Blue Moon update!

Sorry for another really long delay in updating this site but our situation changed rapidly a couple of months ago so it's gotten a bit neglected. Instead of being in the Canary Islands right now, with us preparing for an Atlantic crossing, Blue Moon is out of the water in dry storage at Yacht Marine in Marmaris, Turkey.

We decided to leave the boat for the winter season in the Mediterranean and return back to her in May of 2011 to continue on. We're both currently in Orlando, Florida staying with Jimmy's family and Enjoying the luxuries of living on land.

Ormos Vathi ~ Sifnos Island, Greece

Current Position at anchor: North 36*55'846 East 024*41'400 ~ Great enclosed anchorage, good holding in 20ft sand & Weed.

We're currently anchored in yet another beautiful bay off the village of Vathi on the South West coast of Sifnos Island. The water is crystal clear with visibility of over 100 feet making it a perfect place for swimming and watching the fish! Ashore there's a lovely little village with two mini markets for getting basic provisions and a long beach fringed with Tavernas selling everything from Octopus to Greek meat balls.

Yesterday we caught the local bus to the town of Apollonia high up in the hills for a look around the winding alleys and beautiful views of the coast line. We stopped in a Taverna for a drink sitting outside under a blanket of winding vine leaves and enjoying a break from the baking sun! This morning we've been catching up on boat chores, doing laundry and filling up with water from small dock (cost 1.50 euro for two runs with our Jerry cans). Later today we plan to sail to the island of Kimolos just 12 miles to the South West of here and then on to Milos tomorrow.

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Paroikia town, paros Island ~ Greece

Current Position at anchor: North 37*05'412 East 025*09'227 ~ Very good anchorage, large bay off town with sand/weed bottom good holding.

Paroikia Town is on the north west coast of Paros island and is extremely pretty and steeped in history. It's home to the Katapoliani 'the church of the hundred doors', a beautiful Greek Orthodox building containing three churches in one and well worth a visit. The town dates back to the 13th century and the old quarter or 'Kastro' is a maze of intricate little alleyways and home to some great boutique shops and Restaurants. We even found a small catholic church and were able to attend Sunday mass the first time since Singapore over a year ago!

We've been here two days now and have enjoyed idling away the days wandering the streets window shopping and people watching. There are two small supermarkets both owned by the same company where we've been able to reprovision with all the basics...more expensive than Turkey but reasonable enough! Today we are going to make the most of what little wind we have and try to sail the 22 miles to Ormos Vathi on Sifnos Island.

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Naxos Island.

Current Position at anchor: North 36*56'119 East 025*28'263 ~ Great anchorage in 15 feet with all sand bottom, crystal clear water and small quay where water and power is available.

Today we sailed another 20 miles to the South East with a lot more wind than the forecast predicted, 25-30 knots on the beam made for a pretty bumpy ride but at least it's given us our sea legs back after months of taking it easy. We dropped anchor in yet another beautiful anchorage on the south side of Naxos Island, surrounded by golden coloured hills full of sheep and picture perfect little white and blue houses and chapel. We're enjoying having another anchorage completely to our selves and can hardly believe this is high season in Greece...no complaints here!

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Dhenoussa Island.

Current Position at anchor: North 37*05'772 East 025*48'238 ~ Anchored in 20 feet sandy bottom, great holding.

Yesterday we decided to make the most of the Meltemi winds (strong winds that blow from the North West here in Greece) and sail the 38 miles South West of Patmos island to the small island of Dhenoussa. We're currently anchored off a beautiful sandy beach on the south coast covered in tents belonging to Greek holiday makers who catch the ferry over and spend a few days camped out on the beach.

Today the wind has been gusting up to 30 knots so we've stayed on the boat to keep anchor watch with the occasional swim to cool off. Tomorrow we plan to head further south to Naxos island and some of the smaller less visited islands below it and then on to Paros and Sifnos, we have no real time deadlines to be anywhere so we'll just take it slow and do some exploring!

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Patmos Island ~ Greece!

Current Position at Ormos Stavros, Patmos Island: North 37*17'583 East 026*32'569
Last night's anchorage at Skala, Patmos Island: North 37*19'648 East 026*32'701
First anchorage in Greece on Lipso Island: North 37*16'787 East 026*46'199

Our entrance into Greece two days ago was extremely smooth and enjoyable, after leaving Bitez in Turkey we sailed 30 miles North West to the island of Lipso. The anchorage is beautiful with great holding in sand and picturesque white buildings lining the hills overlooking the bay. The next morning we had a great sail 12 miles to the town of Skala on the island of Patmos where after anchoring we headed ashore to check in. Straight away we could tell we were in another country with Tavernas and pretty little shops lining the winding alleyways with beautiful white washed walls that are so common here in Greece.

The check in process was quick and easy; first we visited the Police to check in with immigration, they gave us a form to take downstairs to Customs who charged us 30 Euros for a cruising log to be filled in at every port we visit. Then on to the Port authority who checked our boat papers and charged us 15 Euros for entering the country, they filled in our first entry of our cruising log and also charged an 11 Euro fee for spending three days in the port. Within half an hour we were all checked in to the EU and we're surprised at how simple it was after hearing not such good reports from other cruisers.

This morning however we were asked to move from where we were anchored as a large ship was coming into the port, instead of tying up to the town dock as offered we decided to move south to another beautiful anchorage called Ormos Stavros. We're currently anchored beneath a lone Monastery perched on the hill side and have the place all to ourselves...beautiful. There's even the wreck of an old airplane that crashed during the war just a short swim from us that we can explore snorkeling...so far we're loving Greece!!

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Goodbye Turkey!

Today we are upping anchor and leaving Turkey after three wonderful months of exploring the beautiful coastline from Fethiye to Asin Liman. We've spent the last month around the Bodrum area with an inland trip to the ancient ruins of Ephesus and another quick trip home to England for Caroline to replace an already full passport.
We'll be sad to leave Turkey and it's beautiful rugged anchorages and incredibly warm and welcoming people but it's time to move on and we're excited to see what Greece has to offer!
Our first stop will be the island of Leros in the Dodecanese and then on to Patmos the following day to check in and start our three months in European waters.

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