Wednesday 29 July 2015

Epiblog Wednesday 29 July 2015 – London


So we have made it home.  We had three nights in Marmaris marina.  We solved the grey water problem.  We found that with the rubbish bins there were water butts to put grey water in.  So all I had to do was do the washing up in a bucket and then pour that into the water containers.  I have no idea why the marina staff did not tell me this.

The weather was incredibly hot for the whole time.  So we did all the work sorting out the boat very slowly and interspersed with regular trips to the pool, which was a godsend.

We arranged for the boat to be lifted out, scrubbed and antifouled while we are away.  We also ordered covers for our windows into the saloon to keep the sun out and hopefully reduce the temperature inside the boat.  I have also got lazy so for some considerable sum we have arranged for the boat to be cleaned inside and out before we return.  With luck we will be able to get away quickly in September.

On Sunday Richard collected a hire car and we left the boat and went to Gocek.  We booked into a lovely boutique hotel with a pool and spent the afternoon there going in to town for the evening.  The place is really just based on boating.  It is in a large inlet which looks lovely to anchor in.  We will see if we want to spend time around here when we return.


The flight back was long, but uneventful and now we are home until September.  We will be in touch then.

Thursday 23 July 2015

Thursday 23 July 2015 - Marmaris, Turkey

So up early to make our way to Turkey.  The weather forecast was for virtually no wind, so we were pleasantly surprised to have a top of a force 4 to start out.  It did give us some problems leaving our mooring as the bow thruster wasn’t strong enough to overcome the wind and we had to reverse to get out of the harbour, avoiding another boat with a fouled anchor!

We had a nice sail for about three hours.  However, sometime after midday the wind started to die away and we had to motor most of the rest of the way.  However, with our luck the wind picked up to the top of a force 5 just as we were getting to the marina to moor.  But it calmed down and by the time they brought us to a berth it was fine.  The only problem is that this berth is really too narrow for the boat.  We are hard against the two neighbouring boats.  The marina staff had to really help us to get in.  But as we were safely moored I was relieved and pleased that there was no more difficult mooring to do until the autumn.

Well that is what I thought, but I was wrong.  When we went to the office to organize checking in to Turkey they told us we have to take the boat to the other side of the harbour to the Customs office to check in!  If we had forewarned them that we needed to check in to Turkey, they would have directed us there to start with.  We were just making ready to take the boat out again, when the marina man said that his agent at the Customs office said we should leave it until tomorrow because there is a bad swell at the dock there and it is dangerous.  So we will have to go out again tomorrow morning and then try to get back in this little space.  I am also a bit fed up with the fact that everything is being charged for.  The signing it to Turkey is going to cost us a further 150 euros.  Of course we could have tried to do it ourselves, but it does seem more complicated than Greece and we just want to get it over with.

The marina is far away from the main town, but has a lot of facilities.  There is a toilet and shower block right at the end of our pontoon and it is air conditioned!  There is free WIFI, which seems to work very well and there even is a swimming pool, where we spent the late afternoon.  My only real gripe is the problem over “grey water”.  Here in Turkey it is illegal not only to discharge your toilet waste, but also all washing water from the sinks.  The main problem this raises (given that there are good showers and toilets) is washing up after meals.  I had assumed that there would be facilities for that, but there aren’t.  I gather from people that they just cheat, but I can’t see how we can do that in the marina, where water coming out of the boat will be noticed by the sound if nothing else.  So this evening I have washed up in a bucket and will have to dump it into our toilet.  That means that we will fill the tank quickly and have to move the boat again to go to the pump out station!  The whole thing is crazy particularly as we understand that the Turks dump only partially treated sewerage into the sea in much greater quantities than boats could ever make.

It is incredibly hot here.  It was nice by the pool, but now there isn’t a breath of wind and despite our swims and showers I am bathed in sweat.  We are also being plagued by mosquitoes despite covering ourselves in repellant and spraying the boat with insect killer.  I’m not sure I will get any sleep tonight.  It is time to go home.

Wednesday 22 July 2015

Wednesday 22 July 2015 - Mandraki Harbour, Rhodes

So this is our last scheduled day in Greece.  We had a useful morning.  We gave our documents in to the agent to check us out of Greece and then collected our washing.  The tee shirts are all still stained.  Does anyone have a solution to suntan cream staining clothes?  But the sheets and towels are all clean and the rest can be taken home.  I even did hand washing.  Richard’s very light Batik shirts and all the swimsuits are now clean and ready for the next bit of the journey.

We were going to get together with the family after doing our chores, but Eva wasn’t feeling well so we stayed on our own for the day.  First we had a walk around the old town and went to see the ancient synagogue and the Jewish museum, which were very interesting.  Then this afternoon we went to Ladiko, otherwise known as Anthony Quinn Bay.  It is on a rocky outcrop and there was just a wooden staircase from a pier to enter into the water.  It has beautifully clear water.  A shame we didn’t have face masks and snorkels, but there is little need because you can just see from the surface!

We met the family here on the boat to go into Rhodes town for dinner.  We went to a somewhat more up market restaurant, so the children complained about the lack of pizza and things on the menu!  But they ate dinner and things went well.  So off they went and now we are planning the sail to Turkey tomorrow.


One thing has struck us here recently.  We keep seeing boats flying American flags and are registered in Delaware (a well known flag of convenience).  We thought they were owned  by Russians, as we heard Russian spoken a lot on such boats.  But today one of those American flagged boats moored next to us.  Speaking to them we find that they are Turkish owned.  Our neighbour told us they register the boats in Delaware because taxes in Turkey are so high.  We guess that the Russians may be charterers of these Turkish boats, or perhaps the Russians are taking advantage of Delaware’s anonymity arrangements to conceal their assets?

Tuesday 21 July 2015 - Mandraki Harbour, Rhodes

Well, as you can see we did make it to Mandraki Harbour.  On Monday morning an engineer came early to look at the bow thruster.  The problem was not with the break pin accessible from the inside of the boat.  When this happened last year we had to have the boat lifted out of the water to sort it out.  But here they suggest that a diver go down and look at it.  So within about an hour a diver came.  He didn’t even use a tank, just free dived with a snorkel.  He took photos of the thing trying to spin and found that the nut holding the propeller on had come loose, just like last time.  But he was able to tighten it up in the water, and so by lunchtime we had a working bow thruster.

At the same time Richard organized a hire car for us for the next three days.  As it was getting on in the day we decided to stay in the marina for another night.  We had a good domestic afternoon.  My phone ran out of charge so we topped that up in Rhodes new town and then did some shopping.  We met up with the family in the evening.  They came to the boat where we had drinks and then we went into Rhodes old town.  We walked around and had dinner.  We have parked the car in Mandraki Harbour right where we were moored before.  After dinner we decide to leave it there so it will be easy for us to pick up when we move the boat back to Mandraki.  We walk to the end of town and find a taxi to take us back to the boat.

On Tuesday we left the marina at about 9:30, went out to sea to dump the tank and got back into Mandraki by 11:30.  We are moored in nearly the same place as before, but we are on a pick up line which means that we have not had to put the anchor out and are not in danger of a snagged anchor on the way out.  That is a relief especially as we saw one boat unsnagging his anchor from another on our way in!

I am now preparing for our departure.  We have a ton of laundry including all our linens.  We find the local laundry and leave two large bags of washing with them to collect tomorrow morning.  Then we have brunch at Starbucks to get their wifi before going to Haraki to meet up with the family.  After a very late night last night they are emerging rather slowly and we wind up having a late lunch on their beach and a dip in the sea before going to Lindos for the evening.  We managed to buy Abi a tee shirt and a new pair of sandals.  We thought we were doing really well before we managed to lose Molly!  She is a terror.  She just wanders off all the time.  But usually she is in view, but this time we couldn’t find her anywhere.  It took nearly half an hour of searching with half the shop keepers on the street looking for her before they tracked her down.  Mind you, I am not sure Colin isn’t getting his comeuppance in this.  I can’t count the number or times we lost him as a child because he too was always running off!


So with one contrite Molly we have dinner.  By the time we finish it is very late again.  We don’t get back to the boat until midnight.  Can’t post this as we won’t have internet until the morning.

Sunday 19 July 2015

Sunday 19 July 2015 - Rhodes Marina

I haven’t posted for some days due to not too much to say and lack of internet and charge on the computer!  We stayed in Lindos for two nights.  We really enjoyed it, but we found that the town has also changed a lot in the last 36 years.  Colin and the family came to us on Friday.  He was supposed to arrive by 10am, but it was more like 11 or later by which time it was getting really hot.  The idea was to go up to the Acropolis before midday, but we wound up there at the height of the sun.  The journey started well.  The children rode a donkey up while we adults tried to keep up with them.  Actually Molly refused to get on the donkey initially, but finally allowed herself to be put on the beast.  At the top all the children got bored even though the place is spectacular.  Worse was to come.  After half an hour Wednesday got sick.  A bad headache and she felt weak.  It was probably the heat.  She wasn’t wearing a hat.  So we had to sit her in the shade and feed her paracetemol, and iced water.  She came to and we walked back down into the town.  It has many more tourist shops, cafes and restaurants than we remember.  But later in the day we did find a house we think was the one we rented all those years ago.  The family stayed all day and we had a Thai dinner in the town!  Strange but true.  Getting back to the boat in the dark was a bit of a challenge, but fine.

On Saturday morning we were getting ready to leave and return to Haraki Bay.  We had an interesting encounter with another boat owner.  We had noticed that there was a rather tatty looking ketch anchored in front of us.  It had a rigid tender on davits on the side of it.  The skipper was also rather ragged, about our age, thin and bearded.  So as we were having breakfast he rowed over to us.  He wanted to ask us if we knew about the Canal du Midi, which of course we do and were able to show him the book and give him some information.  It turns out that he had just arrived in Greece from the Red Sea!  He is Dutch.  He has sailed around the world twice.  He was sitting in the bay for a few weeks because he couldn’t sign into Greece as he didn’t have liability insurance.  He hoped that was being arranged.

So Saturday lunchtime back in Haraki. We arrive in time for lunch and have it on the boat.  Then we meet up with the family.  We are anchored fairly close in.  In fact, so close that we hit a rock on the way in!  We are so near the shore that even Abi and Wednesday can swim to the boat.  So they come out with Colin.  As we are sitting in the cockpit with them Wednesday shouts and says look at that.  And what do we see, Molly (all of 4 years old) in her inflatable armbands doing her doggy paddle half way out to the boat!  She probably would have made it and all, but Colin did jump in and assist her to the boat.  Later all the family come on board and we have a bottle of champagne.  We also had nibbles, but Molly ate most of those!

Then we have another crisis with children.  After a very nice dinner Abi managed to swallow a ring pull from a can of Coke!  More frantic efforts to find out what to do.  Richard and I could barely get an internet signal but from what I found and later what Colin found, the answer was do nothing it will go through her.

This morning we left Haraki after breakfast and went to the next bay, Agathi, which has a lovely sandy beach.  Again, it is not a recognized anchorage, but it had a lovely sandy bottom where the anchor dug in beautifully.  So we stayed there for the morning swimming and had lunch before making our way back to Rhodes town.  We thought we would try the new marina.  We understand they are taking boats though they are not officially opened.  There are no showers but there are supposed to be toilets, electricity and water.  After five days at anchor we are really in need of all of those.

So with absolutely no wind we motor back to Rhodes.  Just as we get there the wind picks up to 15 knots!  We make our way into the marina and are directed to an alongside berth.  That seems a good thing, until we make a thorough mess of it.  I didn’t get the stern line to the shore in time and the now strongish winds are blowing us off and sideways.  Richard is bowthrusting madly and finally with the stern on the quay we manage to get both the stern line attached and the bow line to the mooring man who has to pull us into the space because the bow thruster has stopped working!  We don’t know if it has just overheated, or it really is broken, but I rather think it is the latter.  There is nothing to do about in until tomorrow.  We have three choices.  The first is to call an engineer tomorrow morning from here and see if he can fix it.  The second is to call our agent in Mandraki and see if he can get someone to push us into a space there and find an engineer there as we were planning to be there for three days.  The last is just to get help getting in and out of Mandraki and go to Marmaris and see if they can fix it while we are away.

So we go to check in.  This place is a disorganized mess.  Firstly we find we cannot connect to electricity because the berth we are on only has outlets for large ships with too much capacity.  So we are sitting in reception trying to charge up the computer as I write this.  There is also a problem with the water.  We probably will be unable to connect because the tap needs a bit adaptor.  They may be getting adaptors tomorrow.  The only toilet is in reception, but at least it is open 24 hours a day.  They will accept credit cards, but their card machine is not working!  When we ask when they will open officially (bearing in mind they were supposed to open two years ago) they say maybe next year!  But at least they are making use of the facilities and there are a fair number of boats here, although not nearly the capacity particularly as they are mooring everyone alongside, not stern to.

So when this computer is more fully charged Richard will take me for a drink.  I think I need one.


Just one point.  This entry sounds like the trip is being a disaster.  But really we have had a lovely 5 days at anchor enjoying the hot weather and the lovely seas and the family, or course. 

Thursday 16 July 2015

Thursday 16 October 2015 – Lindos, Rhodes

So we were up fairly early and guess what, the children were early.  We were expecting them at 10, but they came at 9:30.   We have agreed to sail to Lindos with Eva and the children while Colin drives there so they have a car to take them home at the end of the day.

We are all anxious to get to Lindos because that is where we had a wonderful family holiday with my sister and her family 36 years ago!  Colin even remembers it even though he was only 6 years old!

Lindos is only 5 miles from Haraki Bay, but we will have to take a detour out to sea to empty the holding tank.  Nonetheless, the journey should only take two hours.

We leave Haraki by 10am.  There is no wind, so we don’t even bother with the sails.  Under engine we let Wednesday and Abi hand steer the boat and they do a pretty good job.  However by the time we get out far enough to empty the tank, the wind has picked up a bit and we can sail.  So we put the sails up and proceed at a rather stately pace of 4 knots.  It would have been a very nice little trip if Molly hadn’t got seasick.  She was all bouncy and happy and then suddenly started to cry and wound up being sick.  Luckily we were able to get her to lie down in the cockpit and sleep, so she wasn’t too bad.  Just before we came into harbour Abi also decided she wasn’t feeling well, but she was fine.

So we are finally back in Lindos.  We have to put the anchor down at the far end of the bay.  It takes a couple of goes.  We try to anchor first nearer the beach, but there are a lot of rocks and we snag one.  So we move further in and I spy what looks like a sandy patch and put the anchor down.  Richard goes out with the snorkel to check on it and it is well dug in to sand, so we are happy.  It is a lovely spot even if there are quite a few boats here.  But we are so far from the town that we will have to put the engine on the dinghy to get to and fro.  First we all have a swim off the boat.  It really is hot.  Even Molly in her inflatable arm bands swims.  Then Richard takes Eva and Molly first to the beach and then comes back for me, Wednesday and Abi.  We find a small landing stage where it looks like we can tie up the dinghy and Colin is waiting for us.

Well, the beach is rather different than it was 36 years ago.  Then there were about two dozen wooden beach umbrellas and one small taverna.  Now the whole bay is covered in beach umbrellas and sunbeds and it is ringed in tavernas and cafes.  It is heaving.  Colin says it took him 30 minutes to drive into the town because there is so much traffic.

It is now lunchtime so we make for a beach restaurant and have a rather long lunch there.  At nearly 3pm I am dying from the heat.  Richard and Colin want to go and explore the town and see if they can find the house we stayed in all those years ago.  I don’t have the energy to go and anyway, I only have bathing suits with me.  So the boys go off exploring and we girls take sun beds and spend the afternoon on the beach going into the water every 20 minutes to manage to keep a bit cooler.  There is a shower near our chairs, so that is also good.  I had forgotten how good the beach is for the children.  It is sandy and very gently shelving.  The children are having a great time.

We decide not to have dinner with the family.  We are hot and tired and would like to get back to the boat, where there is food for dinner on board.  So we leave the children at the beach and dinghy back to the boat.  When we get there we find it is still very hot even though it is after 6pm and the sun has gone from the boat.  I go below and find that it is 36C in the boat.  But it is not much cooler on deck!  So we just laze in the cockpit for the rest of the evening until I have the nerve to go below and make us some hamburgers for dinner.  We eat in the cockpit but are still hot. So at about 10:30pm we have a skinny dip.  It is very nice and we finish off with a cold shower on board.  Why was I so worried about hot water?  I couldn’t manage a hot shower here if I tried!


This is not exactly a quiet spot.  There are a lot more boats here than there were this morning and there is a disco or the like over the water playing music very loudly.  The funniest part is they played Saturday Night Fever, which was what was playing here 36 years ago!

Wednesday 15 July 2015

Wednesday 15 July 2015 – Haraki Bay, Rhodes

I have not posted for several days because frankly we have just been too busy.  We have spent the last 4 days with Colin and family and it has been frantic.  On Sunday they came to see us at Mandraki and we had lunch on the boat and then found a local beach.  It has been very hot and really too hot to do much more than swim and relax.  The family came back on Monday when we did some of the tourist things around Rhodes old town.  It is a fabulous place all filled with mediaeval buildings from the time of the Crusades.  Basically the town was built by and for the Knights of St John.  We walked around the old town a bit, but the children were not really enjoying it.  We did wind up at the Castle (technically the Palace of the Grand Masters).  It was destroyed by the Turks but rebuilt by the Italians in the 1880’s.  We had a walk around but again the children were getting restive.  So after lunch they departed to their studio and beach and we had a quiet time getting the boat filled with fuel and then spent the rest of the day until the evening on the beach.  I was going to go to a supermarket to provision, but I was too lazy.  In any event it is not practical for me to try to cater for 7 on the boat every day.  The family want to eat out and that is what we shall do.

On Tuesday we decided it was time to leave the harbour and make our way to the bay where Colin and the family are staying.  It is not a recognized anchorage and there is no mention of it in any of the pilot books.  Colin says he has seen boats come and anchor for the afternoon.  The weather forecast is for very settled weather with virtually no wind, and what there is will be from the west, which would make his bay sheltered.  So we set out early to make it there for lunch.  We are pleasantly surprised when we are able to take up the anchor with no hitches.  As we leave the wind picks up and we decide to put the sails up.  It is blowing between 13-17 knots on the beam and for about an hour and a half we are sailing really nicely.  But then, as usual the wind dies on us and what there is (3 knots) turns on the nose.  So we have to motor for the last hour of the journey.

When we get to Haraki Bay Colin swims out to greet us.  There is a motor boat anchored in the bay together with a couple of tourist boats.  We have problems anchoring.  The bay is mostly sand but the bottom also has a lot of rocks.  The trick is to try to put the anchor down on a sandy patch and not snagging a rock.  However, two attempts later we are still on a rock.  Richard and Colin go to look at the anchor and decide that if we go hard in reverse it will fall off the rock and dig itself in.  So we do that and yes, it appears to be well dug in.

So we have been here for two days with the family.  We brought Abi and Wednesday out to the boat to swim around it and they liked that.  We have not put the engine on the dinghy.  We are not very far from the shore and it is easier just to row back and forth.  The other boats have left the harbour and we are the only ones here.  In the evening Colin drove us to a supermarket where I was able to pick up a bit of stores and then had drinks at Colin’s studio and dinner out.

The bay is very pretty. It is a quiet little spot in a semi-circle with tavernas and villas around the bay.  At the back of the buildings are cliffs one of which has the ruins of a mediaeval castle which is all floodlit at night.  The waters are crystal clear.  The beach is unfortunately mainly stony, but there is one end with a bit of sand.  This morning we found that we had turned around in the night.  Richard went for a pre-breakfast swim to check on the anchor and found that it has dislodged and was again on a rock.  So after meeting up with the family on the beach and installing ourselves we moved the boat and on the second attempt managed to put the anchor down on sand where it dug in well.

We had the day on the beach and dinner on shore. It has been getting hotter and hotter.  The thermometer on the boat shows that it has been up to 34C!  I now know why we usually go home at this time! We are now back on the boat.  We will set off for Lindos tomorrow. 

Saturday 11 July 2015

Saturday 11 July 2015 - Rhodes Town

We start out quite early, away by 7:30am.  Richard doesn’t think there will be any wind, so initially he doesn’t bother to put up the main.  However, as we get out of the harbour there is a bit of a breeze, so we decide to put it up.  However, that turns into quite a performance.  The wind starts to blow in every direction and I literally am steering the boat in circles to try to keep her into the wind so Richard can pull up the main.  That too is getting to be a pain.  The main just won’t go up pulling from the cockpit and Richard now habitually has to go forward to pull it up!  The problem lies with the gizmo in the mast that allows you to insert the sliders that attach the mainsail to the mast – it has a spring that is too weak.  We are going to have to get something done about that. 

Anyway the main goes up and for a while we have a nice breeze.  It is blowing 13 – 17 knots on the beam and we are going nicely.  But of course it doesn’t last.  After about an hour or maybe 90 minutes, the wind just dies and we are motoring again.  The wind picks up every now and again and helps keep the speed up, but mainly it is a passage motoring, yet again.  The problem is that we have 41 miles to go and we have to keep our speed up if we are to arrive at a reasonable time.  But despite the lack of wind we make good progress and get to Rhodes Town around 3pm.  We thought we would have to go into the new marina, but when we phone up the agent he says he has a berth for us in the old town, Mandraki Harbour.  This could be a mixed blessing.  The harbour has a combination of laid lines and moorings where you have to anchor.  The pilot book says that fouled anchors are the norm here.  We hope we can go on a laid line and avoid that, but no.  We get directed to a place where there should be a line, but it is being used by the boat next door.  So we have to put the anchor out.  We manage that and Richard reverses well into a very tight space.  However, who knows what we have put our anchor down on.  Only time will tell.

By the time we get in it is very hot.  The temperature in the boat is 32C.  So we decide that the best thing to do is clean the boat.  We have water here and the boat is filthy.  Besides we are getting company soon.  So we put on bathing suits and wash the boat down.  It is cooling and the boat doesn’t look at all bad.

After that we decide to go into town and have a little look around.  Regrettably the tourist office closed at 2pm today and doesn’t open until Monday.  We are uncertain how long we will be here.  It all depends on Colin and his crew and what they want to do.  Richard actually finds a Starbucks, so we sit there using their internet and get in touch with Colin.  He and the family will come over at lunchtime tomorrow and we can discuss what to do then.  The weather forecast is for very hot weather up to 31C.


Being in the old harbour is a mixed blessing.  The position is spectacular.  We are right next to one of the ancient forts.  The old town is just behind us.  On the other hand it is very crowded and we are under the flight path for the airport so planes are constantly flying over us.  We shall see how we get on here.  We will want to go to other bays to anchor, but we will need to use Rhodes Town as a base to get water, electricity and provisions.  The other problem is that we have absolutely no idea how much this is all costing us.  The expense is not the only worry.  If it is dear (and we know the new marina will be charging 51 euros a night plus electricity and water – almost Solent prices after we have become used to paying 5 euros a night, if anything) the problem is how to pay for it, if they are still not taking credit cards.  We were hoping the agent was coming to our boat this evening to tell us all these things, but he hasn’t turned up.  Hope to catch up with him tomorrow.

Friday 10 July 2015

Friday 10 June 2015 - Tilos

I didn’t post yesterday because it was just a day of sightseeing.  But we did have an interesting time.  We were advised to start out early to the volcano to get there before the crowds on the bus from Mandraki.  So we started out at 9am and got there in good time when hardly anyone was there.  The experience was fascinating.  You walk right down into the crater where there a numerous holes emitting steam and making sulphur crystals.  It is hot and there is a strong smell of the sulphur.  We tried to also walk up to the other two small craters, but I couldn’t manage the path because it came to a gap that led to a deep crevice and you had to scramble around it. Richard went on but the path only took you to see the craters from outside, which we could do from the road and the neighbouring village anyway.

We also looked at the two hill villages.  But the island is small and the whole trip only kept us busy until lunch time.  So we have lunch on the boat and then go to the beach for a swim as it is now getting very hot.

Today we left in good time to go to a neighbouring island called Tilos.  It is very small and said to be off the beaten track. It is less than 20 miles away, so we don’t have a long passage to make.  The weather is nice, but when we get out of the harbour we can see that there is a big fog bank over Tilos!  We proceed on the basis that the sun should burn it off and it does appear to go away as we get nearer.  We had hoped there would be some wind, but there isn’t much. By the way, our wind instrument has put itself right and all is now working properly.  However, the glitch may be the writing on the wall telling us to plan to buy new equipment soon.

Anyway, the passage.  After a little the wind, which is from behind gets up to a force 4 and we put the genoa up.  We aren’t in a hurry, so we sail for much of the time doing only 3-4 knots.  However about 5 miles out from our destination the wind dies completely and we have to motor.

We get in just before lunch.  The island has a very pleasant little harbour with pick up lines on one end.  There do not seem to be enough lines for the whole of the quay, but we are directed in by a man who appears to be in charge and we get a line, so we are nicely settled.  We decide to have lunch out, not least to get the wifi code from the restaurant whose wifi we can see from the boat.  We have too much to eat on such a hot afternoon, and I drank some wine watered down with sparkling water.  It was all too much for me and I felt like I might pass out if I didn’t get into the sea.  So we walk around the corner to the beach and find a café which lets us use their sunbeds and parasols having ordered a bottle of water and an ice cream.  We get quickly into the water.  The beach is stony and it is hard to go in. Richard swims in his sandals, but I take mine off at the edge and go in on my bottom!  But the water is lovely and amazingly clear.  It cools me off and I feel much better.  We spend the rest of the afternoon on the beach and have another swim before leaving at nearly 6pm.


We have dinner on board and a walk around the town.  We found an ATM where we could withdraw 300 euros, so things are looking up.  We have spoken to Colin.  He is flying to Greece tonight arriving in Rhodes in the middle of the night.  There is a high wind coming in here tomorrow night, but the forecast for Rhodes seems fine.  So we will make our way to Rhodes town tomorrow.  It will be a long journey.  We have spoken to the agent.  The Mandraki harbour in the centre of town won’t have space for us (we didn’t book to turn up until Sunday), but we can get into the new Rhodes Marina. So a long journey is fine.  Colin and the family will probably be too tired to come see us tomorrow anyway.

Wednesday 8 July 2015

Wednesday 8 July 2015 - Nisiros

We didn’t get up as early as we ought to, but we made it away just before ten.  We have topped up the water and we have plenty of food on board so we are ready for anything.  We head for the next island south of Kos, which is Nisiros (or Nisyros as some books call it).  It is a very small island almost square shaped and is a volcano.  This volcano, while technically active does not have lava flows, but just fumeroles and bubbling waters.

The weather forecast is for virtually no wind, but when we get out of the harbour the wind is blowing at about 8 knots, so optimistically Richard puts up the mainsail.  But it was to no avail.  What little wind there was, was on the nose (not as predicted).  So it was a motoring day.

The sea was pretty calm, so it was a pleasant if boring journey.  Only one little glitch.  Our electronics are not working properly.  In particular the wind instrument is reading the wind 60 degrees further off the wind than is true.  We do not know what has made it do this.  Richard tries to calibrate the instrument under way, but that creates worse problems because although the wind reading is now correct, the autopilot is 60 degrees off!  So Richard puts the wind instrument back where we started and the auto pilot works OK.  But the last time we had similar problems, about 5 years ago, the whole brains of the system (called the course computer) had to be replaced.  We hope we can just keep going with the autopilot for the rest of the season and then make enquiries about repair.  It may be a case of replacement.  The system is now 14 years old and there have been a lot of changes, so an upgrade may be the answer, if an expensive one.

Anyway, with auto pilot working OK we make it into the harbour at Palon (otherwise Pali) on Nisiros.  It is a very little village with two long quays for yachts.  We manage to moor on anchor stern to with help from others on shore taking our lines.  There appears to be water and electricity, but we haven’t found anyone to find out how to connect to it.  Anyway, we have a full tank of water and the solar panels take care of most of our electricity needs, for a couple of days anyway.  It is now nearly midnight and we still haven’t had anyone come to collect any mooring fees.

We have a little walk around the town, which doesn’t take long as it is so tiny.  The reason to come here is to go up to the volcano and walk in the caldera.  To do that we need transport.  So we have hired a car.  We will take it later in the evening and then visit the main town called Mandraki.  First it has got very hot and a swim in the sea is imperative.  There is a little beach just the other side of the harbour, so we rush there, and have our swim.  The sea is getting warmer, easier to get in to, but not as refreshing.  We don’t usually stay to the end of July, so we will see how it goes.  After our swim we have a cold drink in a taverna on the beach and then shower and dress to go in to Mandraki.

Mandraki is a strangely set out town.  It is very long going along the sea coast, but the houses only go back one or two roads and there does not seem to be any real centre.  It is quite cute really and has another one of these monasteries built high into a cliff, but we don’t bother to go up to it.  We have a drink on the sea front and watch the sunset (or most of it) and then go back to the boat.  I am really now feeling the heat.  Even sitting in the late evening sun has got to me.


On the boat, it is much cooler with a nice breeze.  So we have a simple meal on board. I am now cooking peppers and taboule to use up vegetables which are thinking about going off.  Tomorrow we will drive to the volcano.

Tuesday 7 July 2015

Tuesday 7 July 2015 - Kos

Today was just a sightseeing day.  We spent nearly the whole day looking at the various ancient monuments in this town.  It was all very good.  The highlight was a roman villa where they had reconstructed the whole house taking in the ruins which included statuary, wall paintings and mosaic floors.  It was wonderful to be able to walk around what a real roman house would have been like, including a roof and second floor.  Much of the restoration work was funded by the EU.

The castle is also amazing.  It is enormous and dominates a large part of the old harbour.

There were also a number of other archeological sights which were very unusual in that we could just scramble over the ruins including those of the ancient baths with plunge pools, mosaic floors and a large arch with has withstood so many earthquakes.  Finally we wound up at the roman Odeon, a moderate sized amphitheatre.  Also very good.  We have decided that we really like Kos and might like to base the boat here on an annual contract for a year or two.


All this took much longer than expected and we were wilting with the heat when finally at about 4pm we made it to the beach.  It wasn’t a great beach, but we did get a swim, in what is now quite a warm sea – 24 degrees C.  The wind has dropped and it is now much warmer than it has been.  So the summer really gets started.  We are off tomorrow to our next island.  Will try to post then if we have internet cover.

Monday 6 July 2015

Monday 6 July 2015 - Kos

We get up fairly early and manage to leave our mooring by 9:15am.  Richard has read the forecast.  It is much the same as it has been for the last two days, but he thinks the wind should be going down so that we will expect 15-17knots, not 20 odd.  With that in mind we put the mainsail up just after we left the harbour.  The wind is what we expected for a short time and then it started to gust up to force 6!  So we had to put a reef in almost immediately.  But on the whole we had a good sail.  As Richard would put it we spent most of the morning in Highbury, touching Highgate (that is winds northerly 5-6).  So we sailed most of the way until the last half hour when the wind died completely.

We arrive at Kos at about 12:30 ish.  We have decided not to go into the old harbour.  Although it would be fun to be in the centre of town right next to the Knights’ castle, the pilot book says it is a very uncomfortable harbour with so many ferries coming and going.  The marina down the road is considered the best in Greece and has all facilities, including toilets and showers!  So we go to the marina.  They are very efficient.  We call them up and they tell us to wait outside the entrance until they again call us and direct us to the pontoon where a berthing man in a rib is waiting for us.  He even pushes and pulls us into our mooring, which would not have been necessary, but was nice as it was suddenly blowing a force 5 again!

So we are very comfortably ensconced in the marina.  We had a walk to the old town.  We saw the ancient Agora and Hippocrates’s plane tree (under which he apparently taught his students).  We had a cold drink and sussed out the local beach.  There is a bike lane all along the front to the town, so I fear Richard might make me go out on the bike tomorrow.  We shall stay here for another night doing the sightseeing bit tomorrow.


We are so taken with this place we are considering staying for the winter.

Sunday 5 July 2015

Sunday 5 July 2015 - Kalimnos

We set off just after 9am.  The weather was pretty much as we expected, bright and sunny.  The wind, on the other hand, was unreliable.  Sometimes it blew the 17-20 knots we expected, but then other times it just disappeared completely going down to 8 or 9 knots.  We were sailing on genoa only, on the basis that works well in a big blow from behind.  But when the wind fails we have to resort to the engine.  So a lot of the time we were motor sailing yet again.

The plan was to get to the sister island of Leros, Kalimnos.  It is only a 10 mile journey.  However it takes us rather longer than expected as we were trying to sail even though we were only making speeds of about 3-4 knots.  The sea state is not too terrible.  There are waves of about one meter on occasion, but not all the time. It is a bit lumpy, but nothing to really worry about. 

Richard identified a nice bay where he wanted to spend the night.  It is supposed to have mooring buoys from a taverna.  When we get there the wind is up and blowing about 16 knots with gusts to 20 knots.  We can see two buoys with the name of a taverna on them and we try to go and pick one up.  They seem to have pick ups, so I go forward with the boat hook.  The problem is I don’t know if they will have lines to put on the boat or if I will need to thread our own line through a pick up.  But that turns out to be the least of my problems.  I get to the buoy and pick up a line attaching the pick up to the main buoy.  Only then do I find out that there is no long line.  They are all tied tight together.  I can’t hold on to them in the wind and with the boat moving.  I try to unhook the boathook from the pickup, but it is firmly attached and is pulling so it just about pulls my arm out of its socket.  There is nothing for it but to let go, leaving the boathook (our only one) floating in the water.  Richard says not to worry we will go back and get it.  But that is not so easy.  I am on the bathing platform at the back holding on to the boat with one hand while trying to get down low enough to pick the hook up, while Richard reverses the boat upwind towards the boathook.  But I can’t reach it without falling in.  So then Richard suggests that I get a line and try to lasso it to.  I get a short line with a spliced loop and have a go.  After a few failures I get it!  Even now I don’t know how I managed it without falling in.

So Richard wants to try to get the mooring buoy again.  He suggests we use what we call the yellow peril.  That is a gadget on a pole that has a mechanism that clips a line through a hoop on the buoy.  As the buoy is low in the water and the only hook is on the pickup, we decide to do it from the stern and then walk the buoy forward.  By some miracle I manage to get the rope through the ring first go.  But again we are defeated.  There is little slack on the line to the buoy and Richard is afraid of going in reverse in case the line gets caught in the propeller.  So again I am nearly dragged into the water trying to keep hold of the line and move it forward.  And again I have to let go, first asking Richard to remove the yellow peril from the line so I can just pull our mooring rope through.  But he does not do so successfully and we nearly lose half of the yellow peril too!  But at the last minute it comes free and all lines are safely aboard.

I am convinced that these buoys have been tied up in such a way as to make it impossible to use.  Sometimes where there are these sort of buoys used by a restaurant or the like there is someone to take your line and put it through the buoy.  But there is no-one, only two anchored yachts watching our performance, no doubt enjoying it!

Richard wanted to try one more thing for us to stay.  Seeing the other boats anchored he tried to find somewhere to put down our anchor.  The problem is that it is rather deep except very near the beach where people are swimming and we are warned that the bottom has a lot of rocks, which make for bad holding.  We have one go at putting the anchor down, but it is too close to the shore, and we seem to be on rock and dragging our anchor, so we just give up.

This means we will have to go on to the main town of Kalimnos.  We are still not certain what the name of the town is.  The sailing books call it Kalimnos town, whereas our guide book calls it Pothia.  Anyway it is just around the corner from where we were, so we go there.  We really wanted to anchor, swim and have a night away from a town.  So when we see another boat anchored in the harbour we think perhaps we should go there instead of mooring on the yacht pontoon.  So we put the anchor down.  We are not certain of the holding, but the other boat looks OK.  We have lunch and then start to worry.  We can’t get internet coverage where we are and therefore are unable to check the weather, which is rather crucial at the moment.  So we decide to go into the town mooring after all.

We get there just in time.  We are directed to a spot.  It is still blowing pretty hard, though luckily blowing us off the pontoon.  This is an anchor down job.  We seem to manage that eventually.  So we are now safely tucked up in harbour.  We have had dinner on board and are now planning tomorrow.  We shall probably go to Kos.  The forecast is still for strong winds, but again we will be going downwind, so that should be OK.


We have been looking at the news.  It looks like the Greeks have voted ‘No’ to the bail out deal.  So next week should be interesting!