The last few days, we made our way slowly East along the coast, mostly sailing with light winds. Our first stop was an anchorage called “Bali.” Not quite what most people would associate with that name but nice enough with turquoise water and high mountains surrounding the bay. Christoph was brave enough to jump in the water here - the temp was 20C according to the instruments and 19C according to the laser thermometer we have. Nobody else followed ….. Next stop was a small bay on the island of Dia, which is just 5 miles North of Hiraklion. Dia has quite the gannet population but no humans. The gannets were clearly not happy that we intruded in their place and we were cautious so we did not set foot on land so as not to disturb their nests. But at night, even the gannets shut up and with the almost full moon, the place was spectacular and very peaceful.

We didn’t really want to go to Hiraklion, which is described in Rod Heikel’s cruising guide as one of the least pleasant places in the Med. But one can’t visit Crete and not see Knossos, the 1500 B.C. Minoan castle, and Knossos is easily reached from Hiraklion. So after spending the morning taking apart and greasing three of the eight winches on board, we quickly sailed over to Hiraklion. The old Venetian harbor looks like the place to be but with only 10 cm below the keel at the entrance, we decided that was not to be and came alongside in the outer harbor under the Port Police building. The next morning, we took the city bus to Knossos, itself an experience. We impromptu joined a group of German ladies for a guide so we had a bit more of an explanation. The castle looks quite well preserved but we found out that all this is restoration work. When the place was discovered a good 100 years ago, all the stones had fallen down so what we saw is a rebuild based upon where the archeologists thought it might have looked like. Every hundred years or so, a massive earthquake seems to strike Crete, which is why the place was rebuilt three times. The palace had a sewer system, running water, a bath tub for the queen and an “air conditioning” system. Impressive! The last destruction in 1375 B.C., however, ended the civilization here - the nearby volcano on the island of Santorini is thought to be responsible for a 70 m high tsunami and a firestorm which consumed the castle.

After Knossos, we cast off quickly and anchored once again in Dia, this time in another bay where there seemed to be even more gannets …. Yesterday’s sail here had just about every wind direction on the compass rose and between 2 and 27 knots of wind. The wind generator was going great guns at times! The life jackets were out but not the foul weather gear or long pants. Kincsem’s well protected cockpit comes into its own on days like that!

We’re now anchored in a turquoise bay in the shallow lagoon called Spina Longa. Here are a few other cruising boats from Australia, Germany, Austria, the US and the UK. And big news: This morning I successfully used the SSB to join the Med Cruiser Net which is moderated by our friend Alan from the UK. First time our transmitter worked so that someone could actually hear us - in this case, some 200 miles away. I had to turn off all refrigeration and the 2 inverters and after 20 minutes, the unit froze again. But we now know (we think) what the reason for the freezing is and Richie is bringing the replacement part in a week. So things are good!