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| packed quay at Serifos |
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| Serifos view to the Chora |
We are working our way slowly back east across the Aegean to Rhodes and then to Turkey. We've stopped at Serifos, Sifnos, Kilimnos, Milos, Folegandros and are now sitting at anchor in Ios with the Meltemi blowing strongly. Each of these islands has it's own charms and challenges. Serifos has a beautiful Chora (main town) perched high atop the cliffs and a small harbor town below, but the anchorage was small and we decided to tie up to the quay when the winds looked like they'd come up into the bay from the south. They quay was jam-packed and people were noisy all night... not our thing.
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| Kilimnos Hora |
We anchored in Vathi, a small bay on SW Sifnos island. It has beautiful turquoise green waters but not much else and with good conditions we decided to head on to Kilimnos then Milos. We found a lovely little spot just north of Psathi on Kilimnos and enjoyed a long swim through rock arches and along the coast. We didn't go ashore here either and the following day headed for Milos and to check out a few possible anchorages for the upcoming Meltemi blow. The Milos bay harborfront was generally uninspiring, but we picked up a solid mooring, which we liked. We decided we didn't really want to spend more time in Milos and headed back for a good anchorage we spied along a sandy beach under Kilimnos and happily sat there for a few days until we could continue on to Folegandros.
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| Folegandros Hora |
The "main" harbor of Folegandros is small with a little bay and quay. There was only one boat tied there and we decided it would be better to tie up then to anchor... bad decision. Although it was easy to check in/out and the bus stop was steps from our boat, we had the typical issues of boats muscling their way in and being packed like sardines. And then there was the mouse.
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| Folegandros |
There is always a possibility of getting rodents on board when tied to shore, but there were tons of cats around so I thought it was unlikely we'd have a problem. We took the bus that evening up to the Chora, then walked a zigzag path higher to the summit and enjoyed spectacular views across the island from the church above. We found a place for gyros (yummy!) and a Greek salad for dinner and then returned to the boat for a good night's sleep. And then there was the mouse...
Roger woke during the night feeling something tickling his hair and got up to take a look around. He spied a tiny mouse in the cockpit, which jumped up and through the open windscreen. Although I love mice, having any sort of rodent on board is awful because they love to chew on electrical wires, which would compromise our navigation and other critical systems on board. We needed to get him out. So armed with a fly (mouse) swatter, we moved the dinghy around on the bow, hoping to scare the small beast out and off the boat the same way he came. We discovered mouse droppings on the stove top the next morning so there could be more than one and they could be anywhere. Off I went to the only hardware store on the entire island, to buy a mouse trap. Once back on board we decided to leave the quay and anchor so we didn't acquire any additional unauthorized crew on board and to get away from the incompetent cruisers tied up next to us. We set the trap and our expectations of hearing it go snap in the night, then went to bed. Next morning, empty trap and no droppings. We were considering the possibility that our stowaway thought better of remaining on board and headed to shore. Two days later, still no sign of him. We're still keeping watch but we're hoping he made it off safely. On further consideration, all the cats at the harbor were pretty skinny, so what's up with that?
With Equanimity and Joy,
