Jeff Williams

The House with no Address

We ended our sailing early this year hoping to purchase a home in the Pelopponese about 90 minutes outside Athens. We came back late August to close the sale in early September. Ha Ha Ha Ha! My home sale in Toronto closed at the end of August and while there was some drama it happenedContinue reading “The House with no Address”

Back to Crete 2025: Summer Summary

We enjoyed Kos (especially the strawberry daiqueries…I’m sure I had at least 10….and their Guinness tasted better than what I’ve had in Canada) but it was VERY windy. Some days it was so windy I couldn’t go swimming! I was worried that Darcy would get blown off of the boat. Generally every week had 2Continue reading “Back to Crete 2025: Summer Summary”

The Best Bar in the World, Maintenance and an Unexpected Adventure

We are now anchored in Kardamena, Kos which is one of our favorite spots. It is quite touristy, but it has a big open area to anchor in, a world-class bar called The Stone Roses and reasonable protection from a north wind. After we got here the aft toilet decided to stop working. The lastContinue reading “The Best Bar in the World, Maintenance and an Unexpected Adventure”

Crete to Astypalia 2025

We always enjoy being in the marina in Agios Nicholaos. The town is pretty and walkable. We have friends in the marina. There are good restaurants. There is a bar about 60 steps from the boat where you can get an icy beer under shady trees…..but tourist season was beginning and things were getting crowded.Continue reading “Crete to Astypalia 2025”

Crete to Canada

Surprisingly, there is not a word in English for suffering something that hasn’t happened yet. One of my favorite phrases is “don’t suffer future pain” which is both good Buddhist and Stoic advice…..and here I am mourning leaving Crete while I am still here. In the marina I step out every morning and admire theContinue reading “Crete to Canada”

8 Weeks at Anchor, Now Back to Crete

This was our 4th summer on the boat and our shortest at just under 8 weeks. We were late starting because of required maintenance, and we had to come back early because Victoria has a dentist appointment in Athens in September. We travelled exactly 400nm and just over 1/3 of that total is leaving CreteContinue reading “8 Weeks at Anchor, Now Back to Crete”

Hanging Out In Kos

It is the end of July, and we have been anchored at the same spot for almost 2 weeks. Normally we would move after a week or so, but this year we are not heading anywhere, This place is close to perfect. We have good restaurants, a decent grocery store and we have lots ofContinue reading “Hanging Out In Kos”

Astypalia to Kos: Smooth Sailing

We sailed to Kos on Thursday July 18th . We picked the day because of the forecasted light winds and < 1m waves. We wanted an easy sailing day. The winds were a little more from the west than predicted so we had the 15 knot winds from almost behind us. If we had ourContinue reading “Astypalia to Kos: Smooth Sailing”

Hanging Out in Astypalia

We originally planned to stay in our nice comfortable bay for a week and then follow our friend’s boat to Kos, but it was just too pleasant here. We are in a nice big perfect sandy bottom bay with good holding, a short boat ride to shore and quite a few restaurants to choose from.Continue reading “Hanging Out in Astypalia”

Return to Astypalia

The only negative thing about keeping the boat in Crete is that the first leg away is always long. A 15 or 16+ hour trip is a long day. We left at 4am expecting decent winds for sailing with light seas and prepared the boat accordingly. The night was pitch black. Leaving was navigating byContinue reading “Return to Astypalia”