October 1, 2012. Hello from Los Angeles! Final update from Greece! At the time of our last update on July 16th, we had just checked out of Fethiye, Turkey, in search of cooler cruising grounds. The temperature was 100 degrees and rising, so the Greek islands beckoned us with their cooler breezes. On July 17th we sailed across the Aegean Sea to Rhodes Town (six hours) and anchored in front of the wind mills by the marina. We checked into Greece with the harbor police (15 Euros), customs (35 Euros), and passport police (no fee). We also got all of our communications for Greece sorted out (modem, Ipad, and mobile phone). The next morning we motored around the point and sailed down the southwest coast of Rhodes for 23 miles to Lindos, one of our favorite spots in Greece. We swam in the crystal clear water, enjoyed lunches at the seaside tavernas (restaurants), and hiked up to the charming village above and had some lovely dinners on the rooftop restaurant terraces with great bay views and cool breezes. After five days in Lindos we decided to work our way west on somewhat of a fast track. We had already visited 31 islands last year, so we thought we would revisit a few of them on our way to the islands we missed last season, namely Serifos, Sifnos and Milos, before heading to Kalamata on the Peloponnese, where we thought we would leave Lazy Bones for the winter. So we headed for Istros, a small bay near the southern tip of Rhodes en route to the island of Halki. On our way we decided to stop at Mojito Beach, a place we discovered last year while driving around the island. They serve the very best Mojitos, hands down. We dropped the hook in front of the beach and took the dinghy ashore to have lunch and to see if the Mojitos were as good as last year. Without a doubt! After lunch we screamed to Istros in 30+ knots of wind and spent the night listening to the wind howl. The next morning we had no wind and motored to Halki, a tiny island north of Rhodes with a very charming, picturesque town with its multi colored buildings and homes surrounding the waterfront and narrow walkways throughout the town that wind their way up and down and around the entire village. Soon after we were at anchor, Madeline and Ken from Mamma Mia came up to say hello and welcome us as fellow Americans to Halki. We rarely saw any American boats the entire time we were in Turkey and Greece, so it was nice to spend some time with them and tour their unique trawler. A few days later the wind picked up and we dragged anchor. We searched several different places to reset the anchor but finally ended up back where we were with more chain and in deeper water to ride out the winds. The wind eventually calmed down and the next morning we headed out for the island of Symi after spending about an hour untangling our anchor chain from a loose anchor and chain that we had picked up from the bottom. The wind changed direction, so to have a better sailing angle we went to the island of Tilos, where we took a long walk around the bay and found an old VW Beetle being used as both a hotel sign and a planter box. The next morning we were off to Kamari Bay on the island of Kos, another spot we enjoyed last year with a huge bay and long, sandy beach. After a long walk we went to the Santa Barbara, our favorite restaurant from last year, and enjoyed a nice dinner of lamb shanks, eggplant, and horta (greens). Our challenge was to make our way north and west when the wind usually comes from the northwest. We would head north with a westerly and head west with a northerly, and motor straight across with little wind. Of course, the wind changes speed and direction many times during the day, and the strong Meltemi wind really causes a challenge when it is blowing. We did fairly well considering all the wind variables. From Kos we sailed to Lakki, a huge and well-protected bay on the island of Leros, and spent the next three days with 25-30 knot winds. We took long walks around the bay and enjoyed some books that we had picked up along the way. Finally the wind settled down and we left for Levitha, a tiny little island that we visited last year. We picked up a mooring and went ashore in the evening and had a great goat dinner at the farmhouse, the only building on the island. The menu is whatever the family has grown and harvested that day, and the atmosphere is lovely—country-style hospitality at its best. We continued our fast track to Amorgos, then to Schinousa, and on to Parikia, a huge bay on the island of Paros. Continuing our trek west, we made our way to Kimilos, a small island next to Milos. We were nicely settled in at anchor and enjoying some sundowners when a small fourteen foot sailboat with three inexperienced Greek sailors capsized off the stern of Lazy Bones. They had no way to make it back to shore, so we dropped our dinghy and towed them and their submerged sailboat back to shore. They were grateful for the rescue. The next day we finally made it to Milos and anchored in Adama Bay. Our expectations of the island that discovered the Venus de Milo were far greater than our rewards. Milos did not seem to have the same charm as so many of the other Greek islands we had visited. We spent three days exploring Milos by bus, visiting the Plaka, the Christian catacombs, the ancient theater, and the museum housing the replica of the Venus de Milo. The actual Venus di Milo is in the Louvre in France, and, in spite of a petition to have her returned to her home in Milos, it looks like the replica will have to suffice. Our next stop was the island of Sifnos. Vathi Bay is well protected and the water was very clear so Jeff went swimming while Gayle made dinner. While eating, we spotted a most unusual sight near one of the mega yachts in the bay. One person was driving a jet ski that had a long four inch hose connected from the jet ski to a propulsion pack that the other person was wearing on his back. It looked like one of those flying rocket packs that James Bond used in one of his films. The propulsion pack had jet streams of water to keep the person hovering about fifteen feet in the air as he flew along over the surface of the water with the jet ski following. What an amazing toy! The next afternoon we decided to head further north up the island of Sifnos to Kamares Bay. As we headed into the anchorage we saw someone waving at us from a powerboat. At first we didn’t recognize him, but it was Axel, a friend of ours from last year in Lavrio, where we had played music together and partied at his house. He was skippering the powerboat and just happened to be there. Axel came over for a beer and we told him our plans to leave Lazy Bones in Kalamata on the southern end of the Peloponnese for the winter. He said there were a number of good marinas and yards in Preveza, which is south of Corfu and much closer to Croatia, our cruising destination for next year. We thanked him for the great information, and took the dinghy ashore for dinner. During our walk through town we found a completely new use for a saxophone besides music—a draft beer dispenser! Speaking of music, we actually planned to play music together with Axel the next evening, but the anchorage became unusually rolly that night and we didn’t get any sleep. Rather than put up with another miserable night, we took off for Livadi Bay on the island of Serifos, where we spent a couple of days exploring the hora (town on the top of the hill) and the kastro (castle). From Serifos we caught a nice breeze and sailed across the Saronic Gulf to the island of Hydra. Hydra town is known as one of the prettiest ports in the Med, but there is absolutely no place to anchor, and the boats in the marina were all rafted together at the quay, four and five deep. Not our style, so we headed further west and found an anchorage in front of a small beach and used the dinghy to visit Hydra. The town itself was every bit as charming as we were led to believe, and we enjoyed walking and shopping through all the winding streets. After our discussion with Axel and some internet research about the boatyards in Preveza, we decided that instead of leaving the boat in Kalamata and navigating around the Peloponnese next season before heading to Croatia, why not traverse the Corinth Canal and save ourselves the time and distance? We would then rent a car to tour the Peloponnese, as most of the sights are located inland, anyway. With our decision having been made, we confirmed a space at Cleopatra Marina in Preveza and immediately created a new plan. After four months of Greek and Turkish food, our first stop was mainland Greece near Athens, where we could tickle our taste buds at TGIFridays.