Days passed and while it only amounted to a week of training and boredom the tension mounted as the coast was spotted finally.
The fleet housing the 11,000 soldiers and thousands more Sailors.
In the distance figures could be sighted scurrying about, no doubt these were the native spartan inhabitants who feared the incoming fleet to be from their adversary.
The beaches they'd selected for their landing were clear and so as the ships with momentum rode up with the tide coming to a stop the men began to cast ropes over the sides of their ships and descend down onto the sandy footing below them.
As the unloading proceeded the minutes passed until they became hours.
As the stores were dropped from the ships into the waiting hands of the men, while the emptied ships retreated and anchored a bit further out to sea while other ships as well made landfall.