Athens

Sadly, we have finished our time yachting in the Greek Islands. Our excellent skipper, Steve Hooker, left us at 3:30am to catch his flight back to Kos. Steve was great to sail with; he taught us a lot about handling boats, and took us to some amazing sites, including ancient ruins, beautiful towns and secluded coves. We stayed one night in a bay by the island of Dhokos, where Jacques Cousteau found a 3000 year-old ship which was still full of cargo. An amazing place where we were lulled to sleep by the sound of the bells around the goats' necks on shore. The sailing was great. We finished yesterday reaching across to the harbour accompanied by the local Optimist sailing fleet - young kids training to be the next generation of Olympic sailors.

We checked off the boat at 9:00am and are now at the Hostel Aphrodite trying to deal with VISA over a non-functioning credit card. The frustrations of travel! David and James are cruising the net as I type, and Deirdre is searching for the next places we'll stay on our way back to Paris. We really only have one day in Athens, and will try to see the Parthenon and a few other sites near our hostel.

Thanks Lynne and Brett for the text message - we got it on Steve's phone and are glad to hear you still have 'boat head' from rocking in the waves. Our little Bavaria handled the seas very well, but was not nearly as luxurious as the cat! Glad the plate made it home...