Nisos Rineia

Well I am definitely fed up of the Meltemi, we knew it would be windier here in the Cyclades than it had been in the Ionian or the Peloponnes but really! We seem to get 3 OK days and then 5-6 days of howling Northerly winds with gusts regularly up around the mid 30’s, not so good. But enough whinging at least over here it is still sunny and warm, bathers all day warm.
Before leaving Syros we had another bus ride to Hermoupolis this time taking along the south and east coasts of the island. We managed to post off our tax returns, in Greece posting seems less hassle than receiving but we will have to wait and see if they get to a Guernsey 🇬🇬. We left Finikas on Syros on I think it was Friday 31st planning on coming to this island but the bay on the south but seas were very rough and it was a lot windier than forecast so we stopped off at Ormos Vari on the south of Syros for a night before heading East on Saturday seas were still unforgiving and wind from NW so to ease some of the rolling we headed to the northern end of this island then surfed down the western coast to here Ormos Ornos it’s beautiful with white sand, very few people, only a few farmers live on the island. Farming what we have no idea we have seen a few sheep and the land is split into fields but they are very stoned. We have visited a little church, we have seen three so far but figure there must be a couple more to the South. We have done some snorkelling and although there is very little seaweed or coral there are quite a few fish 🐠 all small ish but here is the first place I have seen groupers, and there is a greater variety of wrasse as well. The other rather bizarre thing that happened today was a bird flying into the boat, it was a little smaller than a thrush with light and dark brown feathers, it was odd because into the boat! but also because we have seen hardly any birds in the southern Mediterranean except seagulls and not even very many of those.
Over the narrow isthmus (100m) that separates north from south you can see ancient Délos and the temples I took some photos but we are bit far away but it was still so windy I thought we might not actually get there to see them properly. We have now relaxed and are ready we think for Mýkonos, but it might be a bit full on but at least it’s not the weekend. We will take a tourist boat to Délos and do some restocking, John keeps eating the food we buy! That reminds on our second trip to Hermoupolis we bought him a GF loaf so he is happy again and off the granola.
We have been trying to make a plan/route for going through the Cyclades but there are lots of islands, as the name suggests, in a circle and with this wind we kind of need to go SE if possible.
We do now have an overwintering location, we will be in Levkas Marina which is in Levkas Town on Levkas island in the Ionian. It is a very sheltered location and is almost in town so easy for shopping chandlers pubs etc and only a couple of hours sailing from a large inland water that we can visit either before or after our stay if weather not playing ball. But not great for flights out of season so we are unlikely to be able to make it home for Christmas🎄 it’s only 4 months away! We have booked a spot from 15 December until 15 March so if anyone does want to visit just let us know when to expect you.😁
Congratulations to James and Laura on the arrival of Sophia yesterday 🤱Read more