June 7 - Donousa Island

We awoke after a wonderful night’s rest to amazingly vivid blue water, clear skies and temperature around 72 degrees.  Captain Benoit prepared a simple yet elegant breakfast that consisted of fresh bread from Iraklia, French press coffee, orange & strawberry marmalade and freshly squeezed orange juice.  It only takes one of these oranges to make a cup of juice!  The juice is perfect – not sour or bitter.

            We quickly jumped in the water for an invigorating swim because it was time to depart and sail to our next paradise.

            We raised the sail but unfortunately didn’t have enough wind to reach our lunch destination so we “made our own wind” and soon arrived at our own private beach on a small rocky and mountainous island in the crystal clear clean Aegean Sea.  We anchored in a small natural harbor almost between  two islands and in close proximity to the beach.  The name of this beauty is Makares. Shortly after arriving we saw a seal several hundred yards away.  Without considering the temperature, rockiness of the shore or lunch, I dove in the chilly waters with 2 flippers and my mask with snorkel.  There is an abundance of sear “grass” that grows in clumps at the bottom of the sea that often detaches and lands onshore.  These blades look deep purple in color, are about 12 inches long and are very thin.  I did see some fish but mostly the black ominous spearing sea urchins.  The fish that welcomed us were green with yellow/orange straipes in a nautical pattern .  They were more than 7-8 inches in length.  I swam ashore and the first thing I noted were the beautiful smooth stones.  Colors ranged from dark blue to orange to purple, white, black and even green and I placed a few in my pocket to take to Sam for his rock collection.  After walked ashore, I quickly understood that shoes are a must due to the rocky land.  Regardless, I climbed up a small hill/rock on the shore to see our boat anchored in her own harbor.  The seclusion and privacy of this beautiful paradise amazes me.  Scott, Davis and Logan all swam to the beach and appeared to have the chills when they arrived.  Scott was comfortable tbut the boys wanted the dinghy to bring them back to the Morgkan (Scott said “no way!”).  I swam back with a hunger for Bertand’s gourmet lunch. 

            Fortunately, he was prepared as well and for lunch we dined on grilled chicken that had been boiled while we were sailing.  We also were fortunate enough to enjoy tzatziki, fresh bread, white wine and more.  For dessert he served honedew and apples with a sweet candy like concoction called Amorgasia. Shortly after lunch Brittany and I snuck off the boat in the dingy while the Bolton’s napped. We rowed around the island to another little rock cove which wasn’t visible from the boat.  We drug the dingy onto the rocky shore and tied it to one of the large gray boulders jutting out of the beach. She decided to bathe in the sun while I explored Makeres (with shoes this time). 

            The rocky shore reminded me of the many islands in the South Pacific. Each rocky shore juts out into the sea enough to make one sure it is the leading edge of the island.  However, each rocky protrusion, once reached leads to another view of the next “edge of the island”.  Between each earthen protrusion, God placed beautiful pools of blue and aquamarine water that, as usual, is wonderfully crystal clear.

            I told our captain I would take a photograph of the Morgkan in the natural harbor from halfway up the cliff I was climbing.  So, with both our cameras I attempted to portray the elegance of his boat in the beautiful nature in which it was surrounded.  The picture can’t do it justice but will be a reminder to me and hopefully a blessing to him.  I can’t even imagine how amazing heaven will be if a small glimpse of paradise is only a fraction of the real thing!  The small glimpse seems overwhelming in beauty to me.

            Following our picture taking “op” we hopped in the dinghy and rowed back to the sailboat.  We found our esteemed captain preparing the boat for the afternoon journey and we continued to watch in awe of how effective he is as our one-man crew!  He allowed me to steer this beautiful vessel from Makeres to Donousa.  We arrived in Danousa about 1.5 hours prior to sunset and our beloved captain recommended we hip up the hill to a beautiful white church with blue shutters (like every other building on the unique islands) to observe the sunset.  We made the hike and learned it was indeed beautiful and perfect for extravagant photo opportunities. 

            It was a treat to watch the Bolton boys during the hike.  Ethan is starting his teenage years and is undergoing the transition from boy to man.  He gets along so very well with Logan and Davis that I pray my boys will treat each other as well as he treats them.  Logan is ALWAYS thinking and analyzing.  He has an incredible brain that I have relied upon often during this trip to remember foods, facts and places.  He too is kind and gentle-hearted.  So far I haven’t an argument or exchange of hurtful words amongst them.  Davis, on the other hand, always had a giddy grin on his face and it is usually giggling.  He is full of so much joy and laughter that it becomes contagious.  I can’t count the number of times during this trip that he has caused me to laugh just from looking at him. 

            Anyway, they haven’t complained or whined at all throughout this adventure. Davis can be entranced for hours with rocks!  Ethan can also be content for a long time by skipping rocks in the water.  In fact, that may be the only thing I have seem from him besides listening to podcasts, playing cards/backgammon or reading on this trip.  I pray my boys will be half as great as these boys are!

            The only negative to the rock throwing is when there is a Greek man swimming in the water a “stones throw” away.  This is a bad thing because the boys throw stones precisely the distance a “stones throw” turns out to be and the poor Greek swimmer involuntarily played a game of “dodge-rock” with the silly American boys because the silly American boys didn’t know the Greek swimmer was there. Fortunately he was a good swimmer and quickly learned how to maneuver beyond a stones throw to reach safety.

            We hiked back down to the harbor and sat at another open air tavern just 30-40 feet from the edge of the sea.  While the clan ordered dinner I kept walking westward to see the sunset because it would not have been visible from the church we had just visited.  I walked about 1/5 of a mile before finding a westward protrusion of land with nothing but water between myself and the sun.

            For the next 25 minutes God granted me a beautiful view of the incredibly vivid sunset.  I used the “time lapse” photos to document the setting sun and I think it timed out rather well.  The serenity and peace of contemplating that same view for thousands of years was overwhelming but also calming.  The blessing of have experienced from slowing down and relaxing has been priceless.  After sunset, I walked back to the tavern where someone had already ordered me octopus!  It was cooked In a sauce that is typical of many Grecian meats and tastes like a mixture of cinnamon, cloves, anise and something I’m not familiar with.  Again, our extremely capable captain graced us with his presence and told stores of his life on the sea.  It was another incredible meal which has become rather the norm for every dining experience.

            After acquiring satiety some bought ice cream and enjoyed it on the way back to our boat.  Our oat was fortunately docked next to a fishing boat and we noticed the crew checking and preparing their nets for their next excurision.  WE all prepared for another wonderful night of rest and feel asleep in this huge cradle and slept like babies until the next morning  with anticipating more beatuful landscapes, good food, good company and exciting adventures waiting just around the “leading edge” of the island.