Bye Crete x (AntiKythera)

 

Leaving Marathi Bay in our wake, we made the next 8hr hop along the North coast to Gramvousa. The tall mount behind the beach at Gramvousa provides an impressive backdrop to the well populated beach. There seems to be no visible road or cars, so the throng of people lining the beach must all have come via tripper boats. 

We dropped the anchor some way off into clear clean sand. 

Diving to check the anchor, I was a little surprised by the water temperature. Chez asked what the water was like... I told her that once you were in, your internal organs slowly start to freeze, so temperature holds no meaning... she decided that now was not the time to try out her new mask and snorkel. 

Realising that although it’s a great looking spot, the wind is favourable for our next jump North to AntiKythera. After a cuppa, saying 'goodbye' to Crete we once again upped anchor and headed off. Had a great sail pootling along at around 6.5knots for a good couple of hours (surely pootling is a word??!! Edit: having now checked, it is indeed a word - Ha! In your face underlining spell checker man!). The wind eased at the back end of the trip, and as our speed dipped to 3 knots, I was forced to concede that it was engine time again. We made Antikythera before sunset, it’s a very small island, with only a few whitewashed houses around the little town/village jetty. We’re sharing the bay with one other boat, a catamaran who we’ve had to anchor quite close to, to avoid two wrecks on the bottom and a scheduled ferry arrival ‘later’. 

Now sitting sipping a well deserved sundowner beer, ready for another early start (2am) tomorrow to get North enough that the wind won’t mess up our future plans. 

After an amazing dinner of smoked salmon and capers in a creamy sauce with fettuccini we revised our advertised 2am start to a lot more civilised 5:30am,  to hopefully get the best of the forecast wind. 

Edit: first dolphins of the season visited us today for 5mins of bow play before heading off on their merry way.

Edit:...and the second dolphins of the season also visited! Smaller and more playful than the first batch, but only stayed for the shortest of visits - they must have a busy day elsewhere. Chez will be happy for me to note that she spotted both pods.