Less is More

There is a complex of small islands and rocks, south-east of Naxos known as Lesser Cyclades or Small Cyclades. The main Lesser Cyclades are Ano Koufonisi, Kato Koufonisi, Irakleia, Schoinoussa, Donousa, and Keros. If you had ever been there, you would agree with the motto “Less is more”! The date is Saturday, the 10th of…

Wild, Wild East

Samos was lovely but we had to get a move on if we ever wanted to visit other islands. And so, on the afternoon of Saturday, 3rd June we released our lines and set course to Fournoi, a small little island a few miles southwest of Samos. But Aelos had other plans; we were caught…

Serene Samos

If I had to describe Samos in a few words, those would be peaceful, quiet, green, and serene. An island with rich history, wine production from ancient times, and homeland to Pythagoras, the famous mathematician, and Aristarchus of Samos, the known astronomer. But let me rewind first. The date is Friday, the 26th of May…

Ma(je)stic Chios and the “Richest” Greek Island

19/05/2023: We left at the first light heading south. What a trip! We sailed downwind, half wind, no wind (motor), and then finally downwind again while we were rounding the corner of our next destination: Oinousses. Entering Oinousses is quite spectacular, as the surrounding islets make the entrance almost hidden, the wind disappears and a…

Home Sweet Home!

On October 19th, 2022, a day after we arrived at Oreoi, we released our lines and set sail to Skiathos. Skiathos belongs to Sporades and it’s a small, green, and vibrant island. First time I visited Skiathos I was 18 years old and I went with all my friends, (like a real adult) so it…

Melt (emi) down

They say that a cruiser’s plan is written in sand at low tide, forever changing with the tides. And in our case, it could not be further from the truth. We never planned to sail to Euboea. We never planned to cross Euboea. And moreover, we never thought that crossing it would take us almost two weeks…

A bridge too far

On the morning of 18th September, we set sail to Itea. We had the most wind so far, with gusts up to 30knots, but with one reef and some careful steering from Jelle, we did beautifully! We also crossed the Rio-Antirrio bridge, one of the world’s longest multi-span cable-stayed bridges (2880 meters long!), a very…

Libra’s Odyssey

It took Odysseas 20 years to return to his beloved Ithaca from Troy but we hoped for a much shorter trip considering we started from Meganisi and we wouldn’t encounter any witches, mythical creatures and Poseidon’s Fury. Indeed, it took us a few hours of beautiful upwind/half wind sailing and speed that even reached 7.5…

The Ionian

The world moves on and so we did, and on Friday, 28th August we left our beautiful marina in Corfu and headed towards Syvota, a small village on the mainland. After a beach morning for Elena and myself, while Jelle was catching up on work, we moved forward to another beautiful bay, called 2 Rocks….

Kerkyra, Kerkyra me to Pontikonisi

Yes, the time had come to complete our first ( with Elena) long sailing trip, meaning to sail through the night! We made the boat ready, cleaned it well, and mentally prepared for our more than 180NM trip! And what a trip it was! We cleared the customs in Bar, Montenegro on Wednesday, 25th August,…