Thursday 28th June 2012 Adhamas, Milos Is to Karavostasi, Folegandros Is

With only four and a half hours sleep after our late, lovely evening at Archontoulas, we finally departed at 6am from Adhamas Port, where we had spent the past 13 days. With many fond memories of the wonderful local people and the beautiful island of Milos we made the decision to return perhaps next year. By departing early today we hoped to leave before the anticipated meltemi starts blowing heavily again. The forecast was for heavy winds to strengthen at around 11am. Once we had motored out of the reasonably calm waters of the large bay we made the decision to go north around the island to Folegandros Island, rather than south as recommended by harbourmaster Miltos. The shorter route was the northern way, so Captain Ric chose this path of course! It did not take long before we felt the early signs of the meltemi wind. With this the seas were quite rough and for a couple of hours we had quite an adventurous trip. Nevertheless our boat handled the conditions very well to our pleasure. Travelling across the north coast of Milos we passed many of the places we had visited by car during our stay on the island. We had intentions of stopping in a couple of ports on the islands of Kimilos and Poliagos, however we felt with the current forecast it was better not to waste time and make our way as soon as possible to our destination. After five hours of motoring, with times of general discomfort from the heavy seas, we arrived in the small port of Karavostasi on Folegandros Island. To our relief there was a free spot available at the small quay which only takes half a dozen boats. The alternative was to drop anchor in the bay, however with the wind forecasted it may not have been as safe as being tied up to the quay. We spent the afternoon relaxing after washing down the boat, which was covered in salt from getting all the decks wet during the trip. On either side of our berth were delightful yachties, one group from the UK and the other from Italy.  All had stories of their experiences with the dreaded meltemi wind this year in the Aegean. A nice young couple, Giovanni and Tatiana from Italy, who were on their first holiday alone without their son, showed interest in our boat and chatted with us for a while. As they were staying in a local hotel, we decided to invite them aboard for a drink which was a lovely experience for them and also for us. On their recommendation we went to a nice local restaurant and had some lovely fresh fish. Later we caught up with them in a beachside bar and watched the start of the Italian/Germany soccer match, which Italy later unexpectedly won. Many tourists at the moment here in the Greek Islands are from Italy, so you can imagine the cheering when the game was over!!! What a long day this had been for us!!