Agios Nikolaos

The view from the back of the boat down D pontoon looking towards town.

View from the side of the boat looking across to the mountains

A beautiful day for a walk with Klaus and Angelika, our next door neighbours. We walked out of Plaka near Elounda and up to the windmills. Had lunch sheltering from the wind, at this lovely little church in the middle of nowhere. The rather strange photo is because there is a wind turbine directly behind the church!

The view looking north from the church

Saturday rambling group - a lovely way to see the interior of the island

Part way round Dave joined David to do some sketching then drove down and met us at the finish. David, Dave and I have joined the art group led by Alan who is amazing at sketching and water colours - a real inspiration!

This is what they were sketching - the very old windmills - there was actually a row of 5 of them

Fantastic panorama from the windmills looking across the plateau covered in olive trees. Sadly the weather has caused a big problem this year and there is a serious shortage of olives. 

Agios Nikolaos Marina
After an amazing year in which we have sailed 1,870 nautical miles,  we have arrived at the marina at Agios Nikolaos on the east end of Crete where the boat will be for the winter. A lovely marina, very close to town with all shops we will need. A very buzzy town at the moment as it is popular with holiday makers looking for some winter sun. Now into November it is still beautiful during the day but quite chilly by the evening.
Lots of other English live-aboards who have returned here for several years - always a good sign. Lots going on organised by people staying in the marina. We are even learning to play bridge! Very difficult but we have now met another lovely couple who are also learning so we have practice sessions with them.
Dave has joined a jamming group to play guitar and has finally bought a new guitar having talked about it for so long! He has also joined the choral group - they have a professional singing teacher come here once a week. They are putting on a carol concert in December including carols in various languages - thank goodness for Google translate to check pronunciation!
Sunday is BBQ day when we all meet up at the sailing club. Thursday is walking club day - organised walks run by a couple who have been coming here for 8 years and he is very keen on history and geology so adds interesting snippets of information as we go along. Apparently these walks get progressively more difficult so we shall see how many we manage! There is also a rambling club about to start up so we might move on to that. Friday night is presentation night when anyone from the marina can give a presentation about anything they want to. The first is cruising around Crete, then a "where is it" quiz, sailing through the Somali pirates and geology of Crete. Plenty to do!!
Oh yes....... we also have lots of jobs to do on the boat for annual maintenance. 

Looking back towards the marina with part of the town in the background. Two nice small beaches within 5 minutes walk from the boat.

Went into town to watch the Oche Day procession. Oche Day is one of their main holidays when the school children  march through town, bands play and the whole town turns out to watch. "Oche" means No and it celebrates the day that the Greeks said no to Mussolini when he wanted to invade. The main church in town was open and this shows how every inch of the walls and ceiling have been painted - incredible colours!

The bikes are out again!!
Cycled round the coast towards Elounda and stopped at a bar on this beach on the way back for a much needed drink. 

First organised walk of the season - this was our lunchtime picnic spot beside turquoise water.

Our first visitor on the boat once we were in the marina!
Lovely ....... until we found the mess he had left on the deck!!

After a cracking 8 kts sail across from the island of Kithera, and another bout of diesel bug, we arrived in Chania.  The Venetian lighthouse, at the end of the harbour wall - our first stop on Crete.

Sunrise along the north coast of Crete watching flying fish darting away from the boat. Very serene at times but a good wind to sail at other times.

The moods and colours of Crete.  Amazing light and majestic mountains disappearing into the distance.

Stopped off in Heraklion - the capital of Crete where Steve left us to fly home to UK. It has been great having him along - so grateful for all his help and good company.
Ruins of ? probably a church, the rectangular ground works were tombs - a large area being excavated and preserved but typically no information as to what we are looking at.  Some time spent deliberating on what it could have been and imagining which bits were baths, tombs, fireplaces etc.

Rough seas crashing onto the Venetian harbour in Heraklion. Pleased to be in port but no space in the marina as all vacant berths  were reserved for boats taking part in the Cretan Union Cup. We had a rather uncomfortable few days moored on the quay outside the marina which caught a lot of swell. Added to that was the problem that the wall was very high so a very hazardous dash across the plank to get on and off the boat.

Lovely sail from Heraklion further along the north coast to the lagoon between the island of Spinalonga and the resort of Elounda.

Goosewinging down into the lagoon.

The island of Spinalonga - once owned by the Ottoman empire when 1112 people lived here. A considerable amount of original building to be seen. It was then taken over by Venetians who added to it. The whole island is fortified. From 1904 to 1957 the island was used as a leper colony and is featured in Victoria Hislop's book "The Island" . Having read the book it was quite surreal to actually be there. We anchored just off here and spent the morning wandering around the island.

Local residents of Elounda!

Serenity anchored off Spinalonga.

It's him again!!

The lovely resort of Elounda at the far end of the lagoon.

Ah - back on Spinalonga right at the top of the island - it is obvious where the prevailing wind comes from!

One of the main streets on Spinalonga.

Elounda

Kalamata to Crete

Leaving Kalamata for a 50 mile trip to Porto Kayio we were 15 miles out when the engine failed! Steve and Dave investigated and decided that it must be diesel bug. With very little wind we were expecting 15 hours drifting back to port. However,  Serenity was kind to us and the engine eventually started so we could motor back, willing her to keep going until we were moored up. Once in they changed filters and drew off fuel, strained it and returned it to the tank. This is the black slimy gunge that came out of the pipe. Hopefully all set to leave early tomorrow.

Left Kalamata at 5.00 am and motor sailed down the Peloponnese down to the point which apparently is the second most southerly point of mainland Europe after Gibraltar.

Arrived mid afternnon at Porto Kayio - an amazing little village tucked away on the east coast of the Peloponnese . Serenity is in the background moored alongside a plastic floating pontoon - hope it is stronger than it looks! A very sleepy place that really is the "back of beyond" but... they do have a bar with beer!

Once at the bar we decided to come back later for dinner so out goes this little boat and you can see our fish being brought in - it doesn't get much fresher than that! Probably the most expensive fish we have ever eaten but it was good and well cooked - none of us can remember what it was called but one fish was plenty for 3 of us.

Walking out to the end of the headland I came across this tiny church full of icons and well kept - obviously not a large congregation - there were only 4 chairs in there!

Another 5.00am start leaving Porto Kayio and heading for Kapsali on  the island of Kithera. Before the sun came up we practised recognising lights as it is a fairly busy shipping lane for commercial vessels. As the sun came up we watched dolphins that came close to the boat - never seem to have the camera handy for such moments!  

Arrived in Kapsali mid afternnon and moored alongside the quay - we were the only boat in there. Walked round the village and stopped off for ouzo and internet. It may look beautiful and sunny here but not long after this we had a terrific thunderstorm. Luckily we saw it coming and had chance to secure the boat. The storm didn't last long - looking on the forecast it seems like we caught the edge of some bad weather they are getting further north where we have come from.

This turtle was just swimming around the edge of the bay all the time we were there. She is about a metre across and swam round to check out the boat.

The view from our ouzo stop looking back to the boat on the quay. We were later joined by one other boat but that was all.

A very early start saw us leaving Kapsali at 4.00am - some interesting night navigation round various rocks at the entrance but soon out for a good sail across to Crete. Not far from Crete the wind died down so the engine went on .... for a while until diesel bug hit again! The sludge in the bottom of the tank had been stirred up and more gunge in the pipe. Luckily Steve and Dave we soon on the case and after a very short drift we were on our way again. This is Chania in the north west of Crete where we have spent several days. A lovely buzzy place - we are moored stern to on the quay.

A view of the Venetian lighthouse looking back towards the west end of the town.

An exhibition of silk products made on the Greek island of Evros

Beautiful jewellery made from silk worm coccons

Uh-oh the pirates are in town!! On the main quay in Zakynthos before a massive storm. This was our first stop after Sami on our way south.

Next stop was Katakolon where we were greeted by the chap in the marine office with a drink of drambuie in a plastic throwaway cup. This was a clipper ship in the harbour just arrived from Venice. 

From Katakolon to Pylos. This is a plane tree in Pylos square that is 130 years old 

Early morning sail

Sunrise on the islands outside Pylos

Round the south past Methoni. A beautiful sail  round the first leg of the Peloponnese

Calmer waters after a very rolly confused sea below Pylos 

Into Kalamata (where the black olives come from) to await Steve's arrival. He is flying back out to join us on the journey to Crete. Dave and I spent much of the day repairing the main sail - a neat bit of stitching!

Railway Park in Kalamata - no information or anything but about 8 old steam engines that children ( and adults) can climb on and look at.