With our nomadic lifestyle, we maintain rather intermittent relationships with other family members… what with Covid and Australia having tight controls on people movement, it’s been a very long time since we last saw Steve and Sue – so we were really looking forward to catching up!

It’s always a trick to meet anyone visiting the boat. We can do a location or a time – being somewhere at some specific time takes planning! In mid September (12th) we were still in Ermioni on Greece’s mainland and Steve and Sue planned to meet us on the island of Serifos on the 17th. In October (21st), Abigail and Greg will meet us on the other side of the Aegean on the island of Kos… Lots of planning to do!

We left Ermioni early in the morning and had good wind for most of the 65 mile passage to Serifos. Unfortunately, the anchorage I wanted to stay at was a little crowded so we had to go to a back-up location which wasn’t up to much so we moved on to the main town of Livadi where we anchored for a few days. Livadi is where Steve and Sue were to arrive, so on a quiet day (no wind and an absence of charter boats!) we moved into the very small harbor and tied alongside to make boat access as easy as possible.

Bringing with them a much needed spinnaker and new windlass gypsy, Steve and Sue also brought with them a welcome break in the weather – the temperatures felt about 10F cooler – still very pleasant, but now we were thinking of a light sweater for the evenings. They had opted to stay in an Airbnb which worked out well for all and rented a scooter to take them back and forth up the hill to it.

We walked (ok, it’s not actually that much cooler) up to the Chora (we think that means capital as several islands have chora) – quite a steep walk in the midday sun – and had a fascinating meander around and through the narrow pathways and stairways that are so typical of Greece.

A car ride the following day allowed us to visit the whole island including a copper mine and a couple of nice beaches – plus scope out a possible destination to sail to on our last day in Serifos – during which, we managed to bring out our new, very green spinnaker which was a lot of fun! Very happy with the quality of the sail – by Sandford Sails in the UK.

The next day we sailed down to Sifnos – just 12NM away – and it appears Steve’s been hiding his helming talents – he’s a natural! We anchored in the main harbor of Kamares, close to Steve and Sue’s new Airbnb and wandered around the small town ferreting out the best watering hole. A morning bus ride took up to the main town, Apollonia followed by a super walk back to Kamares along the tops with stunning views of the bay, naturally concluded with a pint at the ‘Old Captain’s’ bar.

A car ride the next day allowed us to visit the whole island and a very nice sheltered bay was spotted at Vathi, just south of Kamares, so the following day we took a day sail down to Vathi to swim. Unfortunately a jack-hammer had started up rather spoiling the ambience – but at least Steve was able to perfect his sailing skills on the way home!

In the evening we attended the Greek Festival where there are small stands from many of the Greek Islands offering typical foods and drinks from the country. We were given small samples of all sorts of cheeses, spreads, deserts, wines and spirits, all within a lovely community atmosphere – it was a lot of fun!

Our last full day with Steve and Sue took us to a traditional Sifnos cooking class. Even Stephen participated! George at Narlis Farm has been doing these classes for a while – and cooks traditional Sifnos meals which included chick-pea coffee (interesting and not as bad as it sounds) for breakfast along with omelets, biscuits, sifnos cheeses, jams and honey. We then watched and participated in preparing lunch – which consisted of several plates – salad, vegetable plates, chick-peas and lentils and ended with slow cooked lamb. Desert was a Honey pie – a very sweet cheesecake like delicacy.

While lunch was cooking, George took us out to tour his farm, part of which is farmed without any irrigation. It hasn’t rained since March 6th and we were all amazed to see that he was able to grow Squash, Tomatoes and Melons, and when he offered taste tests, we were further amazed by the flavor.

It had been a great visit with Steve and Sue – and despite the time between visits, it was like we’d never been apart.