Páros Órmos Alikí (Part 2)

Wednesday and Thursday were really very windy with a steady 30 knots and gusts up to 36 knots. We were starting to get a bit worried as to whether or not it would be safe to take the dinghy ashore to pick up Charlotte on Wednesday but fortunately the wind eased slightly in the evening and we were able to pick her up from a small jetty at the corner of the beach.

Her ferry and bus connection from Naxos had been delayed slightly because of the weather but it all worked out well and we could relax on board waiting for the wind to ease.

It turned out that BV was anchored right under the approach path to the small airfield on Páros and so we had regular flypasts during our stay.

The other visitor that we had was a large turtle which swam around the anchorage every day. Charlotte has tried to see turtles in the Ionian and the Canary Islands but has missed them every time, so she was thrilled to be able to see this one close up.

The wind shredded our burgee and sun-bleached ensign. The smaller storm ensign worked as a temporary measure whilst the wind blew but the larger ensign has now been retired and replaced with a new one we got for Christmas. However, the ragged burgee needed a new tip sewing on. We have 3 burgees but all needed the same repair treatment and so the sewing machine came out to patch them up. After a few hours they were all repaired and our bunting is now ready for whatever the meltemi can throw at us.

Before we got to the stir crazy stage, the wind dropped off and we were finally able to go ashore properly on Thursday evening.

Our successful food shopping trip merged with an unplanned dinner out at a restaurant Robin had mentioned.

There was no doubting that it was a seafood restaurant…

... and it matched our normal criteria for picking a restaurant of it being busy with locals. Not surprisingly, there were also had a lot of holidaymakers there too so the waiters were kept on their toes. Despite that we were well looked after and the seafood was excellent.

With BV sitting peacefully at anchor in the bay it was difficult to imagine that we had been questioning the safety of a dinghy ride ashore the day before.

Snorkelling over natural sponges   

On Friday morning we finally left Alikí. The anchor had dug itself so far into the sand that it had disappeared and we could just see chain coming out of the seabed. It came clear though and once stowed Nicky motored BV around to a nearby cove. She had snorkelled there whilst we were at anchor and seen lots of natural sponges on the rocks. Charlotte and I dived off the side and took a look whilst Nicky held BV close by. We both swam down and gave the sponges a gentle prod. They are quite slimy, rubbery and black and so need a lot of cleaning and are often are bleached before they are sold for bathtime use. It was great to see them in their natural environment because we had been told that most of the sponges in the Mediterranean had gone either through being over-harvested or by being killed off by a virulent disease. Hopefully, the Mediterranean sponge population will recover but it is sure to take a long time.

The destination for Friday 22 July was Ormos Despotikio, a pretty anchorage  about 10 miles away that we wanted to visit on our way around to Pároikía.

Páros  Órmos Alikí, Greece