Greetings From Europe!

Rocko is 3rd from the Left

On Monday we left Ormos Varis for Sifnos, some 30 nautical miles SW from Siros with not much wind forecast. Several hours later after a peaceful crossing on flat water, we headed for the protection of the port of Kamares to sit out a strong northerly wind that was about to blow in for the rest of the week.  Again we can say that there are certainly worse places in the world to be stuck for a few days. Despite the fast ferry offloading a steady trickle of tourists who disperse quickly around the island , Sifnos is a charming and largely uncommercialised place.
The lack of hustle and bustle is also in part due to the temperatures having shot up in the past few days and anyone with any common sense disappearing for most of the afternoon heat.

Appalonia on Sifnos

After the siesta hiatus the village wakes up again with restaurants only just starting to fill up after sunset when the temperature drops to a sensible 25 degrees.   The forecast for the week was unusually accurate and the Meltemi kept the whole harbour on its toes for days. The paranoid skippers sent crew members diving to check their anchors while others postulated endlessly as to whether they would hold or whether someone had crossed their anchor chain or not.  In these circumstances advice is given very generously, taking it needs a fair bit of judgement and discretion though. 

Street dancing in Kamares

During the languid afternoons all manner of things seem to pass the time. One day, the ferry broke down leaving a troupe of folk dancers stranded on the island.  Unhindered they took to the street (there is only one street) and practiced their dances to the accompaniment of their small band. Catherine didn't take much convincing to join in (dancing, I hasten to add) while I sat modestly in the wings making sure the Ouzo and olives were still up to scratch.  Crisis? What crisis?

Inland on Sifnos

Again we met charming people of diverse backgrounds yet united in our trepidation of the wind and the sea.  Far less could be said about the referendum in the UK though from what we had been reading and hearing. Opinion between yachties was equally divided and on Friday when we woke up to the leave result the debate was as lively as the NW wind. This is hardly the place to discuss politics though, so I shall leave it at that. Anyway, we did have to move on as Catherine needs to be in Athens in about a week to get back to a concert in Monaco (part of Europe I believe).  As a consequence there has been the slightly unusual whistling of the rigging in the 30 knot winds together with the sound of the baroque violin. For those of you in the know - you realise it all blends into one after a while.

We braved some formidable waves for a few hours to get to Serifos and anchored in a bay in the south that, while safe, had a force 7 blowing down the hill. We had tons of chain out and were holding well, but had the Katabatic wind to look forward to later in the evening. For you non-yachtie types this is a wind that is the result of a body of air cooling and basically being drawn down the mountain-side by gravity, accelerating as it does and producing gale force strength winds with a vengeance. Lots of anchor chain and good holding makes this a harmless, if somewhat noisy and rocky, encounter and, in the end, more pleasant than being in a crowded harbour with concrete quays acting like giant storage heaters. 

One of our neighbours

Typical lunch

Our penultimate stopover in the Cyclades, before we cross to the Saronic Gulf is Kythnos and we  are slowly making our way there so that we time it with a good weather day next week when we get a favourable wind for the 65 or so nautical miles to our next destination.

Livadhiou on Serifos