Spirit of Discovery blog

Weaving past various Greek islands, not on our itinerary, overnight, brought Spirit of Discovery a few miles off Mykonos old town and its little picturesque harbour shortly after 7am on Monday morning.

I anchored the ship as close as possible to the harbour entrance, which meant only a 5 minute tender trip straight into the pretty waterfront. There is a cruise berth nearby (in fact, a large Norwegian Cruise Line ship was utilising it today) however it’s a while out of town and necessitates a 15 minute shuttle bus ride in to the outskirts of town, so if the weather is good then tendering is the preferred method of landing here.

It’s perfectly pleasant to wander the streets of this old town and enjoy a drink or fantastic meal in one of the numerous little local bars lining the waterfront. This is exactly what Chief Engineer Mark and I achieved too, finding an hour or so at lunchtime to sample the local delights. Naturally, Mark chose an expensively situated prime shoreline seafood restaurant with it being my turn to pay, and of course he was not disappointed when the bill eventually arrived for what must have been 3 kilograms worth of fresh moules, calamari and grilled lamb with tzatziki.

Many guests opted for one of the organised tours today, and with a good number of these being a half day excursion it provided the perfect opportunity to go further afield for part of the day and then explore locally for the remaining part. The nearby so-called sacred island of Delos (upon which, legend has it, that it is not permitted to either be born or die) was one such trip, sporting various temples, fountains, ruins and markets – indeed plenty of Greek tick-boxes to be had there.

Alternatively, there were scenic drives, walks, beaches and vineyards to be enjoyed on other trips. A stunning day weather-wise, there wasn’t an unhappy face stepping back on board after the return tender trip late that afternoon. With everyone back on board at sunset, we weighed our anchor again and headed in a general northerly direction towards the Dardanelles – a small channel of water about 35 miles in length leading to the sea of Marmara and Istanbul.

Kind Regards
Captain Kim Tanner