To Kımolos June 17th

Today I was designated driver of the van and trailer but one of the pleasures of thıs horse shoe shaped island ıs that ıt ıs never too far to go in the vehıcle though road access with trailer might be questionable. I am aided by Rick´s pre-scoutıng knowledge as he has driven almost every road on this island. It was a big day for the paddlers and Seth was celebratıng hıs 50th birthday - so beıng a year older he could be a little slower!! (just kıdding folks!) I picked him a bunch of wild flowers for a birthday bouquet that he adorned hıs kayak with as a small posey as long as the hibiscus flowers stayed joyful. After the customary Greek breakfast of yogurt and honey, coffee and hard boiled eggs and bread - the fleet left (keepıng Milos on their left)
I got to paddle for the first hour as a morning gift to myself I only had to worry about the growing list of errands Rick had given me to do back in Adamas and making the car ferry ın time(sans trailer) to the island of Kimolos!
What can I say but the GOD`s are favored here and another 82 degree+ cloudless day was our canvas , the breeze creating playful brushstrokes on the sea...
We came across some catacombs and a lovely beach beneath them and explored a little though a couple of our shade-loving clients found crab-like spots ın the shade of a rock until we were ready to depart...
I returned back to Palechorıa to load my kayak and hitch the trailer and set off on a winding drıve wıth some lovely glımpses of the blue jewel of the bay to my left...I love drıvıng a manual/stıck shıft! Ran my errands ın town, checked the weather forecast on the internet and then sped to Pallonıa ( seasıde town on the NW corner of Milos) left the traıler by a nearby beach and made ıt to the ferry with moments to spare (after drıvıng down a no exıt street and havıng to back a consıderable dıstance) in an attempt to find the road to the jetty.
As I sat on the ferry recoverıng from my sweaty race my thoughts went to the troopers out there paddlıng their little hearts out- where were they now? Had they started the open water crossıng yet?
I found our rooms ın the little pebbly bay of Aliki, put bags in rooms and then hightailed it out of there in search of a fantastic place to sunset hike to - to complete Seth's birthday celebration.

Kimolos is a tranquil sleepy ısland where tıme stands stıll really... and the locals are not for any tourıst development and I soon dıscovered that the Hora (town centre) where most of all ıt's 700 inhabitants live is not friendly to vehicles ı.e our ''big beast'' The town ıs not really drıvable at all as the roads narrow and there ıs no where to turn around...so I found myself backıng back down a 100m stretch of road where my passage was prevented by a parked car and nothıng to the rıght but a small concrete rim to prevent me from falling off this particular cliff...so 'a-backing I did go' back down thıs narrow alley wıth brick walls and houses - that the people came out to guide me... It was hot! I was sweatıng profusely and there was no option other than to just back the damn thing...
suddenly fındıng myself wıth a little space to turn around I was suddenly free and made a mental note not to take that road again as long as I live as I retraced my steps... I was ın search of the road to a mushroom shaped rock up hıgh wıth an island vista and got lost several more times - but met a nice man who didn't speak a lick of English but we could grunt and point and spatter the air wıth a few words like Agios (church) Kastro (castle) and point and he let me follow hım partway up the loose gravel road then he checked my axle and seemed to think I was ok and sent me on my way...
I decided to save time I would let us do the rest when ıt was necessary - no poınt ın gıvıng the van a few clues of ıt`s impendıng perils ahead of schedule. I headed back to town ınsearch of some snacks for the hıke and found nothıng to be open. I mean not even a supermarket or bakery. NOTHING! But of course I dıd get myself ın a perılous ,no possıblıty of turnıng around pıckle again this time my passage stopped by an oncoming car and a 1000yr old building ın the way. I backed up enough to let the car pass but there I was again faced wıth fastly developıng backıng skills traınıng when another vehicle honked me from behind... it was my very own 'O Agıos de Kımolos' - my own saınt! - the very same man who had met me on the gravel road, let me follow hım, checked my axle and sent me upwards...now here he was in town and he asked in Greek if I made ıt to the mushroom (skardıa) as he backed my van back down the long narrow windıng streets of Hora to the safety of a town parkıng lot (why did I not notice that before?)Yes he was my saınt!!

Kimolos has over 90 churches most of them placed ın places of vısıons or buılt to saınts and protectors of the land as thıs was an ısland once called Argenterıa (for ıt's silver like cliffs) and was popular wıth the pirates - where the locals would seek refuge within the castle walls. It has a colorful hıstory for ıt's valuable chalk but for now I must get back to the kayakers who have arrived and are awaiting further instruction...and i still have snacks to find for the hike!
Until next I write
Kalı Nıkta
Wendy

Psathi...and we're off!!

The southern coast of Milos provides some protection from the prevailing Northerly winds and was a great choice for the commencement of our counter/anticlockwise journey around Milos...we put in at Psathi a small cove and headed east...the cliffs are white and chalky, the land windswept and fairly barren - n'ary a wandering goat to be seen nor the sweet fragrances of thyme and oregano to be inhaled (yes I am missing my Grecian homeland of Creta - can you tell? The water is undeniably stunningly clear, azurean blue with those cobalt blue visions beneath though sadly lacking in much sealife at all... not a cloud in the sky as our armada of mango and red kayaks set forth...
"Remember...Keep Milos on your left and you won't get lost" - I announce from my position of sweeper.I am always full of such wise words of wisdom this early in the morning!!

We stop for lunch in Provatas - a place with a geothermal spring in a cave somewhere (though we were unable to find it) in fact Milos was known for it's sulphur mines until the mines closed in 1958 as the price dropped dramatically.and we definitely can smell that familiar( I'm from geothermically active Middle Earth NZ) "salt of the earth" kind of smell of sulphur as we paddle along the cliffs here. We explore caves and weave amongst the rock gardens - Milos is an island of caves, known for some caves that pirates even hid in back in the days when pirates more openly roamed the seas...the geology is as diverse as Crete - volcanic conglomorate rock, some limestone, chalk which all give it a blend of "solid fragility" - where the pounding seas have carved their way inland creating these caves ...
A night spent in Paleachora, a beachside retreat...with hot springs just off shore and the restaurant "Sirroco" that we dined at - slow cooked it's meals buried in the hot sand(hangi style) Temperature 50degrees C just beneath it's balcony...
To end our first full day of kayaking...and to reward some tired muscles I offered a moonlit massage beneath the skies canopy of stars...
Kali nikta,

Wendy

Miles of Milos... June 15th

It has been a long time since I have seen a computer so no chance to write but just completed our first circumnavigation of Milos.I am going to write these as a series so as to cover the richness of our travels.
JUNE 15th,
After a day of instruction on the water and practicing wet exits and forward and sweep strokes in the beautiful sheltered horseshoe bay we can indeed confirm that the water as always is 82 degrees divine...and as always sunny! Our group of eager paddlers range in age from 13yr old Noah and his 16 yr old sister Zoey from Evanston, Illinois to Michael an adventurous lively Canadian Brit who states he doesn't feel a day over 74! ( when in fact he is 75) This is Michael's third trip with NWP though he is apparently no stranger to adventure travel and has seen the world from the seat of his kayak with many different outfitters, also enjoying bike touring...that the week is full of his small rich observant antidotes or jokes delivered with his fabulously dry sense of humor and youthful sparkle in his eye.
There will be 15 of us (including Dirk who will join us from Crete tomorrow) RIck and I are back from my most recent trip to Creta last fall
We watched the sunset from the Panorama hotel in Klima as we gathered for welcome drinks...and introductions. Tomorrow we begin the start of our adventure- circumnavigating the islands of Milos and Kimolos, little or no places for lunch or tavernas and sadly for the coffee drinkers no real capuccino stops along the way as we have on offer when paddling on Crete!! Trying to find snack food that will survive some hot days in a kayak could prove to be challenging. But really there could be more to worry about if i was so inclined...but alas I'll have to leave the chocolate behind...

I have arrived on Milos!

Kalimeras,
...As I stood on the deck of my ferry last night looking up at the dark starry sky with it's orbital glow of the moon...I soon forgot my jetlag fatigue and long planes flights and felt how amazingly different I felt for that deep inhalation of the salt air and the vision of the sea with dark silhouettes of islands as we sailed by..
Ah how lucky I am to be back on the Aegean sea and I had 9 hours of a ferry ride to contemplate this very thought though of course I treated my self to a berth so I did catch a few hours of sleep and a nice hot shower. I arrived here on Milos at 2am this morning and believe it or not was met at the ferry by my roommate deTraci! DeTraci our Minoan Goddess expert and I have been on several trips together as some of you may remember...we talked until 3am and then promptly fell asleep.
Milos is known for it's Venus de Milo statue that was found here and it appears that all hotels seem to have a model of her in their gardens - at least ours does! Of course now the original sits at the Louvre in Paris.
On first glimpses seen on my drive to the airport this morning to pick up some clients is that Milos or the town of Adamas is set on a beautiful large bay, our kayaks are already laid out on the beach ready for this afternoon's paddle. the interior of the island is sparse and rocky with lots of mining.This is an exploratory trip so hopefully everyone has arrived with spirit of adventure that such a trip demands... it WILL be fun and I hope the weather and winds are running in our favor!!
I made all my flight connections though did have to sprint through the airport in Vienna...but to be honest the exercise felt good to my tangled legs from my middle row economy seat enroute from Chicago. My Lufthansa flight was the first plane I have flown in that had the bathroom facilities downstairs!! Fancy!!
This weekend is a big Greek holiday weekend for Pentecost so Monday is a public holiday so things are buzzing here and most ferries were full except my slow car ferry...
Anyway as always not sure what my internet access will be like especially when we head to the remoter parts of the island (not even sure where we will be sleeping!!) but I'll keep you posted when I can.
With love from the sea,
Wendy

Frequent flyer joys?

I just got my itinerary today -oh the joys of "the imaginative frequent flyer"! I believe these are Delta miles being exchanged here but they sure want to see if I can quickly readapt myself to airport connection strategies...seeing if I still have what it takes to be the savvy,sure and quick footed voyager.
On a previous flight to kayak guide on the Southern Coast of Crete, Greece I had a connection through Paris and anyone who has landed at CDG airport(Charles de Gaulle - for those less acquainted)know that its layout though seemingly simple is always under construction and when I had had the displeasure of an action packed 45minutes layover including the "wait forever on the tarmac for the bus to fill up with all the slow pokes" for the epic and always courteous "welcome to paris" ride to the terminal, a delightful if not slightly stressful oscar award nominee winning push through customs...followed by a superbly executed and pre-meditated sprint through the airport...to arrive athletic prowess glowing(and perspiring)to a standing ovation from the flight deck at the next terminal on last boarding call or sometimes just a closed door/gate or a foreign accented ' sorry ma'am...if you'd like to go and stand in the customer service line ( oh that one, the long one that snakes around and is interwoven with another)...they will be happy to rebook you onto the next flight (if there is one)"
Sometimes if one is lucky the plane has been delayed...except of course if there was meant to be another sprint interval at the next connection!!
For now this trip I am flying Chicago - Munich - Vienna - Athens- Milos...only 4 flights...not bad!!with only one 45minute transfer challenge thus far!
My return home from Turkey has me with three internal flights on Turkish Air, then connecting through Frankfurt en route back to Chicago. Wish me luck!

Sometimes, if one is patient,persistent and knowledgeable with the frequent flyer mileage programs and is willing to chat for 2.5 hours on the phone to a complete stranger that by the end of the conversation we have laughed and cried and shared travel stories and jokes et voila! I have procured for myself a ticket home to New Zealand with a 5 day lay over in Honolulu.Someone has got to do it!! Thank you United and Air New Zealand! A special thanks to Paul at the Chicago United Airlines Call Center for just doing a great job, and sharing my breakfast, conversations with my roommate Pascale and commute with me...

Bon voyage...

So here I go...

Well I guess it would be good to get the introductions over and done with so I can get on to sharing the next few exciting adventures I have coming up in my life... for quite some time now I have been sharing my stories with family and friends when I travel via email and have always been a "wanna-be" travel writer... so with some encouragement I am here to try the "blog approach" to make my writings more accessible and to not arrive home to find I had forgotten to add someone to my email list...and they believe I have become a victim of the Ashram "Reprogram" Program in Rishikesh , India!!

I actually did come back from a month travelling in Northern India with my great travelling buddy Kristin and we did spend some time in an Ashram learning the Guyatri mantra, meditation, and some hatha yoga..as well as my own indoctrination through that rite of passage of "Delhi Belly"

...We spent some terrific days hiking the hills, camping beside the Ganges and whitewater rafting with Snow Leopard Adventures. Please note the Ganges we paddled, swam and were dunked into was not the always sacred but polluted waters that we experienced in Varanasi - where the pilgrims come to be blessed by the Great Mother, The Ganga...we were thankfully near the source of her, near the Himilayas where the water runs brisk in Class 3,4 rapidity and mountain spring cold....

Though never the less our Canadian guide Joe told us in the few months he had been rafting there he had witnessed 8 floating dead bodies on their own spiritual run down the river...

Kristin and I had climbed Mt Kilimanjaro together in Tanzania and lived through lions in the campground in the Serengeti and she had survived being my roommate/flatmate for a few years...so we knew we could survive a little sacred water of questionable quality gulps from the Ganga...as we had gleefully "hooped and hollered"our way down the "roller coaster", driving "the ship" as the only westerners in our raft full of nonswimming and Sawar Kammeez and sari wearing Indian women and their families!

Anyway I digress a little...

I love to write, love to kayak, work parttime as a kayak guide for an adventure travel company in Wilmette, Illinois and have my own practice as a physical therapist. I am from New Zealand and the love of the outdoors runs deep from my childhood, I consider the Pacific ocean to be " my ocean"... when I stand on a shore near her I feel I am almost home...that the waters reach all the way to Aotearoa. (NZ). I feel truly blessed to have grown up in such an amazing country and it will always be home to me.

For now, I live 2 blocks from Chicago's biggest jewel - Lake Michigan- in the not so small college town/city of Evanston...

I used to say the 2 best things about Chicago were " O'Hare and Midway"...and it is true I still take every gift and chance to travel when I can...

So what's next for me?

I leave this Friday to guide a trip circumnavigating the island of Milos, Greece by kayak,..followed by a dessert of Turkish delight sailing a Gullet and kayaking along the Turquoise coast...

I know, I know...someone has got to do it!

-Breezegirl