Ios

Looks like the Meltemi is about to start blowing. This is a bit unusual at this time of year, it’s not really meant to start blowing so strong until July.  There were a few Islands in between where we left and Ios that we would have liked to visit, but with the wind about to start we were looking for a safe place to hold up.

Ios is claimed to be the burial place of Homer, on a voyage from Samos to Athens the old blind bard died and his body was thrown overboard and washed up on Ios where the sea buried him on the beach. His body is now meant to be  buried on the slopes of Mt Pirgos in the middle of the island.  This is not Ios only notable thing. It is a very popular island with young people and backpacker hippy types…….who like to sunbath nude, so much so that there is a sign painted on a cliff saying “clothes  are prohibited” Just our sort of place, Ha ha ha  ha!

A bit Monty Python eh?

Actually, Port Ios and the Chora were very nice, and out of season it was very quiet. Unfortunately, I can’t say the same for the port quay, it was horrendous! The wash from the ferries was positively dangerous and you had to be pulled so far off the quay it mad it difficult getting on and off the boat. However, we had one night in here to stock up on water, food and the essentials of life. Thank goodness we did!

We made our way to Manganari Bay on the south of Ios to take shelter from the Meltemi for what we thought was going to be four or five days…….twelve! A lovely bay with great holding on a clear sandy bottom. Thank goodness, we had general winds of about 20-30 knots with gusts from between 35- 47 knots, being one of the highest we managed to record, but in actual fact, think some were higher.

Anyway, we managed to get ashore a few times to the two tavernas.

We even thought at one point there was a shop somewhere in the small village there. However, that turned out to be a mis translation between Greek and English, I think the lady thought we were asking where the taverna was. Here was me, armed with my shopping list and two rucksacs, what a disappointment! But the Cafe Fredo was good.

By day eight the supplies were running very low, in fact we were at the end of our wine, except for the wee sneaky bottle I had forgotten about (Editor’s Note: “ Forgotten”  – My Arse) and we also managed to buy a litre at the taverna. We only did this once as they were charging 9 euros for what you can buy in the supermarket for 3 euros. Our water tank only takes 120 litres so we have plastic containers that we had filled as well giving us another 75 litres, but for twelve days thats not a huge amount, but we did manage. Food was another thing. I normally stock up for three or four days re fresh foods like  meat  and veg etc. again because we only have a small fridge. Can I say, if we don’t see pasta again for a while it will be too soon. But it does go to show you what you can stretch basic store cupboard things to, although I wouldn’t like to have to do it too often.(Editor’s Note: Mama Mia me neither!) 

We did have a brief interlude of hope – a large charter yacht arrived and I sent a tongue in cheek message to their agent on line ( charter prices start at £120,000 minimum per week!) requesting supplies if their chef could see his way to sending over a red cross parcel, unfortunately it seemed to fall on deaf ears. No Krystal or Caviar this time.

On our last night in the Bay, we decided to go to one of the tavernas for dinner. We used to take the dinghy to the nearest cove and walk along to the taverna. On our return the wind had whipped up and let me just say, there was no paddeling necessary, we careered back to the boat using the oars for steerage only. Not one of our better plans but we mad it safely back anyway.