After 8 months of sailing absence, the Monday travel to the shipyard in Kilada, Greece was full of expectations and concerns if all the tasks had been completed by the local workman. Michael from Austria was waiting at the Bar, he has joined me for several years and sailed with his father as a child. Now in pension he has all the time of the world and is a good helping hand to prepare the boat for the sailing season.
Till Friday we prepared the boat, cleaning & fixing things, giving the hull a new shine by polishing it with the machine brought down. On Saturday 8am we where the first to get lifted into the water.
In the afternoon we sailed to nearby peaceful Korakas bay and anchored our first night on water. Michael cooked Aglio e Olio Pasta with hot peperoncinos 🌶️. In the bay next of us was a party going on and a firework session longer than home.
Next morning was Sunday an we took time before headed off through the Spetses strait. Back in the Agean Sea we had nice wind bringing us up with moderate 3 to 4 knots to our next destination the bay.
After a very quiet night stay we steered to Hydra to buy provisions for our next day passage to the Cyclades island Kynthos and other remote islands. The port is like a wasp nest, boats tied up in three rows together. We where lucky to get a space right at the end of the quai.
After one and a half hours of humble we left Hydra to a nice bay for our tomorrow’s 42sm sail to Kynthos.
At 5.30 am the clock alarm rang. We had rocky night in the bay from the swell in the Hydra passage. After a cuppa tea and müsli we started the engine and lifted the anchor. The horizon was burning red, on the way out of bay we past frog stone and the sun started to rise.
It was already good to set the sails as we reached the end mainland cape, soon having 7 knots speed gliding through the Agean morning sea.
We left the Peloponnes behind us entering the Cyclades islands. During 6.5 hour the ride through the waves we had to reef the sails as the Meltemi wind got strong up to 37 knots. In a well protected Kolona Cova bay on Kynthos we droped the anchor with rear mooring lines tied up to the rocks.
On land we found a small hot spring at the beach warming us up.
Our 20 sea mile downwind sail to the next island Serifos was very moderate, arriving in the early afternoon. After a short dinghy paddle we took a Ouzo under the trees at Kýklōpas, Cyclops taverna.
The next stop on our journey is Vathy on Sifnos, the next island further south, approx. 20 sm. On the small pier there was a space free for us and we moored aftward with anchor holding us in the front.
Our next stop was the well protected bay Despotiko on Antiparos. The next morning we sailed to main port Paros on the island Paros.
