In October we rented a sailboat for a week with some of our friends from Doha and sailed the Greek Islands. Specifically the Cyclades Islands. We left from the port of Lavrio which is about 50 miles from Athens. Our captain 'Marco' has been sailing these waters his whole life and doing charters for the past 12 years. Our boat was a 55ft sailboat with 5 cabins (4 for us for the captain) called the Wave Dancer (http://www.charterworld.com/index.html?sub=yacht-charter&charter=alba-iv-wavedancer-426). When we booked the trip we decided what port to leave from and arrive at and left the rest of the itinerary up to the Captain. October is a tricky time for weather in this area. As we left the port the weather started to get bad and the captain decided that we'd skip the first island (Kynos) and go straight to Syros. It was 7 hrs of sailing on the first day and half of us (including Steve and myself) helped to feed the fish (so to say).
Syros was a great island because the Marina was right next to the main strip of cafes that overlooked the sea. We could step off the boat and be sipping cappuccinos within a few steps. We spent 2 days on Syros to let the weather clear and enjoyed walking through the streets, visiting the shops, and just being on dry land for awhile.
The next island we visited was Mykonos. This island is known for it's night life. October is considered the low season for the Greek Islands so we found most things to be closed. We spent the afternoon walking around town and found a nice small bar with a great balcony for viewing the famous sunsets. In high season these kind of balconies come with a 2-3 hour wait (so we heard) but we had the whole place to ourselves.
Next island we visited was Paros. We spent a day here enjoying the sites. By about this time the side affects from the sea motion sickness patches kicked in. Dry mouth and dilated pupils. We dealt with the dry mouth by switching to white wine rather than red - the dilated pupils were a bigger problem because you can't read. I had to rely on Steve or the waiter to figure out what to order.
The plan was to visit Ios next but another storm was moving in so the Captain decided to get us to Naxos where we spent our final 2 days. Naxos was a great island because it is huge. We spent an afternoon and the most of the next day riding around on 4-wheelers (to avoid anymore scooter accidents) and seeing the little towns sprinkled through the mountains of Naxos. 
Our final island was Santorini. The original plan was to sail here but the weather would have made the trip take over 7 hours and the wind had shifted such that the boats couldn't use the marina. The wind usually doesn't shift like this until much later in the season so we had to take a ferry into Santorini for our last night in Greece. We stayed in the hotel Enigma (http://www.enigmahotel.com/) which a great little place with a wonderful view and a good deal for the area s was located in. In the morning they deliver breakfast so the guests can enjoy it on the personal balconies with the great view. Since we arrived so late we didn't get much time here but enjoyed the rain, and spending the night on land again.
The trip was great - we'll definitely do the Greek islands again. If you want to see all the pictures then follow this link.
I got to go out with the team a few days ago to help release turtles. It was dark by the time we saw any so these are pictures from previous visits out to the beach. No doubt about it - turtle hatching's are adorable (and tiny!)
The desert just after sunset.
View of the hotel hidden in the mountain.
Night view from our room. The city lights below the pool is the city/emirate of Al Ain.
Here's the first Hammour (aka Brown Spotted Grouper) that's been caught. Hammour is the favorite fish here in all the restaurants. Our friend David has been fishing many times before but never actually caught a fish until this day (he's from the UK so we think that must be the reason).
My group at work did such a great job making money last year that management decided to send on an all expense paid weekend with families. We did justify the trip by working on Thursday but the rest of the time was spent enjoying the beautiful Shangri-La resort we stayed in. The location is spectacular but it was actually hotter and more humid than Doha.
