The Cyclades Chronicles Part 1

We are writing this blog collaboratively between the four of us (Martin, Nat, Jen, and Adam) we are expecting some creative diversions fuelled by a few glasses of vino in our current marina which is home! Here we go….

With some difficulty procuring a taxi we ended up picking up our vessel which was proudly flying a Canadian flag. We each fell quite naturally into our chromosomal roles as the boys learned about the bits on the boat whilst the girls went out to spend some more money at the supermarket (if you could call it that). In a store the size of a 7-11 but with less selection, the girls managed to fill 5 shopping carts with cans and bags of mystery contents (it’s all Greek to me was a most appropriate phrase on this endeavour).

We set out early the next morning in an effort to beat the gale force weather. Unfortunately, Ionia, our vessel was to be trailed with a ribbon of vomit induced by the 3 metre swells. Natalie’s pre-digested croissant and coffee seemed to beckon pods of dolphins on more than one occasion. They played in the bow wave dipping to and fro beneath our boat, what a magical experience!

We finally found refuge from the gale in a serene bay overlooking a quintessentially Greek fishing village that appeared to be made of white Lego houses. The first night we discovered the hidden delights of our boat as Nat and Jen practiced their “pummel horse routine” on the table that vaguely resembled a pummel horse in a performance that more closely resembled a routine from the “special Olympics”. The not so hidden delights of the island were discovered the next day on our excursion ashore which landed us on a nude beach. If they made us wear a” neckerchief” in Pamplona, we saw one man wearing what could only be described as a “Schlongerchief” shielding his valuables from the hot Mediterranean sun.

The following evening found us sandwiched between an industrial tanker and a Turkish mega-yacht. As we pulled into harbour, we were “greeted’ with the icy stare of an overstuffed Turkish crew member who kept his gaze fixed and his arms folded for the entire time we moored. Not a hello, not an offer of assistance, just a glare. Thank goodness we had had a semi-disastrous dry-run during our lunch stop in the previous village and had worked out all glitches. The situation was soon forgotten after a good meal and several bottles of wine, however the lewd Turk continued staring at us for our entire stay… even the the even-tempered Adam was getting irate. Of course the girls had to dump fuel on the fire by continuing their Olympic rehearsals which only encouraged the staring.

The following day offered excellent sailing punctuated by a brief lull in the wind where we jumped overboard for a quick dip. Unfortunately the wind came back up before Natalie and Martin did….. oh well it’s more peaceful without them anyways.

The next port of call was the party island of Ios. Mooring right in town had its privileges considering the night time activities got started at 2am and continued on until dawn. The days were spent recovering, beaching, and scootering around the island. Our anemic scooters required a little extra help (in the form of pushing them along with our feet) navigating the hilly terrain. We were occasionally blown sideways by the strong breeze, which became even more of a nuisance during our beach visit which found us rather well exfoliated from all the sandblasting. Waiting out the gusts an extra day in Ios, we unsuccessfully attempted another beach visit before retiring to our boat just in time for our afternoon entertainment. Act 1: The three hour disastrous attempt at mooring incorporating numerous three point turns, pirouettes, and aborted docking manoeuvres. Every skipper in the harbour was standing on the bow of his boat anxiously waiting to fend off the uncontrolled approach of the charter boat full of Germans who uncharacteristically had nothing organized for their approach. We ended up having to jump aboard several unattended boats to fend them off as they crashed their way into their slip.

Act 2: Adam and Martin free diving down to our anchor which had snagged on a permanent mooring line. After several dives and a bleeding eardrum the anchor was successfully freed.

Act 3: Gin and tonics on the deck finishing up our unfinished entry from last night.

The weather is settling down and we are all set to sail through volcanic crater of Santorini tomorrow. By the way Adam has not hurt himself YET and the four of us are still enjoying each other’s company.

P.S. Hide the lemons!