The ferry woke me really early when it started its engines and by 6:30 I was up and about, getting the blog up to date and preparing for departure. Christian & I had early morning coffee and muesli bar at the bakery again. Could be habit forming. Had arranged to get the vehicles back early and by 8:30 we were in Hora. The super-energetic owner of the rental business drove us back to Linaria, whilst calling, hooting and waving to everyone en route. Clearly a local. Commenting on the fuel situation, he told us that for 3-4 weeks recently when Greece was in crisis mode negotiating another bailout, nearly all tourism stopped to the islands, which put a huge strain on the locals and resulted in some businesses closing.

Back at the boat we made a super efficient departure while finishing breakfast. Once out of the bay we picked up a good wind, albeit “on the nose” and decided to tack 30 miles to the stop-over island of Skantzoura (the God-forsaken one). Kept that up all morning but finally as the wind eased we resorted to motor as we were getting hungry and there was no chance to prepare food while heeling and bashing through swells.

This was going to be a quick lunch stop so we opted for a more exposed south facing bay on the island. That was our best surprise yet. Far from being the awful island that I imagined, from the other side at least, it had incredibly clear water with a sandy bottom and a clean white sandy bay at the head. We were all ecstatic and decided to stay the afternoon and night.

At one point we got worried when three boats arrived together and anchored very near to us, full of young Greeks which had potential to be a huge party. Turned out fine and they made good neighbours. Meanwhile we all went ashore for sundowners on the beach (well what else do you do to celebrate the passing of another fine day?).

Despite the quiet perfect night, there was a gentle swell which seems to make most of us, teenagers excepted, extremely sleepy so it was not long after supper that we hit the sack, but not before finishing the remaining Uzo. Seemed a pity to waste it.

Lying in bed looking up through the hatch to stars and the motion of a gentle swell did it for me.