Perhaps Not One to Try at Home

As we tucked into our lunch, prior to going out exploring, it started to rain - in Spain! It was quite heavy rain so we convinced ourselves it would be a short, sharp shower. And so it was, by the time we were ready to go out, the rain had stopped. Bravo we thought!

Our first foray out into Spain proper, was going to be on foot, and straight out from El Pueblito. One of the nice things about HPB sites is that you can often buy a pack of local walks - for just 1 euro - from reception. We had got our pack on arrival, and decided on number 2, a nearby dinosaur gorge walk, to start. We were attracted by the dinosaur theme and it sounded the most adventurous, which appeals to active and brave bears like us.

It was a simple 15 minute walk to the gorge, then the fun started. Our path was straight up the, now dry, floor of the gorge. There was lots of scrambling over boulders involved and we also had to pick our way through lots of plant growth. And then, it started to rain again. Normally walking up narrow, and steep sided gorges is not a good thing to do in heavy rain, as there can be a danger of flash floods. However, on this occasion, as the river bed was very sandy and long dried up, we felt there was no risk of flooding. The rain didn't last long anyway, it was just another shower.

You'll need to be very sharp eyed to spot us in our first picture. We're sitting on a rock in front of our first dinosaur find. As you can see we'd found a fossilised giant ray. It was simply huge, and we marvelled at how small the modern day rays have become in comparison. If this one hadn't been fossilised we'd have been very scared.

Our next prehistoric rock was of great interest for two reasons: first, it was full of fossils and, second, it made a great climbing wall. As you can hopefully see, despite my camouflage fur, Yorkie and I wasted no time in starting a race to the top. By now we understood exactly why this was called the dinosaur gorge walk; it was because of all the fossils everywhere. 

As we left the gorge, we started to climb and to get some great views of the area where we were staying.  We didn't find any more fossils, but we did get a fine hilltop view of El Pueblito. Home for the week was one of those white boxes! We'd thought we were staying in a nice, quiet, away from it all area when we arrived, and  now we could see why. Apart from a few local farms and dwellings, there was nothing but countryside all around us.

By now we appreciated that we had picked a great place to holiday, and we were really looking forward to the rest of the week.

Lots of love, George, Yorkie, Gio and Pedro xxxx

Has El Pueblito Ever Hosted the Olympics?

After a leisurely breakfast on our sunny balcony, our first full day got properly underway with a welcome meeting in the bar. Thierry, the charming Parisian site manager, thoroughly entertained us with his great brand of humour, while we all enjoyed a delicious cup of coffee, apparently the nearest thing you can get to French coffee in Spain.

Meeting over, we decided to check out the outdoor facilities while we mulled over all the information we had been given about the site and surrounding area.

The facilities are fantastic. We were very keen to have a go at Padel tennis as this is now the number 2 sport in Spain, second only to football. Having a go made us feel less like tourists and more like locals.

Padel most closely resembles tennis, but is played on a smaller court and everywhere is in play - you can't hit the ball out of court. There is a link with squash in that you are allowed to take the ball off the back wall and the sides. You play with a chunky plastic paddle (no strings) and, great for us, you serve underhand, as Wimbledon type serves are not realistic for small bears.

We gave it our best and had fun. Even though our rallies weren't very long and we spent as much time outside the court retrieving wildly hit balls as in it, we thought we'd done well for a first attempt. That was, until we heard on the radio the other day, that Padel is easy to pick up and anyone can play it! We beg to differ.

We also enjoyed being Continental on the petanque court and had some very competitive games. The table tennis table and crazy golf course also beckoned and we had lots more fun. After dipping a paw in the outdoor pool which was extremely bracing, we were relieved to find the indoor pool which was extremely warm.

The sun loungers were oh so comfortable, and behind us there were a sauna, steam room and jacuzzi. We could tell we we would be spending a lot of time here. We could already see that it could be very easy never to leave the site as there was so much here to entertain us.  But, we reminded ourselves, we had come to see Spain, and that was exactly what we were going to do .... but lunch came first!  

Our afternoon continues shortly.

Lots of love George, Yorkie, Pedro and Gio xxx

Our Iberian Itinery

Hemos ido a Espana! It's us, George and Yorkie, back from our latest adventure that took us to Spain, and we're more than ready to take up the reins of the blog from Eddie, who has done such a great job and no doubt whetted your appetite for a sailing holiday in Greece.

So what took us to Spain, apart from the need to do more research for the Friendly Planet Guide? There were a couple of reasons. For the last 3 years or so, our first holiday of the year has been taken in Britain and, while we always have a good time, we would have liked some better weather. The sunshine of Spain and some Spanish Rioja seemed very appealing. Second, as you may recall, we spent several weeks in the north of Spain, 18 months ago, when we were walking the Pilgrimage route to Santiago. Having seen the north of the country and enjoyed practising our Spanish, we thought it would be good to see the opposite end of the country and practise our Spanish a bit more.

And so we came by plane and our hire car, Trig, to the Holiday Property Bond's newest development, El Pueblito del Alfaix. We're quite unusual in Bond circles as there aren't too many Bondholders who are bears, but we're always given an enthusiastic welcome. 

Our studio apartment is the very one that you can see in our first picture. It was right at the end of the the first row of apartments. We didn't have the upper floor, that was another apartment, but the big patio windows opening onto a balcony were ours. We just thought we'd point out that we are sitting on the wall, as you may not have spotted us.

Our apartment was everything we could have wished for. It was well laid out, well equipped and still very new. 

While inside was great, we tended to spend a lot of time out on our balcony. Sadly the clouds had descended for our picture, and they are hiding some gentle mountain slopes, but you can still see all the citrus trees in the foreground.

As you may have noticed, there are 4 of us, not 2. We invited Gio along as he was with us in Spain on pilgrimage and loves the country, and the 4th member of the gang is Pedro, wearing the red t-shirt. Pedro has kept a low profile in the blog so far, while he's been learning English. He is in fact a true Spaniard and moved to England from Spain to join Bears Unlimited. There was no way that we were going to leave Pedro behind when heading for Spain, and, anyway, he is great company, as you will discover in the posts to come.

Join us again soon.

Lots of love, George, Yorkie, Pedro and Gio xxx

Αντίο και καλή τύχη (that's Greek for Goodbye and Good Luck)

It may seem to you, our readers, that this holiday has gone on forever, as we have been posting for quite a while. However, for us, the participants in the holiday, the time simply flew by and all too soon it was time for goodbyes.

While George and Yorkie went exploring ashore, I tended to stay on Milia and met lots of lovely Greek fisherman as a result. I loved seeing their painted caiques and talking to them, so I had lots of new friends to say goodbye to.

It was very sad having to say goodbye to Milia as she was a very fine vessel - great for sailing, but also very comfortable to live aboard. I wanted to ensure we returned her in good shape, so while George and Yorkie swabbed the decks, I checked out her engine and made sure everything was clean and in good working order.

Our final group meal was, as always, a very happy occasion and we all enjoyed the customary speeches and awards ceremony. Not only did we receive a fine Loutraki plaque, with some great likenesses of the lead crew (the photo printing shop was apparently closed!) but I was also thrilled to get a special award.

In honour of the fact that Milia was the only boat with a crew of bears, we were presented with a new Greek friend, and you can meet him for the first time in the next picture.

Our new friend is Louis, the only possible name, as he was given us by the crew of Loutraki. He travelled home with us and has settled in well as the latest bear to join Bears Unlimited. Look out for him on future boating holidays.

We had all enjoyed the finest of fine holidays and can't wait to go again. Don't forget that the name to look for, for the best flotilla sailing in the Greek Islands, is Sailing Holidays. We can't recommend them enough.

George and Yorkie are just back from another adventure so expect to hear from them soon.

Bye for now and lots of love

Eddie xxx

What a Difference a Day Makes

The next day dawned bright and sunny but the forecast was for a repeat of the previous day, with more strong winds. Having had our paws burned, we, along with most of the boats in our flotilla, went no further than the short hop down from George´s taverna to the Vathi town quay.

We waited for the winds to blow up again, but nothing happened. There was hardly a breath of wind in the air and our next picture shows how still and calm it was.

You´d have though we were sitting by the edge of a lake, not the sea. Still it was a lovely day for relaxing, going for a walk and swimming and we made the most of all these opportunities.

We also made sure that we´d got all our postcards written, after which George and Yorkie went in search of a post box.

I also made sure we used this down time to practise our safety drill, and make sure any further big waves or heeling of the boat wouldn´t send us overboard.

The safety harnesses worked to perfection and kept us safe and all together.

All too soon it was evening and time to plan the next day's sailing.

Lots of love, Eddie, George and Yorkie xxx

Any Port in a Storm

Now, you may be interested to know, that Vliho bay where we'd anchored for the night, is often referred to as a storm hole, since it provides the best possible protection against a storm, being surrounded by high land with just a narrow entrance by water.

As we sailed off the next day, we didn't know it at the time, but we leaving a storm hole to go into a storm. We were due to meet up again with our lead crew and the rest of our flotilla at the port of Atheni on the island of Meganisi. We were quite excited about this as we'd been there before and enjoyed some great Greek dancing.

We had plenty of time ahead of us and not too far to go, so decided to do some sailing in the Zaverda Bay. We had a good but not particularly fast sail until lunchtime. The wind then suddenly dropped completely. At about the same time our VHF radio came to life with a message from our lead crew, telling us a big storm was brewing and we should head immediately for port.

I looked over my shoulder and saw that the sky was an ominous black and the clouds were racing along. I realised that we had encountered the calm before the storm and ordered the sails to be taken down as quickly as possible.

Thanks to my efficient crew, we just had time to drop the sails, don waterproofs, take a bearing on our destination, and secure everything we could, before the storm caught us.

As you can see, the waves started to build very quickly and Milia was plunging up and down through them. She was handling the conditions really well, so I felt confident that as long as I held onto the wheel, we would be alright.

I began to change my mind when it started to rain, and visibility completely disappeared. We couldn't even see Meganisi - our world shrank to just boiling sea and howling wind. The wind kept getting stronger and stronger. At the start of the storm we thought winds of over 20 m.p.h. were strong, but they seemed nothing when we recorded on our instruments a wind speed of 34.6 m.p.h. We were experiencing force 7 winds and it didn't look good outside the safety of our boat.

This picture was taken before the rain and lost visibility; at that point taking photos wasn't practical and there would have been nothing to see. As the entrance to all the Meganisi ports is hard to spot from the sea, and we knew there were small islands just off the entrance, I had to make the hard decision to delay putting into the safety of harbour and stay out in the open. It was the only option as I couldn't risk hitting rock.

A few minutes later the rain eased and we could start to see again. We spotted a configuration of small islands which, when compared to the chart, could only be the approach to Port Atheni. What luck! We motored inside the entrance and spotted a number of boats sheltering at anchor in a calm spot in the lee of the wind.

We joined them, and put down our anchor. It was great to be still and flat! As the moorings are some way down the inlet and were out of sight, we called up our lead crew for instructions. We reached them on the VHF, only to find they weren't there. The anchoring wasn't suitable for the conditions, and they had already had an anchor pop. They had decided that mooring at George's Taverna, at Vathi, was the safer option.

It was the next port along, and not far, but it did mean putting out into the storm again, this time motoring across the waves, rather than having them push us along. We were quite relaxed by this time though, as we knew we could make safety.

Within 30 minutes, George's moorings were in the sight and the lead crew were ready to moor us. We were very pleased to see them and most of the rest of our boats (a few had taken shelter elsewhere and would join us the next day). It was lovely to warm up with a hot shower, change into dry clothes and then to join everyone in the taverna to share our adventures.

For me, the star of the show was our boat Milia - what a performance she had given, and she had kept us  safe and given us lots of confidence, should we encounter a similar storm again!

Lots of love, Eddie, George and Yorkie xxx

Goodbye Mother Hen

We'd enjoyed our overnight stay in Fiskardo very much, so it was tempting to stay a bit longer. The lead crew were having a rest day there and we had the option of staying there as well, or having a day's free sailing.

Nearly all the other boats were going off free sailing and we decided this would be a good experience for us. It wasn't long before the busy harbour started to empty and Milia had large gaps to either side of her.

After consulting charts and making plans we were ready to leave too. It was quite exciting going on our first solo adventure.

We joined the queue of boats leaving the harbour; it's amazing how a busy harbour can suddenly become so quiet when everyone leaves after breakfast.

Our choice of harbour for that night was determined by two things: a) there wasn't a huge amount of wind that day and anyway we didn't want to venture too far from mother hen, our lead boat Loutraki, and b) in common with the other boats in our flotilla we were nervous about mooring up in harbour without assistance.

The latter fact meant that nearly all of the boats in our flotilla headed for one of two destinations. The harbour of Spartahori on Meganisi, where there are lazy lines so you don't have to drop anchor, and the taverna owner is there to help, was a popular choice. We, however, but we opted for the alternative, of the harbour of Vliho, on the island of Lefkas. This is a very sheltered natural harbour surrounded by land on 3 sides and with just one small entrance. It is quite shallow and provides a very safe mooring. You don't have to tie up alongside a quayside, you just drop your anchor, and, if by any chance you came adrift in the night, you wouldn't go very far.

This was definitely the safe choice, and, as it was our first night on our own, it seemed the sensible one to make. Also it was somewhere new to us, whereas we'd been to Spartahori before.  

Milia, is the boat on the right. We took this picture from our inflatable dinghy as we rowed ashore to a taverna to have a beer and a plate of calamari.

Two other boats from our flotilla made the same choice as us, one being the boat on the left. We could wave across to them from our mooring, and it felt good to have company, even if it was distant.

We had a fine night and were very securely anchored in quite a bit of mud! The only drawback was that the water was murky and there were lots of big jellyfish, so it wasn't the best spot for swimming. We did have the best plate of calamari of the holiday though.

We did remember to text Loutraki to let them know we were safe.

Lots of love Eddie, George and Yorkie xxx