Lyndie (Peter's daughter) and Chris (her partner) arrived in Samos where we were tied up at the Pythagorea Harbour wall. After the usual long trip from Australia they had a few easy days to reset. We then caught a ferry to Kusadasi (Turkiye) for a shopping session (all the knock off brand name shops) and they took a trip to Ephesus to take in the ruins there. There was an earthquake at 7.30 on the first morning that we all felt, 4.5 on the scale!!We couldn't take the boat due to regulations regarding our time spent in Turkiye etc but the ferry worked out well till we hit immigration and customs on the Greek side coming back. Two hours of standing around while they had only one officer on duty!! Never mind, the major shopping goals were achieved.

Marathokampus is a little fishing town further south around the coast where we spent a day and visited the local winery. We'd read that the older fishing harbour was free to stay at but it turned out NOT. So we stayed just the one night and went to Nisos Fournoi a ltlle further to the west. The anchorage was a line ashore situation and a bit windy and cool for swimming and not much else to do.

For Lyndie's 50th we set off early for Mykonos, a 5 or so hour trip west. Lovely calm seas and a great bay on arrival to anchor in. Not the main Mykonos Harbour, but just over the hill to the south - only a 1.80 euro, 11 minute bus trip. Lots of resort hotels on the beach and loud boring music all night. Lyndie, Chris and I went ashore to explore leaving Peter behind - he had a horrible cyst thing on his back being painful (on antibiotics now and getting better). Mykonos lived up to expectations of being a very touristy town but with some charm and pretty blue and white streets with tons of little shops. Cora totally excelled herself for the birthday dinner - Salmon Wellington, fresh asparagus, brussels sprouts and mashed potato followed by the most spectacular light fluffy pavlova ever! We gave Lyndie a silver headband/tiara that we had made last year in Fethiye. A very successful day.

Delos is a little island to the west of Mykonos famous for it's ruined city. We went ashore first with C and L then after lunch we dropped Kiki and Cora off. Then the police boat came by and told us and 3 other boats to move immediately as it was an archaeological site with no anchoring or even swimming allowed! They wouldn't even let us go and collect K and C so we had to load up the dinghy, go and anchor in weed in the channel, relaunch the dinghy and call K and C back! No signage, nothing on our charts or in the books!! So we got the poops with it all and went off to Naxos.

Naxos was lovely, a quieter version of Mykonos but with it's own character. We all had a nice few days there. Next stop was Amorgos where we sheltered off an offshore island from wind for a few days and had fun and games with the anchor not holding well in shallow sand and weed. One sleepless night for all! Whilst there we went to the nearby little town by taxi for lunch- very picturesque and visited the Chora (old town) in the hills, the old medieval capital. Super streep winding streets - some barley shoulder width. All beautifully preserved with people living and working there. Lots of blue and white and churches. As soon as the wind dropped we shifted to Katapola Harbour so we could get our cruising log stamped. You are supposed to do this at every island but some are so tiny there is no Port Police or Authority so you go to the next place.

After Amorgos we went to Iralkia where there is a bay to the south with a sunken WW2 German reconnaissance plane in it. It got caught by allied aircraft and sunk off the coast. Later a fisherman got it caught it up in his net and towed it into the bay. You can see it quite clearly s you go over it in 10m of water. We snorkelled and scuba-ed on it very easily. A few other day tripper boats went in the late afternoon leaving us there on our own for the night. A really nice peaceful spot.

From Iraklia we went to Anti Paros to the north and tried to see some ruins but it was all fenced off right down to the water so we upped and went to Paros. One night in Alyki Bay then to Paroikia Harbour, where we are right now. Another typically pretty Cycladic town with some charm. We caught up with Derek and Louise on "Frist Charge" for sundowners before we went our separate ways. Peter went to the medical centre and had his "thing" on his back drained. It will need dealing with properly at some stage, but all is well for now.

So - counting down to getting to Athens now to see Chris and Lyndie off after their month with us.