab a hotel overnight close to the airport and I would pick Shelley up that evening to save ourselves a lot of travel time. Turns out Shelley’s flight was delayed a couple hours and we ended up getting back to the boat after midnight. Sorry to see Lauren go but she still had adventures remaining in Mallorca Spain. Oh … to be young and have lots of time to travel…. wait … the only thing missing there is the young part.

Had a couple days in Chania and then set out for the western side of Crete so we could jump off from there to get to the lower Peloponnese. Wanted to see the Gramvousa Castle at the western point of Crete but we got moved on by the ferry that comes in there and had to anchor across the bay which prevented us from getting over there. Bad anchorage if you are wondering.

Went to Kythira and then to Elafonisos. Elafonisos to Port Kagio where we hung out for a few days. Weather was not great and Port Kagio was a pleasant stop. Tried to leave there … once … and got caught is some big waves all coming the wrong way. Tried tacking but we ended up going backwards so we abandoned that idea and back to Port Kagio to wait for a better weather window. Finally got one and set out for Koroni on the western Peloponnese.

When we got to Zakynthos we said goodbye to Shelley. Some pressing business at home. So we dropped her in Zante close to the airport and off she went. During our stop there we had tied up to the inner harbour dock and the tie up involved wrapping our stern mooring lines around some major bollards used for large ships. During the night the mooring line snapped and thankfully there was no damage only a busted mooring line. During all of this we were trying to avoid a building weather system developing in the southern Ionian called a Medicane. Not quite a hurricane and centralized to the Mediterranean so they call it a Medicane. Did manage to avoid it as it was very south of us at that time.

We set off for Kefalonia the next day where we hoped to meet up with Belvedere. Found them in the inner harbour anchorage outside Argostoli. As we came across from Zante we knew it would be blowing hard but it was supposed to be protected on the inside. As we turned to corner to head into the anchorage we experienced close to 50knots of wind. Thankfully no sails up. Was very windy in the anchorage but the anchor held like a champ.

Next stop Italy …