PARADISE - Down Under

Paradise......with a bit of DownUnder 

Saturday, the last of August, and as we approach our fourth and final month abroad, we find Paradise. After an immigration stop early in the morning, we sail to Antipaxos, a small Greek island in the Ionian Sea, too small to have a large cruise ship, hurray!

As we approach, on a navy blue sea, we spy the bands of blue and then turquoise waters leading to the small sand beach.  We anchor close in and while the crew is out in the dinghy tying the rope onto the rocks and putting out the swim buoys, we rush into our 'cossies' that show a bit of our 'boozies'  (that is Aussie talk for bathing suits from the more formal swim costumes and a nicer word than most slang for boobs.....more Aussie vocab later) and climb the ladder down into the sea and float. 

We watch as our best swimmer, Patricia, the thinnest on board in the smallest bikini, dives off the first deck,  two meters high. 

That began the contests as others jumped, dove or belly flopped into the water, with the floaters egging them on and yelling out scores from one to ten. But the winner was one of our sailors, bravely, and to us death defyingly, jumped from the top deck, past the lower deck rails and into the sea.....a perfect nine.

After lunch, the dinghy is lowered to ferry us to the beach and Steve and I and Sheila are the first ones in and onto the beach. 

 Others follow and soon in crystal clear waters with white sands bottoms, we find we are getting our own free fish pedicures, compliments of little white fish nibbling at our toes, then our thighs. Everyone jumps and shouts at each little 'bite', we lay at the edge of the sand, waves lapping, for our own brand of free thalassotherapy, as Deb and then Sue hike to the bar and return with cold cans of beer for all to enjoy while floating in the Sea.

We take the last dinghy back and shower while we sail round to Paxos to dock for the night. Although Spiros has put out great meals, we can use a break and we decide to have dinner on shore. A five minute walk beings us to town, full of really charming Greek tavernas lining streets along the water. Everyone from the boat is strolling, some of the women gather to shop while others find a spot on the square with WiFi and beer. By the time we join them, there are 14 of us for dinner and we head to a place recommended to Steve by the shop owner where he bought his new Greek sailing sweater. 

We sit outside, under an arbor of grapevines and order pitchers of red and white wine, while Sheila organizes dinner, ordering a family style feast for the table. Out comes spinach pie and fried sardines and fishcakes and calamari and, and, and....that was just the starters. We had one long table with non stop conversation and laughter.  And although I have probably said this ten or 20 times in my 80 or so blogs, this was the best day so far. Perfect sail, perfect swim, perfect beach, perfect food, and perfect company. 

We have no idea how we got so lucky to end up on a boat with 30 of the friendliest, most fun and inclusive group of, mostly crazy Aussies. There is one group of eight from the East Coast ( their East Coast!) belatedly celebrating a 50th birthday and totally surprising Chris, the birthday boy, first showing up at a Dubrovnik restaurant and then taking him to the boat. There is another group of six, lead by smart and kinda sassy Sheila, each one nicer than the other. There is Andrea and Mark, whose sole purpose is to indoctrinate us into  Aussie vocabulary. 

There is the Western contingent, a bit more reserved but just as nice, which includes Henne, the other blogger on the boat. There are Gary and Sue, the true worldwide travelers with 67 countries and over 6800 cities under their belt, who besides traveling are committed naturists ( but not on the boat). We have a few singles, who blend seamlessly and an incredible crew who treat us like family. 

We all make it back to the boat at different times from midnight to curfew, 4am-me coming in on the early side, Steve in the middle. Early am we head to Corfu where we spend the morning in the rather unimaginative town along with the 3,000 passengers from the Ruby Princess. 

 

THE RUBY PRINCES - And our ship, the PanOrama...look to the bottom left of the big ship, and find the 3 masts....

Oh well, can't have a perfect day everyday, unless you can spend it on Antipaxos!