We have had great week this week. All the restaurants are painting, filling cushions and doing work in preparation for the start of the season. We have even seen boats on the water and 5 joined us where we are just now in Finikas on the island of Syros. It's lovely to see the places come to life but we doubt we will be saying that in high season when we can't find a place to anchor!
We left the last blog in Korthiou with a forecasted blow coming. We decided that, much as we loved the place, there wasn't enough protection. We probably would have been fine and able to sit out the blow in a taverna chatting to people but with an abundance of caution we set sail early in the morning to get to a bay on the West side of Tilos, where we could anchor in a well protected position. The winds were forecast to hit early afternoon, but as seems to be the norm in the med, we were hit with 30knts literally out of nowhere at 10am (ok there was a big black cloud coming our way), just as we were 400m from anchoring. We dropped the anchor in torrents of rain and wind and were very grateful to feel it bite in as soon as it hit the seabed, without even having got any chain out. That was very comforting and we put 50m out in 5m of depth, we would have ended up on the beach if the wind turned 180 degrees but given the forecast we were happy and dived below to get dried off. There we stayed for 3 nights and didn't go ashore.
Anchored in 30knts and rain
Once the wind dropped off, we headed to Finikas, 25 nm away, having a lovely sail upwind in 10knts with blue sky and no clouds, we averaged 6knts and arrived at midday. Finikas has a town harbour which is quite close to being a mini marina, room for around 20 visiting boats and unusually, a toilet and shower. It's a lovely town and we changed our plans to stay for 4 nights instead of the 2 we originally anticipated. We took a bus to the main town on the island, Ermoupolis, and walked up into the old town, about 900 steps up flights of stairs! With burning thighs we had lunch there and a well earned beer and visited the large church to atone for our sins.
Stairway to heaven?
Lunch stop in Ermoupolis old town
Back in the port area we found the town hall, we had read that you can go inside and wander round which we did but felt a bit uncomfortable, especially when we walked past an open door where there was clearly some sort of court session being held. Fabulous building though.
Ermoupolis town hall
Back on the bus, the journey took us via Kini, a small beach town where we had anchored last year for a few days and where we parted from our friends from WYC.
Just a note for anyone reading this and planning their own trips. Ermoupolis has its own harbour but we had read about how it's badly designed and any wakes from ferries, other boats etc are reflected around the harbour causing boats to rock about like a rodeo horse. It was flat calm when we were there and we were doubting the severity of the issue, but seeing one ferry come in and the resulting waves I am so glad we didn't go there in the boat.
Ermoupolis bay
Finikas has some lovely restaurants which we enjoyed, some other livaboards to chat to and some lovely walks. Apart from feeling that we were ripped off eu50 for two loads of laundry we have loved it here. To be fair the laundry was collected and delivered back from the next town and they did a fantastic job, even showing it an iron. We think in the season the cost would be much less as this is a busy place then and the van would make daily runs.
Today was the day we became true liveaboards! When taking the rubbish to the marina bins we found someone had dumped three fenders, one of which was in quite good condition. As one of ours was flat and needed replacing we liberated the one from the skip and dumped our flat one. Tick that job off the list! A quick wash, new line and fitted with a spare fender cover we had and it looks like new.
With fuel purchased and delivered by mini tanker we are now well stocked up ready to leave tomorrow morning, headed for the famous Delos island. Hopefully it's open for us to walk around and see another world heritage site.
