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Friday, August 5, 2011

Crete Island and Crusing with K

Creta, onwards and upwards.
Crete Island and Crusing with K - first and second week of June
Just one day into our arrival, post clean up, wash-down (us, (oh-errrr, imagine being onboard with two smelly bearded boys for 6 days...;0), the boat and alllll our gear), Kristina (K) my sister arrived!!! :0)
Having caught her just off the plane on her way to a youth hostel we managed to encourage her to extend her bus ride all the way to Chania.  Her early arrival then being just in time for a Med-style (late) dinner on-deck
chef for the night

Our Maltese Basil - oh MR BASIL, how good you are!

 in front of the bars and clubs who kindly played their music for us ;0) (anything from Pavarotti to Queen, Piano concerto to house and of course a bit of local chanting style!).
It seems so refreshing to have someone new onboard especially when they are as keen and willing to learn and take it all in as all our crew has been...... every 41foot of it doesn’t take that long to know, but still, le grand tour is always fun.  So K fitted in a treat (except for walking the plank to and from the yacht with onlookers encouraging or making the process all the more nerve-racking!) and got straight into the jobs like the rest of us.  For those unfamiliar to boat-life, although we have 12m of length and a breadth of 4m, when you’re 4 people in a such a small space, living on-top of each other, there are constant jobs to be done which involve banging your head, knees, shins, toes and squeezing in and out of the gaps to reach / search / find what you are looking for!
Having felt like we (JG and I) where on the move a bit too much we were all too happy to kick-back and relax on land whilst on Creta so when we tied up there in Chania on the June 6th she stayed in her position for week. 
A fine lady enjoying the sunshine and getting some airing!

Time to explore! Renting a car for the day, the 4 of us went to what the locals recommend as the ‘Best Beaches in the WHOLE of Creta.’...... hmmmmm, well i’d like to argue that point and let you all know that although beautiful... they are of course the best ‘tourist’ beaches!  So if you’re told to go there, go somewhere else – especially when a westerly is blowing.  We did have fun though, swimming in the little waves, sheltering behind the rocks on the massive beach (that we nearly had to ourselves!), visiting a little Taverna on the hill (with the Cretan treat of Raki and a coconut slice) and travelling through, up, over and around the beautiful mountain roads. 
one spot away from the umbrellas

Toilet stop (fi)

sisters on the mountains - Fi and K

Mael and K strolling to the windy beach

'ello'

In the Greek heat we hit the tourist trail again and ventured in to the Samaria Gorge.  Fabulous to be in the mountains even with all the other tourists trekking down the same path.  The gorge was beautiful and the hike down earned us a luscious swim in the sea on the South of Crete. 
Starting at the top of the Gorge, L to R (JG, Fi, K, Mael)

Safety girl fi!

pretty flowers

 old settlements in the middle of the gorge

JG and K

whoops wrong way round - anyway river crossing

The troops, K, JG, Fi and Mael


Walking - K, JG and Mael

Relaxing time - Mael, K & JG

 Super strange feeling getting on to a ferry after knowing the yacht motion so well, but wonderful to be able to just enjoy the short journey.
Taverna in the hills, K, Mael & JG

AMAZING ICECREAM!

Mael in the beautiful garden

 Of course the food and wine of Crete was tasted, tested again and again and for some of us the luxury of fresh Tzatziki was almost too much!  Oooooh it is SO good!  (Unfortunately the Taramasalata was not so up-to-standard but at least has given us the excuse to try it in yet more tavernas!).  Mmmmmm mmmmmm. Greek food!  Greek wine, yummy especially when tired! ;0)

K enjoying that Greek / Cretan white

Before long, Mael’s time onboard was up and we watched him depart to Heraklion in an air-conditioned bus, (what a treat!).  Yes the question of ‘why did we take out the American Air-con system?’ does run through our mind occasionally (especially now 13th July).

Entrance to Chania at night

So lazy time was up and with our new crew member and new-look captain,
JG BeforeJG AFTER ;0)

it was time to hit the sea and head north despite the blow and the forming waves. Thankfully with a Nor-west we were able to make way NNE to The Cyclades!  Oh the beautiful Cyclades!  Despite all fears of sea-sickness K took to sailing like a true lady – sat back and relaxed (except when an sail trimming and steering was required)
K on the Helm

 and was lulled to sleep by the motion.  First relief!  Due to our extreme punctuality (early morning starts are not yet our forte – maybe i’m rebelling after the Oceanco days) we arrived just after midnight to what looked like an empty cove only to find out it was jammed packed (bring back the full moon!).  We navigated our way around the bay ready to drop anchor but ended up on a big buoy kindly waiting for us which was just as well as the average depth was +30m (we only have a 45m chain and you’re meant to lay 4 times the depth). 
Such a place, Thirasia, is a pleasure to wake up to especially when you’re not relying on your own anchor and even more pleasurable when you can start the day with a refreshing swim.  Fantastic!  K and I went exploring to the village and the donkeys.  So cute (and bloody hot – yup us being British did go up in the midday sun of course ;0) )!

I think we're in the Greek islands?!?!

Photographer K getting to work

photographer Fi (getting some lessons!)

cute cute cute

Santorini, a mere 2nm away, showed us her delights and admirers.  This was incredible. 
Spot RC?

THE kirk (church)

Cool JG

Sunset time...... just look closely at allllll the people!

Just unbelievable how so many people can fit on one hill, filling every little tiny tiny step / wall / street to watch the sun disappear into the clouds!   Very funny and very expensive fish – urgh – tourist-trap! 
Sunset behind some cloud in Santorini and Fi

Mr Fish

Best part was the day tour was the trip back to RC; starting off with a shot of Raki we trooped in the dark from the lovely little marina (nope, we weren’t anchored / moored there), across the jaggy rocks without a path,
one path was close due to rock falls also!

with two paddles and all our gear, one swimmer for collection of the kayaks (oh what a gentleman i have!) and then the rowing out and around to the next bay!  Two girls and lots of giggles is not very efficient on a one-man kayak it seems but at least we didn’t sink OR tip over!  Eventually we made the boat (when we figured out which one it was) with a major injury of the foot to treat 
K's injured wee foot n JG, the dr's assistant

and then finally we managed a wee nip (drink of whisky) before bed.
North again with changeable wind, both in strength and direction, which took us to the Little Cyclades;  Skhinousa. 
skhinousa island in the lovely evening light
In such a quiet and cute little bay we adopted a mission – to find meat! Such a wonderful evening deserved a bbq on the beach but with no meat there was little reason for us to do so..... the mission failed but we did find the village up the hill, the goats and the well
well well well
 and how sweet it all was! 
Post kayak tours, swimming and snorkelling,
testing the storm jib

K in the big pond

RC from behind with that MASSIVE dingy (that has a puncture)

and photography courses at night;
heart

moon

use your imagination

FULL MOON

we were on our way again up to Naxos and boy what a mission.  It’s amazing when the wind is against you just how long it takes to make 20nm.  We could have done the days sail in four hours and it took more than 9 – with a beautiful Christmas tree track on the plotter!  Wind from the north channelled down between the two islands, Naxos and Paros and gave us some excellent tacking practice. 
chistmas tree, oh christmas tree.....
Nevertheless we squeezed in between a fishing boat and a sailor (thanks to JG saving the procedure) with the help of the locals – they just love to get involved!
So there we where – we made meeting point no. 4 – just had to wait for those to arrive, to actually arrive.........
This is Fifi from that far away point, written in a cafe on the 13th July, posted..... well later it seems
over

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