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| View back looking at the lighthouses we walked to a couple of evenings ago. |
We had decided to leave Fiskardo a day earlier than planned to allow us to spend a couple of nights in (highly recommended) Kioni, then call in at Sivota for a night before heading up to Nydri to hide from strong winds on Wednesday and Thursday. Well, that was the plan! In an attempt to get there in time to find a good spot we motored all the 10 miles to Kioni, but on our arrival there was no space on the town quay and anchoring and taking long lines to the rocks like others we could see proved problematic. In the spots remaining the depth where we would need to drop the anchor was more than 20m. Given we only carry 80 metres of chain and there was a strong onshore breeze we were reluctant to stay with a scope of just 4 times the depth. It was baking hot and we were all gutted not to be anchored and jumping in for a swim but we have a rule on board that if anybody isn't sure, we take the safest course of action. After a quick review of the pilot and the Cruising Association app Captains Mate, we decided the only place we were comfortable with was Vathy... yes, Vathy where we had been stuck for 4 days with Tiffany! I really wasn't feeling the love for returning but accepted it was the only sensible option. As a compromise we decided to head into the bay just before Vathy for lunch and a swim on our way.
It took a few goes to finally find somewhere to anchor, even for a lunch stop as all the shallow spots further in had been taken. Luckily Patrick had spotted a small inlet on the way in and we took advantage of the offshore breeze and shallow waters to drop the hook, we even had the place entirely to ourselves for a while. By this time it was quite late and we were all starving so despite the heat, lunch took priority over a swim.
Once lunch was over and we had tidied up we all went for a swim. Our kids are now starting to resemble fishes, much preferring to swim under the water than on top! They then practiced their jumping in, Esmé managing to jump in from the side of the boat for the first time and AJ rising to the challenge of jumping in from standing on the pulpit! All too soon it was time to motor round to Vathy.
Esme's character means she is always pushing boundaries, very rarely accepting no for an answer without a very good explanation. On the way into Vathy she really wanted to play on the swing, launching herself down the outside of the boat. After about 10 minutes of heated discussion, with Patrick explaining to her that if she fell off while we were motoring the propeller could chop her legs off they came to a compromise that she could swing as long as she didn't go outside the lifelines. So she spent the next 20 minutes or so twirling around the rigging much to the amazement and amusement of many boats that we passed coming into the anchorage.
We didn't bother getting off the boat that night, opting for an early dinner and a movie for the kids while Parents had a nice peaceful evening sat in the cockpit considering our options for the next few days. I decided to look at noforeignland.com to see if any of our friends were near. I was a bit despondent and felt the need to connect with people we had some history with rather than the constant having to make new friends, which, although is interesting and something I love about this travelling life, can be a little tiring at times. Anyway, noforeignland brought up the good news that our friends Sacha and Lotty on Yves Christian were in Nidri. I checked how long they were staying and we quickly decided to head up there the next day so we could catch up.
Monday
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| Locals fishing off the quay next to the old church coming out of Vathy. |
Yesterday the kids had been so bored at one point that they both decided to do some maths. That, and with the fact that we had a long passage to make meant that I decided to take a break from school today, although electronics were banned unless used for educational apps or to watch a documentary/magic school bus episode. This was met with a little consternation from the kids however they very quickly got used to the idea, with AJ asking me to download a new book for him from borrowbox and Esmé deciding to spend some time on deck. After a while I saw a sailing boat speeding towards us... after taking a few seconds to compute what my eyes were seeing I figured out that it must be a Macgregor 26 speeding past. These are a strange hybrid of sailing boat and motorboat which I remembered prompted a lot of discussion in the yachting forums when they were introduced. This was the first time I had seen one at speed!
Not long after the wind filled in, Esmé helped Patrick put the main up and we enjoyed a lovely sail until we were approaching Nidri. Then, motoring in, Esmé turned lookout, searching for Yves Christian while Patrick got the anchor ready.
As there was no sign of life on Yves we hid down below out of the sun until we spotted Lotty on deck and I rowed over. 2 beers later they suggested a swim at a local hotel which we gladly agreed to. It was lovely to catch up and all of us enjoyed our time at the pool.
We then gladly accepted their dinner invitation and headed back to the boats before catching up and having a lovely time as the wind dropped with the sun.
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