The Saronic Gulf Islands, Greece

After a quick day and a half in Athens it was time for

our sailing adventure. We chartered a 50 ft catamaran

with two of our friends from London and their aunt and uncle.

Here is the gang anxiously awaiting the yacht to be ready.
Derek, Rob, Donna, Andy and Meghan.

Ahhhhhhhh, this is the part I was waiting for!
I'm on a boat!!!!

Goodbye Athens!

Captain George even had an American flag for us.

Sailing - so beautiful!

So, many people wanted to know what our accommodations were
like for the week on the boat. This is our cabin.
Not exactly a king size bed - but we made due. Let's just say

if it was any hotter Derek would have been sleeping up on deck!

Here is the inside eating area.

The kitchen.

And last but not least and our favorite - the head.

For you land lovers the bathroom. The faucet pulled out
and hooked on the wall behind for the shower. Tight
quarters. I really don't even know how Derek took this
picture.

Aegina was our first stop. We barely made it before
sunset. This is the harbor at dusk.


We walked through the market to pick up some essentials.



Derek took a picture of something with each islands name
on it so we would not forget.

Morning on the island of Aegina. Coffee break!
If a double Greek coffee doesn't wake you up I don't
know what will!


We sailed out of Aegina and stopped in a beautiful
little swimming spot. The water was clear which
meant it was swimming time for me!


Ok, who am I kidding - I got cold in 10 minutes needed to soak up the sun!!

While we were anchored this huge ship came up and
wanted to hang out too. I was hoping that Captain Jack Sparrow
was going to appear. No such luck!


Here is the a photo of the back of the yacht at our
second stop - Vathy. We had to "walk the plank"
to get off!

The harbor in Vathy.

At dinner that night I told my sawed off story.
It is the story of how the Brits came up with
their derogatory hand gesture. Let's just say
it was a hit. Captain George especially liked it!

Morning in the harbor. Our boat is behind me on
the left hand side.

Another shot of our home for a week.

Next stop, the island of Poros. We were here for about
two days because the weather turned very windy.
Captain George said it was best to wait it out. I was
not going to argue especially after he told us a scary
story about sailing in wind!

So, we went exploring on the island. So, many pretty
flowers all set against the white and blue buildings.

We reached the highest point on Poros where there was a
beautiful clock tower. As you can see we could not go in.

Another pretty picture with the Greek flag.

Meghan and I are walking through the winding staircases
up to the clock tower.

Just in case we forgot where we were!

I thought that I would try my hand at sailing. Just kidding -
we are tied up in the harbor.

That night we went out for some cocktails with Captain George.
He is the Greek with the tan!!

The weather finally cleared and it was time to
leave Poros.

Just thought you would all like to know what Derek
was doing on our trip when he was not sailing - studying.
He looks like he is deep in concentration.

The view of the clock tower as we leave the harbor
in Poros.

A picture of some of the pretty little houses on Poros.

What better place for a morning cup of joe? On
the stern leaving Poros behind.

Our next stop was Hydra. This island was very gray,
mountainous and barren at first sight.

Then we saw the harbor. It is nearly a perfect circle
and the town is only visible from a certain angle.
this saved Hydra from invasions since passing ships
missed the port.

A picture of Hydra town port with the houses built
between 1170-1821, climbing the steep slopes.

Most of the houses are 2-3 stories and are on
the Council of Europe's list of protected monuments,
with strict ordinances regulating construction and renovation.
Just like the whole town of London.

It was a beautiful day for sailing and we talked captain
George into letting us sail back and forth in front of Hydra.
Here is Derek sailing under the watchful eye of Captain George.

When you arrive in Hyrda the first thing you notice is
all of the mules. All motor traffic has been banned on the island
except a few garbage trucks. The mules take everything up
into the hills. We saw them carrying tourists and luggage, food,
beer, furniture and

lumber - ouch!!!

Next stop Ermioni. Ermioni is not an island but a port
on the mainland. The weather was turning bad again and
we had to find a safe place to tie up.

This is when the weather turned a little cold as you can tell by our
attire. We really can't complain since we had about 7 days of sun
and warmth during the last week of the sailing season.

After a brief storm we were treated with mother nature's
beauty. The rainbow was a perfect arch but I could not get the
whole arch in the picture. (we need a wide angle lens!)
We could even see the end on the hill and I wanted to
go search for the pot of gold. Derek quickly put that idea
down. I have never seen a more complete rainbow in my life.

Yay, breakfast - fresh picked pomegranate from a local.
Gotta fight off that scurvy!

Last stop - Agistri. It is the smallest island of the Saronic
Islands.

The sun came out again, just in time to
explore Agistri.

So, we popped into this tiny little restaurant for a
snack. We finally found a place with fresh
octopus. Derek and I had been craving fresh grilled
octopus the whole trip. Due to it being so late in the
season it was hard to find. Our snack is on the table
on the right hand side.

The cook had to fire up a real charcoal grill outside
so we could all watch him grilling our tastly treat.

On our last night together Captain George and Captain
(as Rob was referred to by George) decided to partake
in the ouzo. That stuff will put hair on your chest and
that is why I gracefully bowed out. George could drink
it like water!

I was lucky enough to have a nother tasty treat for dinner.
A fresh squid! It was swimming in the sea earlier that day.
It raised the bar for calamari - I may be ruined for life.

After dinner we all made our way back to the boat
and had a local fisherman take a picture of all of us
on our last night.

The next day we had a beautiful sunrise.

I could get used to this! But, sadly, it was time
to go back to Athens and get on a plane back
to London. This was an amazing experience that
we will not soon forget. We can't wait to explore more of
the Greek Isles!