Continuing on from our 10 days in Ormos Varis - another Australian boat load of friends turned up, Cara from Brisbane. The bay is close to the airport and they have changeovers of friends so a good place to be. It was great to catch up and share notes of good cruising places.

After that we went back to Zea Marina to await the arrival of Terry and Liz, friends from Brisbane who are wrapping up 2 months in Europe. good timing as a wild fire broke out just by where we were and the heatwave started taking Athens to 41 degrees. so good to be in air conditioning without having to run the generator non stop. Peter and Terry had a pretty impressive first night madness!

Lekteri was our first overnight, just a short trip away from the heat of the mainland and from there we continued a bit further south to Aegina. We could still see all the smoke haze from the fires in Lefteri but by Agia Marina not so much. There is an unfinished harbour that that is free to tie up but no power or water. We stayed there one night just because and went ashore for a pretty disappointing meal - it was high 30s temp so not so pleasant. We would have been better off on anchor with a breeze.

From there we went to Paros and anchored in the big bay there with the lovely old town just a short dinghy trip away. We decided to follow the rules and went to check in and out with the Harbourmaster only to find out that the advice from the Athens Immigration lady was incorrect and we should have checked out at Zea Marina. We had thought this was not right as we had in the past added and taken people off the crew list as they came and went and this is what the Port Authorities want to see each place you go. She was pretty busy laughing and chatting with other customers, chewing gum and dropping her pencil so didn't properly understand (or listen) to what we were doing! Anyway we decided to make the 3 hour trip back to Athens and check out properly so that is what we did for part of one day. it was no bother - just anchored outside the marina and dinghied in. Back to Poros for a legal check in. - Phew. It is better to stay on the right side of foreign places!

We left Poros to go to Hydra. the main port there is impossibly busy so we anchored with lines ashore in Mandraki Bay. We got in by midday and from then on many other boats arrived so good timing on our part. It was still hot but nothing like as bad as the more northern and western parts of Greece. We swam all that afternoon then Kiki dropped us off at the port to visit the old town and have dinner. it's a very cute place with no cars or vehicles. Everything on the island is transported by donkeys or on foot. Pretty exhausting if you ask me but it makes for a very unique and pretty place. The next day Kiki and Cora had a day off and spent it there as well. By the time they got back that night Mandraki Bay was almost unrecognisable. Charter boats had been pouring in all day and squeezing in all over the place. It was chaotic, we spent half the day standing guard at our sides to make sure people with no experience didn't do anything too stupid. We made ourselves a BBQ steak dinner that we ate on the front deck.

Porto Cheli was our next choice as it looked nice on the maps and charts and had one or two good comments in our app especially a good chandlery. One of our line ashore floats had cracked and we needed some lighter chain. Very unusually for Greece, in our experience, it turned out to be a dump. A really good well protected bay but the foreshore was dirty and rubbish strewn, cats and junk everywhere. there were a few little cafes that weren't too bad where we had to have a couple of drinks while we waited for the chandlery to re open after mesimeri (siesta). We got our bits and pieces and checked in and out at the Port Authority which had a sign out saying closed but was actually open. We left the next day after we all had been ashore for walks and runs which confirmed that the rest of the town was pretty awful too.

Looking at the weather it was decided that we should start back tracking to Athens to avoid any potential northerlies that could cause problems getting back up for Terry and Liz's flights. We have been lucky/a bit clever with our itinerary and avoided the most extreme heat and the smoke from fires. So back through lovely Poros overnight and onto Aegina again. This time we anchored out rather than going on the harbour walls. it was a bit wild getting into the dinghy to go ashore that night for a last taverna meal but we managed. By the time we came back to EN the weather had settled down a bit. We now call Kiki "El Gato" the way he jumps from very bouncy dinghy and back. We stayed on here as it was a nice little town with some good "floaty dress" shops. They are a must for after swimming and a shower for the evenings. Liz and I bought a couple each.

Back to Zea Marina in Athens and dropped Terry and Liz off for their taxi to the airport after a great few weeks. They've got time in Malta and Sicily before heading back to Australia. We are staying here while Kiki and Cora go home to Spain for a few weeks - and Peter does tax! We decided against anchoring out as the 24/7 air con might help tax tempers! It's also rather nice, but not helpful for the diets, to have all the bars and restaurants and very good supermarket close by. Athens is much nicer at the moment as most of them have gone off on annual holidays.