More strong winds

We stayed in Shinoussa until Wednesday 7th August because the wind was still blowing hard. Kai soon fell out with his super-rich friends, He said that the boy was spoilt and selfish, though it may also have been connected with the fact that he got sent home on Saturday when they all got overexcited and the boy pushed the Philipino servant, who could not swim, into the swimming pool. On Sunday he came back with a baby shark (Galeos), which he first claimed to have caught, but then confessed that a fisherman had given him when cleaning his net.

On Wednesday 7th we left at 8 am to sail to Despotico, a tiny uninhabited  island off anti-Paros, reported in the pilot to offer good shelter from the meltemi. The wind was a solid force 6-7 with big waves as we battered through them on a close reach, arriving in the bay on the south of Despotico at midday. Contrary to the pilot, there was still 24 knots of wind in the bay, but the crew did not feel like pressing on so we dropped the anchor and put out 60 metres of chain to hold us for the night. Despotico has a beautiful beach with sand dunes behind, but nobody felt like going ashore in the wind.

Instead they engaged in their favourite activities, playing on the ipad

and having a stiff drink at ouzo time (Kai likes to drink a Shark).

Next morning we set off at 7 for Serifos. After the previous day Lin insisted, correctly as it turned out, that we put a second reef in the mainsail. Until we got to the channel between Serifos and Siphnos the wind was reasonable at force 5-6 and the waves were not too big. We could just lay Serifos on a close reach. But as we got nearer to Serifos the wind got up to force 6-7, the waves got bigger, shorter and steeper and the wind backed so that we were close hauled. 

We arrived at midday to find that it was still blowing 30 knots in the bay, which has notoriously bad holding, so we were reluctant to anchor in the bay, but then we saw that there was space on the quay. We first decided that we would go stern to the quay, in an elbow, in front of a motor boat, but it was very tricky getting in without hitting the motor boat, so instead we worked our way alongside the other arm of the quay, held off by our anchor.

We had last been to Serifos in 1987 and 1989, so we were not particularly surprised to find how much it had changed. Here are Lin and Becky arriving in 1987.

Then there was a short quay for a handful of boats and a small village with one or two tavernas and cafes. Now the street is lined with cafes and tavernas and the long beach, which just had a small hotel and a couple of shacks behind it, now has villas all the way along. Here are some before and after photos:
The quay and the view up to the chora in 1987

and today

The beach in 1989

and today

We will probably stay two or three days in Serifos and then sail across to Poros when the wind is right, not an easy decision because Lin and Kai want it light and Simon wants a good blow to get us across.