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Date Filed |
13/05/2009 |
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|
Location |
Vlichada, Santorini
(Thira), |
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Lat/Long |
36º 20.16N |
25º
26.08E |
The next day (5th
May) was a day of provisioning, round tuits, find the
water man & a walk over the hill to the lagoon behind the town, something I
didn’t remember from times past!
Wed 6th May. A leisurely departure with some motoring,
some light wind sailing out between Spetse &
mainland (Peloponnese) where we saw some dolphins fishing (obvious because of
the seagull attendants!)
Approaching Hydra,lots of plastic floating in
the water, not nice. Several flotilla
boats hammered past us flat out (we were sailing at 5½knts in not much
breeze). In the harbour at Hydra they’d
won, & were tying up, we looked & decided we didn’t want to be part of
the crush, so carried on to Mandraki Bay, a couple of
miles to the east, where we anchored.
One or two other boats arrived later, obviously for the same reason.
Early evening we strolled into Hydra to have a look around (the quietest I’ve
ever seen the town), & the quay was double parked with boats.
Next day (7th
May) a prompt departure from
Late morning we put the kite
up, first time this year, but had to take it down after a couple of hours as
the wind dropped to nothing. We had a
swordfish leap several times in front of us & then encountered a group of
20-30 dolphins, of whom about half escorted us for awhile, while the rest
continued feeding.
Late afternoon we had another
brief flirtation with the spinnaker before motoring the rest of the trip to Livadhion, Serifos in the
Friday (8th May)
after some chores, we walked out of the little port & up the hill behind
using steep cobbled paths to the Chora (Hora), the old defensive town above the port.
We couldn’t find the height
on any information, but reckon it was between 200m & 300m high. Topped with
a ruined fort the town was whitewashed cubes of houses, with the odd splash of
colour here & there (mostly on churches), but seemed to have very few
inhabitants. The school had pupils
playing in the yard, but elsewhere there was no one to be seen, just the smell
of lunch cooking wafting out of closed doors.
Spooky.
We descended again to the
life of the port.
Saturday 9th May.
A relaxed departure from Serifos, sailing most of the
way, we arrived to anchor in Vathi, Sifnos in the early afternoon. 15.6nm.
Doug dived to check the
anchor, & later found an octopus. I,
in rather shallower water, found a very pretty thing, like a butterfly with
fluorescent blue wings. When it folded them away it just became another ‘lump
of sand’. The book id’d it as a streaked gurnard –
wish I’d had a waterproof camera with me!
Later we had a stroll ashore & supper in one of the beach tavernas.
Sunday. A morning of
jobs & chores, then in the afternoon I took a canoe round the bay, & we
both had a swim, but no exciting finds.
Monday 11th May.
Left the Vathi anchorage under power, but once we
cleared the island were able to sail with a light variable wind on a beam/broad
reach.
Early afternoon we reached Karavostasi
harbour
Went ashore & caught bus
up the hill (very lazy) , to the Chora
for a mid afternoon lunch.
Another
very attractive town of jumbled white houses, but unlike Serifos,
much more on one level apart for the church higher up on a steep mountainside.
Tuesday 12th May.
Departed Folegandros under motor, but mid morning got
the kite up again, & flew it as we sailed down the west coast of Santorini’s caldera (& spectacular volcanic landscape)
until the wind died at midday. Arrived early afternoon at Vlikadha
marina, Santorini.
This is a safe place to leave
the boat on an island with a fairly inhospitable coast, but an early
reconnaissance showed us that it was in a fairly remote location with not much
in the way of facilities except tavernas.
That evening we took a taxi
to the inland
Wednesday 13th
May. Went to catch a bus to
Then it was a bus back to Emborio & a different better walk along a rural track
back to the marina.