Skíathos

Nisís Palaio Tríkeri slipped into the distance behind us on 17 July as we headed out of the Gulf of Volos. Fairly quickly we had the sails up and were running before the wind. At the entrance to the Gulf we turned towards Skíathos the increase in apparent wind meant that we needed to reef down. We tacked backwards and forwards playing the wind as it was funnelled down the Stenon Trikeri, between the Pelion mountains and Evia, but started considering alternative destinations.

The ‘un-named’ gin cocktail

Fortunately, the way the wind is funnelled between Skiathos and the mainland was beneficial to us and we found that if we stayed on port tack the wind was gradually backing which made us sail a curved course right up to Skíathos. The whole passage took 6½ hours and we arrived just after 4pm. There did not seem to be any room left on the town quay so we anchored off again enjoying the grandstand view of the aircraft landing. Of course, after a busy day of sailing we felt that we had definitely earned Charlotte and Sophie’s choice of cocktail for the day. This time it was a mix they had invented of gin, sour cherry and lemon. They were very nice but the ice seemed to melt far too fast and the glasses similarly seemed to empty much too quickly. Clearly we have got it all wrong and will have to make these cocktails another night!

During our 2 day stay a succession of yachts of all shapes and sizes came and went. There was never a dull moment in the harbour, especially if someone decided to anchor in the fairway which happened several times. They quickly realised the error when one of the many ferries arrived at top speed, fog horn blaring out with multiple honks.

We did our own whizzing about getting everyone to and from the shore which was a good excuse for some maximum speed runs. It is just possible to get our inflatable onto the plane if you are on your own in it.

After much exploring around town, and some more boring essentials such as getting the laundry done, we headed out for our second night in Skíathos

It was a great plan; cocktails at the bar on the wooded headland with fabulous views of the sunset, to be followed by a visit to the open air cinema to watch the film ‘Mamma Mia!’ which was partly filmed on the island. The cocktails bit went perfectly but turning up at the cinema we discovered that lots of other people had had the same idea and they were sold out for the night. Definitely a disappointment. However, instead we entertained ourselves with a wander around the town with its lively bars and street restaurants before returning to BV for our own film night in the cockpit.

We’d enjoyed our visit to Skíathos and expected to stop by again briefly on our way back at the end of Charlotte and Sophie’s ‘Mamma Mia islands holiday’. It looks like we’ll have to time our return for a night when they are showing the Mama Mia film again.

Skíathos, Greece