Crossing the Aegean

The marina in the bay of Ekincik, near Marmaris

14^th May 2015. We had decided to put our house in the UK up for sale, and were due fly home from Athens on 10^th June, so we now had exactly four weeks to get Sandpiper from southern Turkey across the Aegean to a Greek boatyard in the Peloponnese. You need to pick your time to cross the Aegean to try and avoid the dreaded ‘Meltimi’, a wind that can blow at Force 8 or more for days at a time. Last year we were storm bound on Naxos for a week while the Meltimi blew through, so this year we had chosen to cross in May when the winds tend to be lighter. The plan was to do the crossing as quickly as possible.

After an overnight stop in the beautiful bay of Ekincik near Marmaris, we sailed on up to Datca where we officially exited Turkey. From there we sailed to the Greek island of Kos, and then headed to the island of Leros. As we pulled into the marina at Leros we spotted Debs and Martin on their lovely wooden boat, Solon of Toorak. We last saw them in Corinth a year ago, so it was great to catch up with them again.

The weather looked good to make the long crossing from Leros to the island of Paros in the Cyclades, so at 5am the next morning we slipped our lines and headed out to sea. The forecast was for a light wind on the nose which would back and increase later to give us a good beam reach. What we got was almost no wind at all, so we motorsailed for 12 hours until we finally arrived at village of Naoussa on Paros in the late afternoon.

Cliff outside the café we had visited 38 years ago

 We visited Naoussa on our honeymoon 38 years ago, so it holds very special memories for us. It’s grown from a small village to a popular resort, but still retains its old-world Greek charm. We allowed ourselves a day off sailing to wander around town and revisit some old haunts. The little café where we used to breakfast on Nescafe, Greek village bread and honey is now a large and rather plush Greek patisserie complete with an expresso machine. The narrow cobbled lanes through the village where we bought our groceries are now full of beautifully restored houses and upmarket gift shops. But one thing hadn't changed - the restaurants that line the small fishing harbour still sit you at a wobbly wooden table and serve the best fresh fish, straight off the boats.

Decorated wooden doorway

The fishing harbour at Paros

The winds stayed light for the next two days while we sailed from Naoussa to Loutra on Kythnos, and then across to the Greek mainland. On the 22nd May we anchored in the channel between Galata (on the mainland) and the island of Poros, relieved to have had an uneventful crossing. We had travelled from Gocek to Galata in just over a week, and could now look forward to relaxing for a while before Sandpiper was hauled out at the yard in Kilada.

Sunset at the Galata anchorage