Páros Pároikía

The wind had consistently been lighter first thing in the morning, building to its peak mid-afternoon. So, on Saturday 23 July we planned to get up early to sail around to Pároikía on Páros. It didn’t seem like such a good plan when the alarm went off first thing but we did get BV moving before 0630. Charlotte raised her, ‘I’m on holiday’ card and slept in.

Approaching Pároikía   

The bulk of the 20-mile passage was up the western side of Páros and we expected to have to beat the whole way up there. As it turned out, the wind really was light first thing and we actually motored for half of the journey.

The second half of the passage, however, was very good and we did end up having to tack our way up the coastline and around the rocks near the entrance to the harbour. Our pilot book warns about a large no-go area around these rocks which even the local boats avoid. That’s because whilst some of the rocks are clearly visible (the 2 routes into the harbour go quite close past these), there are many dangerous, low-lying and unmarked rocks between the visible outliers. As we beat in towards the harbour along one of the charted routes (albeit a route recommended by daylight only) even some of the ‘visible’ rocks were barely visible. Many of those in the no-go zone were visible only by the waves breaking on them. It’s easy to see why mariners are advised to keep well clear.

Anchored close to Pároikía   

But we did make it safely into port. Right next to the town there is a large ferry quay, a fishing harbour for very small boats and a small yacht harbour. However, the yacht harbour was rammed full of charter yachts on their changeover and so we joined the other visitors anchored in the large, and well-sheltered, bay.

Pároikía town stood out clearly with lots of cuboid white buildings. It’s a busy place being the main town and ferry port on the island and we wanted to get ashore fairly quickly to get some admin and shopping done whilst also looking for a laundrette.

BV at anchor off Pároikía   

The corner of the castle in Pároikía   

Charlotte was left to relax on board whilst Nicky and I took the dinghy into town. As is our habit, we left the dinghy with the outboard motor steering chained hard over. The dinghy would be easy to pinch but the outboard would just drive it around in tight circles. The priority then was to find somewhere to top up our Greek data sim card which we use to get weather and check e-mails when we can’t get Wi-Fi. That involved a thorough search of the narrow and picturesque lanes in the town, all white-painted and well kept, with bougainvillea and other flowering plants adding a touch of colour. We found a supermarket, lots of holiday boutique shops, a laundrette, but no Cosmote mobile phone shop. We even found a castle but with other priorities we didn’t look around it. Back on the seafront we were directed to the Cosmote shop and finally got some more credit on our sim card. Then, after a canter around the supermarket it was back to the dinghy to get all of our goodies back to BV.

It was at this point that I discovered that we had left both Charlotte and our keys on board; oops, not our cleverest move! There would be no motoring until we got hold of those keys and freed the engine to move. Nicky abandoned me on the quay with the shopping and proceeded to row back to BV. Part way back she was offered a tow from a passing German and eventually returned to pick me up. A 6-pack of beer was duly dropped off with the German on the laundry run as a thank you for the tow.

Robin and Diana’s villa overlooking the anchorage   

Part of the reason for all of the rushing about was that we had arranged to meet Robin and Diana Brown later in the afternoon. Their villa is right by the anchorage and they often take a dinghy across the bay when they go shopping. Charlotte, left on board, had therefore met Robin and Diana before us as they had stopped at BV to say hello on their way back from their shopping excursion.

Chores pretty much done, except for picking up the laundry, we lunched, showered and then made our way across to Robin and Diana’s villa. It was a very pleasant afternoon and evening chattering away about where they had explored when they crossed the Atlantic and our plans to do the same. More importantly, we were able to thank them properly for all of their help in getting Adonis to come out and fix our engine fuel problem.

A fab seafood platter for dinner   

We did remember the pick up the laundry and then it was a freshen up back on board BV followed by a trip into town for dinner. We all went to one of Robin and Diana’s favourite restaurants and, along with the usual Greek salad, we enjoyed a fabulous seafood platter with a whole variety of different fish and seafood to try. The conversation and wine both flowed well into the night and even the restaurant owner joined us for an ouzo. We could have chatted on for hours more but at midnight we said our farewells to Robin and Diana and made our way back to BV. I think we all fell asleep the moment our heads hit the pillow.

Páros  Pároikía, Greece