nostalgia and pilgrimage

We came with the family to Spartochori many years ago as part of a flotilla and loved it . So returning was like welcoming an old friend , with an anxiety that our memories were flawed, or that it had changed with increasing tourism and commercialism.
We needn't have worried. It was almost exactly the same, other than a few new apartments around the coast.
The village towered over our anchorage at the top of steep cliffs and the hike up to it was not any easier than I remember.
The panoramic view of the whole sailing area was worth it and the village was as beautiful and unspoiled as before. 2 small  tavernas and a supermarket were tucked into the twisty twiny street laden with bougainvillea and pots of geraniums. Lovely.

We decided that spending the day languishing in the beautiful bay was unadulterated laziness. There are so many beautiful spots to see and only 2 weeks left on this trip!
 We therefore made the pilgrimage to Vounaki  and Palaeros.
We first came here in about 1998 for our first sailing experience with Sunsail. At the time they ran a watersport club at Vounaki and offered sailing lessons. Colin had  previously crewed a few times for various friends but not had any formal sailing teaching. I had never been in a yacht before or done any sailing . Our kids were young - youngest being about 6-7. The club ran fantastic childrens' clubs, including all water sports. It meant that they had the chance to learn windsurfing and dingy sailing and we had a chance to undertake the 3 day sailing courses.
We then, rather bravely on retrospect, had planned to take a yacht on flotilla in the second week.
We had a fantastic week , although it had its anxious moments. On the last day we were due to return to the Vounaki base. There was a storm due but the skipper was keen to get the boats back in time. He reassured us that if we left early enough we would miss it . We didn't. We were blasted by huge winds and electric storm. The sea churned around us and we couldn't hear each other yell over the wind which must have been >40 knots.Everything flapped and lines flogged. Trying to reef under pressure was not as easy as we had practised, with everything under huge tension. We were pretty terrified, as were the rest of the flotilla , and the VHF channel was full of scared people shrieking alarm.

I do believe I can remember someone crying ' Oh my God, we're all going to die!!' Our kids had found the benign sunny sailing somewhat boring, but this was fun at last and they, strapped on to the boat as it heaved, sang loud sea shanties and ignored the pettrified look on my face. We made it back to Vounaki to find every member of staff on the pontoon, including the kitchen staff and chef in full whites, and managed stern-to parking without loss of life, limb or damage.
One hour later the storm had gone and it was a mill pond again . We felt that we had survived an apocalypse.
I suppose for many this would have been the end of sailing experience. However, anyone who knows us are aware of a certain determination ....Besides, in the de-brief we realised that :
1. We had managed to do everything more or less correctly.
2. Storms in these parts are usually very short lived .
3. Had we not been under pressure by others, we would not have sailed that day because of the forecast of storms. Bad decisions are often made when you ignore the weather report because of time imperatives.
4.The skipper had been wrong, once we were under pressure of the storm, to direct us back to base. Asking anyone to berth under these circumstances was daft. Several of the boats were damaged in the process. It would have been much more sensible to ask us to weather it out for a bit longer and see it out before trying to berth .
So it challenged us and we came back home determined to learn more. We bought our little Centaur ' Dolittle' and have been on a learning curve ever since. I still have a very long way to go before I can feel anything like competent , but being back here in this area, in our own boat, feels like a sort of achievement .

Vounaki ..the low red roofs visible

So we sailed past Vounaki, raising a cheer for the happy times we had there. It is now under the ownership of Nielson and good to see that it is a going concern. It looks unchanged and flourishing .

we remember this eclectic menu . excellent curry !

We carried on to the small town of Palairos nearby and berthed stern-to with anchor, against the town wall. It's an unpretentious place.. still a working rural village but embracing the tourists with a few nice restaurants lined up along the beach .
We have interesting neighbours. Irish Geraldine on Venus on our port , 2 Italian blokes and their dog on our starboard. Much good banter and camaraderie.