I certainly didn’t think so at the time, but Oman Air did us a big favour in cancelling our original flight, and forcing us to arrive in Greece a day earlier than planned, rather than a day later. Had we stuck to the original plans, we’d still be in Athens right now, instead of enjoying life here on the beautiful small island of Koufonisi. Why is that? Well, on Friday, the weather turned crazily windy, gusting at over 100 kms per hour, making the seas so high that for safety reasons, ALL ferry boat services were cancelled. Luckily for us, we had already left Piraeus on Thursday, on what would turn out to be the last ferry to Koufonisia before the authorities decided to suspend all ferry services to the Aegean islands.

We left on the large car ferry Hi Speed 4, a catamaran built at Henderson Shipyards in Perth — even the hand-dryers in the toilets were Made in Australia. As the hi-peak season is now over, it was relatively uncrowded on board, and our first class VIP lounge on the upper deck made for a very comfortable and fast journey, stopping only at Paros and Naxos, before arriving in Koufonisia at noon.

As usual, Costa Brassinos, the Port Captain, was on the wharf to oversee the normal chaos, as well as to check out who was arriving. It wouldn’t be the same if we didn’t get his special greeting — a big hug for me, and an even bigger, longer and more passionate hug for YM. Mmm.

The only car and driver not waiting on the wharf was the one supposed to pick us up. After ten minutes, the only passengers left on the wharf were two lonely Australians. I called Giorgos’ wife in Athens. “He’s not there?” she said, followed by a colourful expletive. “I will call him now, you wait.” Five minutes later we spotted a car speeding across the town beach — Giorgos in his old Jeep, arriving with a smile as big as his face, not a word of apology, straight into a group hug. “Lipamei, Signomei!” (I’m sorry, so sorry.) You can’t help but like young Giorgos.

Arriving at Villa Pambelos, we were warmly greeted by Lola from Egypt and Renata, the crazy Dominican cook who greets me with a “Hola…. Yia Sou” every morning. It’s good to be back. And lucky to be here.

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Read next:
→ The Birthday Party — Mad Petros and the 60th celebration that followed
→ The Fish Trap — a quiet night on Koufonisia that wasn’t
→ All Koufonisia posts — the full island story from 2012 to now