We stopped at the island of Paros to break up the trip to Mykonos. Paros is described as the ferry hub of the Cyclades. A plus is the weather is getting better with less wind, so it's easy to anchor in the large bay. We go ashore to the port town of 'Lividia' which seems almost deserted. There is however, the most beautiful Byzantine church of 'Panagia Ekatondapyliani' that we visit. This church was built by the emperor Justinian in 326 A.D. It has it's own small...

Our ferry from Ios is at 10.30am. It is very windy and the ferry is 1.25 hours late. We are starting to think all of the Greek Cycladic islands are the same. They are rugged, rocky and treeless, with white houses with colored doors and windows. There are also multiple white churches with blue domed roofs, both pretty and repetitive. However, the water is beautifully clear and blue. It is 40 minuets to Santorini on the fast ferry. We have heard this is a great i...

We wanted to get to Santorini today but the problem is that there is too much wind and it is too deep to anchor. So, we head to Ios to make a base, and travel to Santorini by ferry. At IOS the wind is blowing 25-30 knots, but we find a great anchorage in the south at 'Manganari Beach'. It is a beautiful sandy beach with very clear water. There is only one restaurant on the beach. The main town and port are in the southwest about 15 Kms on very winding roads. By ...

We find on the third attempt a very good anchorage in 'Livardi Beach'. The other anchorages had been too windy for comfort. From the bay we view the main hilltop town that cascades down into the fishing port of Skala. On top of the hill is a fortress and Greek church, with it's white walls and blue domed roof. This is the first glimpse of what we thought the Greek Islands would look like. It is a sleepy place beyond the tourist radar, 95% of the visitors are Gre...

We leave Rhodes at 7am. The wind is stong with a lumpy sea, some of our group aren't traveling well so we stop at the small barren island of Tilos. As the wind is so strong we eventually find an anchorage on the south side at Eristos beach. Here there is virtually nothing, a bar/restaurant serving fresh goat in tomato sauce. MB and Brad try to take the tender to the main town on the opposite side of the island, but it is too rough. Several of us take the bikes...