Culture and Leasure Cruise round Paros

My sister Gabriela and her partner Herbert arrived with my friends Martina, Steffi, Wilhelm and Wolfgang on different flights in Paros delayed by the preceding storms on Saturday, 17th May afternoon. In the meantime Afros Yacht Services did some more repairs to make our boat Maritina, a nice Bali 4.4 catamaran fully fit for our next cruise. In record time we took all necessary provisions on board and enjoyed a welcome dinner at Levantis Restaurant. 

Early on Sunday morning we motored north to Delos, checked the surroundings and set anchor in Ormos Proteos south of Rinea. After a first swim we had a sumptuous dinner with beef and pasta. Next morning Herbert prepared our dinghy and skippered our crew to Delos landing for a visit of the holy site. After noon the crew returned and we motored west to Ermoupouli harbor in Syros. After a stroll through the city and a visit to the Apollon Theater we had an exceptional fish dinner at Seariani Fish & More Restaurant and finally a quiet night on board.

Tuesday morning we explored the sites of Ermoupouli and bought some provisions. At noon we set sail east to the small island of Donoussa with nice northerly winds of 4bft enough to set sail. In the evening we anchored in Ormos Kalotaritissa and Wilhelm prepared some devilfish with rice and salads.

After a nice breakfast and a morning swim we set sail again southwest. We sailed along the southern coast of Ano and Kato Koufonisi and anchored finally in the quiet Almyros Bay east of Schoinousa. We enjoyed dinner with sausages from Syros with rice and salads.

Thursday with nearly no wind we motored further west into the large

Despotico Bay south of Antiparos. Friday morning our crew visited the new excavations on Despotico island and enjoyed a nice swim in turquoise waters before we started our last leg north through Stenon Antiparou with minimum depths of 3.2m. We reached Paroikia harbor at 15:30 and completed the technical checkout routine for our boat. We had a typical Greek dinner at Souvlaki Pepe and slept our last night on board.

 

Early Saturday we left the boat and settled in Aratos Hotel. We visited the Holy Shrine of the Virgin Mary Ekatontapyliani and the Archeological Museum. At noon we took a bus to Lefkes to visit the Church of the Holy Trinity and splendid hospitality in near Cafe Marigo. In the evening we celebrated our cruise in Mario's Restaurant with an excellent dinner. Very early on Sunday our flight left Paros for Athens and further home to Vienna.

We sailed 32 hours and logged 160sm in 6 days.
You may download our track in gpx-format
or view it directly on GoogleMaps. 

Stormy Catamaran Sailing round Paros

With my Brother Andreas I met our crew in Mario's Restaurant in Paroikia Port on Paros in the center of the Cyclades on Friday, 9th May at 8pm. We enjoyed the delicious food and made plans for our cruise.

Next morning after a hearty breakfast at Ragoussis Bakery we checked our boat Maritina, a nice Bali 4.4 catamaran built by the famous Catana shipyard. We found some problems which were partially repaired by Afros Yacht Services. After bunkering (without any acceptable meat or fish!) we had a nice dinner at Mira Restaurant and went to sleep on board.

Early on Sunday 11th we set sail west to Sifnos in nice northerly winds at 5bft. We had first to repair some entangled reefing lines and lazy jacks, but then sailed nicely up to 8kn speed. In the afternoon the wind stopped, we trained some MOB maneuvres and finally anchored alone in Ormos Fykadia in the southwestern end of Sifnos.

 

At 9:00 next morning we started with no wind and motored east to Tsigouri Bay in the Small Cyclades to the west of Schoinousa.  On Tuesday we continued with a nice Meltemi further east to Amorgos. According to the reefing table we had to reduce sail to the 2nd reef at 6Bft. After some tacking we slipped into the secure bay of Nikouria on the northwestern coast of Amorgos. Our crew checked the surroundings with our dinghy. After a nice dinner we spent a windy night at anchor which we had to set anew early next morning.
 

Sailing again with 2nd reef and nice speed we passed Keros and Kato Koufonisi next day and anchored finally with land lines in the small Rinha Bay besides the famous cave at the southern coast of Naxos. We had a wonderful swim and explored the cave. Our charterbase sent us an SMS with severe storm warnings for Friday. So we enjoyed Rinha Bay until Thursday noon and then set sail north through Stenon Antiparou to reach Parikia port just in time for the storm. Sadly our last day had to be in port with severe storms up to 52kts or 10bft. In the evening we celebrated our cruise with a nice dinner in Restaurant Dionysos.

Early on Saturday 17th my old crew left and I awaited the new crew for our next cruise.      
We sailed 38 hours and logged 165sm in 6 days.
You may download our track in gpx-format
or view it directly on GoogleMaps.