Weird goodbyes and blue skies (Crete)

3rd June 2021 (Crete)

Two days ago, we finally said goodbye  to Agios Nikoloas marina. I won’t say forever, but at this stage, our plans won’t have us returning there for the foreseeable future. That said - I’d still like to eventually tick the circumnavigation box, and in order to do that, a return to Ag Nik would need to be on the cards someday. 

Saying goodbye was a combination of emotions: there’s the restrained glee that we’re finally being allowed to leave (having been locked down since last Nov). There’s the realisation that regardless of if we return or not, some of these people who we’ve become close friends to over the last 3 years we may never see again. ...and there’s me just being generally not very good at emotional goodbyes at the best of times. All this made for a few awkward  hugs and ‘to de loos’ which I was glad to get behind me. 

Our early morning departure wasn’t as graceful as we’d have liked: Chunky, the cantankerous toothless marina cat, refused to leave the boat, and a combination of side wind and some rusty dockside communication as I dropped the lazy lines meant that: a) We needed to open a tin of Spam to coax Chunks away, and b) A quickly grabbed roving fender was needed to avoid any damage to our long term absent neighbour. 

Despite that, neither of us could stop the widening grins spreading across our faces as we turned the corner out of the marina wall. 

First trip is a short ‘shake down’ to Elounda (just 2 hrs away) - we had a combination of winds, that allowed us to motor, full sail, reef and generally check over all our systems. 

Arrived in Elounda mid morning and anchored near our friends and previous B pontoon neighbours Deb & Lach.

We’d planned to stay a week or so here, but after a mid afternoon planning session, we made the decision that leaving at 3am that very night was a better idea ( it sounds a little crazy, but there was genuinely sound reasoning behind it ).

That decision made - we took a hasty tender ride to the chandlers to pick up some supplies for anti fouling later this year ( probably in Tunisia ) then back to our boat, via Mistral and some lovely Champagne with Deb and Lach and another quick awkward goodbye - eased slightly in the knowledge that they’re Aussies and we’re very likely to catch up again. 

The 3am departure happened - and with a half moon lighting our way, we kept the plough to our right and headed West along the North coast of Crete. Cloudless starry night, turned to a hot sunny day. With limited wind, we motored and motor sailed when we could, making good time, and arriving at our destination ‘Marathi Bay’ just as the sun set. 

That was last night - not much more to say about that, both dog tired, we flopped into bed and for me at least was asleep in minutes. 

We left there at 5am, and I’m writing this as we leave Marathi Bay behind and make our sedate way to Gramvousa - our last stop on the Western most tip of Crete before our journey continues on.