Fortunately we are woken at 5.30am by a huge ferry berthing not far from us and are quickly up and away 20 minutes later.
We motor for an hour after leaving the beautiful little harbour of Skala Sikinos behind us in the darkness, then the bright yellow orb of the sun coming up over Ios heralds the arrival of the wind. Right after finishing breakfast and down below doing the dishes and making the bed, Pippy notes the gentle swish of the boat gliding through the water, almost sounding like wind in the treetops, and enjoys the morning sunshine coming through the galley window.
We are sailing at 6.4 knots and Capn Buck has just shaken out the reef in the main which has been there for the past week or so. We are expecting 15 knot winds today going down to 10 and becoming variable later on. Crete here we come. As usual no other yachts are in sight – we are on our own out here. By 9 am it becomes apparent that we have ideal conditions to fly our spinnaker. This will be our first hoist of the season and with only two of us on board, we must get it right. Richard goes forward to see to the foredeck while Pippy prepares the cockpit. Richard calls for the hoist when all is ready and with puny arms Pippy attempts to haul the sail up the mast, with the odd “hurry up” from Richard. (response not printable) A combination of winding and pulling soon has it in place, some adjustments to the guy and sheet and we are able to drop the genoa and let it fly.
Our speed instantly goes up a knot and a half and now we are leaving a satisfying wake in the blue sea behind us with the accompanying sound of the water now rushing past the hull. The sea state is incredibly flat for the Med. From time to time we get some small waves, but nothing much.
Suddenly around 10.30 am we are joined by a pod of dolphins which stay with us for around 20 minutes, giving us wonderful photo opportunities. This is most unusual. Normally we only see dolphins in the distance and they do not hang around. They are shy and frightened of humans. Today they really put on a show for us, leaping and diving around the boat.
Kristiana island off to port near to Santorini stays on the horizon until midday but we have long since lost sight of Sikinos, Folegandro s and Santorini.
Cap'n Cool decides it s time for a nap.
The wind now backs to the west and five hours later we drop the kite in a nice controlled drop which we are both happy with.
We sight Crete when we are around 35 miles away, but only the tallest part of it above the haze and it is not until we are around 10-15 miles off that we can start to really see details. Bali is our chosen destination where we can drop anchor and have a swim after our long sail. We arrive almost exactly 12 hours later into this picturesque bay.
1 comment:
I have followed your route with interest -Crete is much closer to the Cyclades than I imagined.The sail across sounds wonderful.Hope you are now having some more peaceful nights. It is only 8 degrees in Auckland today Yesterday was Auckland's coldest day ever!!-it even snowed in the Bombay Hills and in the Waitakere Ranges and some say it also did in downtown Auckland--the first time in 72 years. So much for global warming! Cheers Noel and Kerrin
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