Guest Blog Post by Chelsea McNally
As the sun tackled the moon across the skyline, KORA set sailed for Kolona beach on the island of Kythnos. The trip felt very long but it was only 4 hours. Aunty Karen, Oscar and I played golf (a card game), but then I felt really sick and vomited off the side of the boat. Poor me! But after about 20 minutes I was all better again and even poured out a family size (village size!) bag of chips, which I enjoyed very much.
Then we got to Kolona beach, one of the most famous beaches in Greece because it has a long strip of sand running up the middle with the sea on both sides! Aunty Karen, Oscar and I dove in the clear water and swam to the beach. Aunty Karen needed a pool noodle 😉, but me and Oscar were racing to the beach. Aunty Karen was so sad she did not have any goggles so she couldn’t swim very fast (or her contacts would get wet). She told us a funny story about how when she was little she would go in the backyard pool with all her siblings and see who could do the most laps of the pool underwater without breathing. Apparently Steve (AKA my dad) fainted once when he got out of the pool. He got the family record of 7 laps when competing against Grandad who only got a little over 4 laps.
Shortly afterward, two people came up to us on their boat (well….paddleboard!) and Oscar and I hijacked it and rode away with it leaving Aunty Karen behind. The paddleboarders were my Mum and Dad, hehe! But Oscar and I wanted to reach KORA before them so I paddled as fast as I could (I was actually very slow 😬), but we made it their first. With so many boats in the popular anchorage moving back and forth we had to be careful we didn’t get crushed along the way, but no big deal!
So yeah that was that. It was a very fun beach stop. I absolutely love anchoring and swimming off of the boat!!!
Next we sailed to Loutra, a little seaside village on Kythnos that’s famous for its natural hot water springs, and docked at a marina there. While Uncle Doug and Steve were having a beer at the boat, Mum, Aunty Karen, Oscar and I had a ice-cream because we were too hot. And then we made it to the beach. And then we headed to the hot springs and beach.
Mum and Aunty Karen Kept calling it a “spa” … well, it wasn’t exactly what I was expecting! (IT WAS SO HOT I CALL IT THE BOILER 🔥.) The hot spring water flows straight into a rock pool area that empties into the sea, so you can swim between really hot water and cool water. Then we cooled off with a swim at the beach right next to it which was so cold and refreshing.
After we left the beach we all got ready for dinner. We all dressed fancy schmancy and walked out to a restaurant beside the beach with a view of KORA. And there were so many cats! Ones with stripes, one with one eye, one with its tongue hanging out and ones that were greedy for some bread and my fried squid. But I think he found a crab so maybe that will make a better dinner (can you see it in the photo?).
We all ordered a lot of stuff. I got the fried squid, Dad and Uncle Doug got the local goats even though there was no goat in sight. They named their goats – Uncle Doug named his Joe and Steve named his one Billy. A bit weird, but I can’t blame them. I named all of the cats in the restaurant. Aunty Karen got mussels and kindly shared some with Oscar and I. She said she was the perfect child in her family (she has three younger brothers, including Steve). I agree! (Maybe Nanna and Grandad can tell me if she is right???) Oscar got the best pasta in the world and Mum got the shrimp pasta. Every meal was delicious. We are loving the restaurants here in Greece!
And then we headed back home stopping to get Aunty Karen some aqua kids goggles on our way because there was only kids ones of course. Dad tested them for her and says they’re actually really good!
Then KORA rocked us to sleep with a “beautiful” view of the boat next to us. Ok bye. Stay tuned for the next episode! (That’s just what Aunty Karen writes!) Also I forgot to mention that I spotted a dolphin while out on the water today – no one believed me at first, but they were so excited when they saw it! But can you find it in the photo???
I hope we see one closer next time!!! Ok byeeeeeeeeeeeee.
