Off to the Islands

By Lowell McCulley | August 6, 2007 | Category Greece

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In the Soronic Gulf (part 1)

.It’s Monday morning and we’re all sleeping late after celebrating Murril’s birthday last night. We’re on the island of Hydra, Probably the most beautiful spot of the cruise . More on it later in the update. Lets catch up a little.. Our cruise started Saturday afternoon when 15 sailors shook the the cob webs out after having a late reunion night Friday in Athens. We all (15)piled into a small bus and headed for Alimos marina on Athen sea shore to pick up our two catamarans. With provisions loaded we finally made way late Saturday for Methana peninsula arriving at sunset. Both boats have a local boat captain in charge. Our boat Hydra II has George a very colorful, funloving fellow and the 2nd baot Hydra III has Apostlos who I don’t know well yet but a little more serious. They soon found out that we didn’t want to just motor, you know if there are two boats you have a race, I’m a little ahead of my self back to arriving at sunset. Apostlos on Hydra III arranged a huge feast on the water front for our first night out. The restaurant specialized in meats. After the usual salads & cheeses we had liver, lamb & several pork dishes with a final cake to celebrate Al birthday (which was May 25th by the way). A short afternoon of sailing but a great start.

.< Miss Aphrodite 1967

.< George our captain

.^ Hydra III sailing at sunset

Dock for our first night…

Birthday girl at the end of the evening.

.Sunday mid morning we’re off to Hydra. It’s the most popular port in the Saronic gulf & we need an early start to arrive with a place to dock. On the way we received a preview of the island of Poros where we will be later in the week Photos below..

.As I said two boats and it a race. As it turns out our boat Hydra II is the fastest. I couldn’t resist my photo left passing Hydra III to windward …

.Carlton

. & Beth

.Arriving in Hydra is like movie set. Villas on steep hills surrounding the port.

.It’s a tiny port with Med-tie anchoring 2 & 3 deep. The is where people want to visit. The president of Spain is on a boat near us and a 2 billion (the B is correct) arrived last night.

Right the unofficial port captain directs boats.

We’ve done lots of walking and shopping and the usual dining and drinking. The Greek hospitality continues. We had a beautiful dinner on a cliff side restaurant painted white and classic Greek blue and perfect music. I asked the owner about the music and he burnt me a CD before we finished our evening..

.Today we off to see more of the port and village and will head for our next beautiful port mid afternoon.