Birthday Gales Naoussa, Paros. 16th May 2014

Well, we started in sunshine with a decent breakfast. Richard taking advantage of an eggcup to enhance the jam capacity of his last bit of bread. The presents weren't special (however he did get a lovely large wiggly shocking pink fishing lure!). We went ashore and found excellent baklava so sweet treats later on. The day went downhill from there - the winds got up (sort of as expected) but stronger. We spent the next 15 hours on anchor watch as we sat out a gale - no going ashore for a nice meal for us. Other boats dragged and re-set several times - we were ok. Wind finally started easing in the early hours, and so to bed for uneasy sleep at 2am.

Winds were forecast to remain strong, so we entered the little "marina" run by Ianni - a helpful, cheerful soul. Naoussa is a fishing village, now with many little cafes and restaurants dotted around the harbour. We took advantage of being ashore to get the bikes out and cycle to other parts of the island, including Paros town - a ferry and fishing port as well as the island's capital. Somewhat touristy, but with an interesting Venetian Kastro built largely out of stone, marble and broken pillars reclaimed from a classical site of c. 5BC, and wonderful winding backstreets of the old town. Paros is famed for its marble - it is marble from here that was used to sculpt the now armless Venus of Milos. It was an exhausting cycle of only 6ish miles but uphill and down, so we folded the bikes up and took the bus back to Naoussa in the evening. And out in the evening for a late birthday supper of Greek salad and local fish. They serve huge quantities, we could have shared one between us.

We are aiming to leave in about half an hour, once Alan (Free Spirit) and Richard get their noses out of his wiring, to head for an anchorage halfway down Paros island in order to give us a good springboard for trying to get more south tomorrow. Still trying for Santorini…