Malta to Greece

Well we are in Greece, to be precise on the island of Milos which is in the Cyclades, but how did we get here.

We left Malta at 1200 on Wednesday 30th May with our friend Andrew and aimed straight for the South-West corner of the Greek mainland. The wind was stronger than forecast, 20 to 30 knots with gusts of 40+, and we soon reduced sail, 2 reefs in the Main and half the Genoa. Luckily the wind was almost directly behind us and we were surfing down the quite large rolling seas. Because the waves were coming in on our port quarter the auto-pilot couldn’t really handle it and so Andrew and I helmed for the first 11 hours until the wind and waves dropped a little. We were glad when it abated as not sure how much longer we could have kept up helming as it was quite demanding in the rolling sea.

We managed to sail almost the whole way and arrived in Methoni Friday afternoon after 51.5 hours averaging 7.1 knots for the journey, having seen a top speed of 10.6 on a few of the surfs.

Apart from the fantastic downwind sailing for 2 days the highlight of the trip was Kim catching a good sized Tuna after only having the line out for a short while. Not sure who was more surprised Kim or the fish! As you can imagine after a couple of days we had had enough of Tuna!

We stayed at anchor in the bay at Methoni for a couple of nights and investigated the old walled city and Turkish watch tower. The tourist season hasn’t started yet, few visitors about yet so the place was very sleepy, quite and expectantly waiting for the invasion. The weather was lovely, hot calm and clear.

From Methoni we motored round the coast to another small bay which was overlooked by the remains of a walled city. Koroni we did not find as pretty or as interesting as Methoni but a good sheltered bay and good facilities to provision the boat.

After a night at anchor we set of east again, crossing the large bay and aiming for the next headland. On the way we were able to rendezvous at sea with our good friends Ian and Sue on Pulsar II. Unfortunately they were on their way north to a marina and we needed to press on so the reunion and party will have to wait until later in the season when hopefully we will be able to meet up again.

We had planned to visit the caves at Dryos but when we got there the wind was funnelling down the valley and there was 30knts of wind and white water everywhere so we abandoned the idea and carried on round the headland to Porto Kayio an almost enclosed bay with mountains all around.

There then followed an ‘interesting’ and stressful night! The wind by now was quite strong and gusty from the NE so we tried to tuck up in the north of the bay. The bay is quite deep right up to the sides so we had to anchor in 20 mtrs. The wind was gusting down the mountain sides and Tiamat was swinging about badly. Consequently we had to have an anchor watch. Even with all our chain out (90mtrs) our anchor slipped three times during the night and we had to pull it up and re-anchor. With the anchor watch and having to get everyone up to re-anchor nobody got much sleep that night and it was a relief when morning came and the wind dropped and turned.

We moved to the other end of the bay where the holding was much better and shallower and spent the day recovering and chilling. The bay is gorgeous, secluded and has a couple of Tavernas on the beach. When the wind had dropped it was a lovely place to be.

After a goodnights sleep it was off again, this time heading for the island of Kithera. After another great down wind sail we arrived at the port of Dhiaofti. All day the wind had been increasing and by the time we arrived it was blowing 30knts and the harbour was quite rough. We decided to anchor in the shelter of a small island off the town. Whilst this afforded good shelter from the waves it did little for the wind. Still the water was shallow and the holding good. This was as well as during the evening the wind increased until it was blowing a steady 45knts! With 60mtrs of chain out we were solid and we felt confident enough to go to bed and sleep.

Next morning (Thursday 7th June) we were up early, the wind had dropped and we sailed to the island of Milos which is the most SW island in the Cyclades. It’s really a large volcanic crater that has been flooded and the rock forms and cliffs are stunning. The main port of Adhamas is in the ‘crater’ and this is where we headed. We tied up on the town quay to find much to our surprise that the mooring was free as was the electricity and water that was provided at points along the wall. Great result.

That night we went out for dinner to celebrate arriving in the Cyclades and to say farewell and thanks to Andrew who was catching the ferry back to Athens and then plane to the UK the next day. It had been great having Andrew along, the extra pair of hands had made the trip easy and on more than a couple of occasions had proved invaluable.

Andrew left and we are still tied to the wall in Adhamas, enjoying the rest, chilling and doing a few chores whilst we have the facilities. I expect we will move on in a few days, but that is for the next instalment.

So that’s enough for now. Hope I haven’t bored you too much.
Hope all is well. Take care.
Love Duncan & Kim xx