Palamut to Datca

10:55 we left Palamut after spending more time than we'd planned there. It was a very pleasant stay, Semra Uzun, the lady who ran 'le jardin de Semra' is warm and friendly and infinitely helpful, and she runs a great restaurant. There is no ATM in Datca and we quickly ran out of cash... Semra to the rescue with "here's TL500 pay me when you can"

Sally recently put out an APB on Facebook asking if anybody wanted to come and crew for a month so she could seriously put her foot up.

She got an instant reply from Alan Reid, manager of the Bullwheel, our home away from our condo at Big White. It would be hard to choose a more ideally suited person for the job, given it doesn't just involve sailing a boat. It is a boat with a family which includes two young kids who have been at this for more than five months....

I'm assuming that you may have mused as to whether you could spend 24/7 on a boat with your nearest and dearest for five months in all kinds of conditions and situations?..... yep, it comes with its own set of issues.

Datca was to be where we linked up with Alan and we wanted to get comfortably situated, boat cleaned and provisioned, laundry done before he arrived. We left early for a short 13.7 mile sail in order to ensure a berth on the wall with a day to spare.

Nearing the harbour it was hard to see where we could birth. We spotted a space right inside and positioned to moor.... "My friend, my friend" said Mr Wavey arms "This for Turkish boat, you must go outside" and moral plummeted.

I'm not sure what the actual ignition sequence was, but the boat erupted into a senseless diatribe of individual nonsenses that went on until well after we'd autometronically anchored  in the North Bay.

Although I lowered the dingy, interest in going shore was zero unless it included an hotel room and some serious time out. There were none and so we simmered through the night with not much more being said.

Early the following morning I hopped in the dingy and headed into the harbour to see if I could secure a mooring. Anchoring out was simply not an option and Al would have arrived on a boat which was not quite what he had in mind.....

English is not the second language in Turkey and my German is rusty to non-existent after so many years in the drawer. I got bounced from pillar to post but could not make myself understood.

Dejected and beaten I wondered around the south bay looking for any signs of space for our beleaguered catamaran. I happened upon a small craft mooring with nobody to take their lines, so I stepped up to help. As I was doing so, a spritely young man in a logo'ed white polo shirt took the other line, tied it off and sat back down to finish his Turkish coffee... I wondered over... "Do you speak English?" "Yes I do." "Do you work here?" "Yes I do." "We are anchored in the north bay, any chance of a reserved mooring for a 44ft Catamaran for two  or three days?" "Yes there is, just bring it around and park it over there, there will be space when you arrive....."

It took precisely 15 minutes to get in the dingy, get back to the boat, raise the dingy, weigh the anchor and motor around to the harbour, fully believing that by the time we got there another catamaran, mistaken for ours would be mooring in our spot. Not that we're paranoid or anything...

We moored in what has to be the most attractive of any harbour we've seen.

The sun was shining, the wind was of no consequence, breakfast tasted marvelous, our neighbours were friendly, the kids were off on their bikes and the harbour staff were welcoming and efficient..... Moral was fully restored and we got on with the business of readying the boat to welcome Al and thoroughly checking out this lovely town that is Datca.

In these harbours, the atmosphere is simply one of leisure. Boats of every description from all points of the globe, nobody in any hurry.

When we left Sydney, we packed two bottles of wine.... A Henchke's Hill of Grace 2008 and a Grange Hermitage 2010 (the only wine ever to be awarded 100 points by the International body who awards these points). The idea was that we drink these after epic sails and given our limited experience before we got onto this boat, they weren't going to last very long.

Well, before limping into Knidos, we'd had a pretty epic sail, but we were not in any mood to celebrate at the time. Before mooring in Datca, we'd had a pretty epic disagreement and certainly were not in any mood to celebrate But after mooring in Datca harbour, cleaning down the boat and forgotten what it was that sparked the disagreement, I suggested that perhaps the reasons to open one of our bottles was epic enough and we were indeed in the mood to celebrate!

We chose fillet steak as an accompaniment, the restaurant allowed us to bring our own bottle, decanter-ed it for us and it was just so delicious...

The next day, Al arrived to what he would have been expecting. He'd had his own epic journey including planes, ferries and buses and a 10 hour stopover in Amsterdam.

We decided to stay for another couple of days while he sorted his jet lag but Datca was such a pleasure, the food so good that the decision was an easy one.

Knidos to the haven that is Palamut

Having resolved to get out of howling hollow and after not too much shut eye, we weighed anchor at 9:20 on the 20th September and pointed East under motor and headsail.

As we moved east and as Predict Wind had predicted, the wind abated to reasonable levels until after only a 7 nautical mile sail, we made Palamut. Ahhhhhh.......

A small safe harbour in a dusty, sleepy little hamlet. We were directed by a friendly Turk to the only spot there was for a boat of our width. Power, water and protected from the bulk of the wind. Although in gusts it kicked up a lot of dust from the quay making the boat filthy.

Of all the things that could make us uneasy on this adventure, the one real anxiety driver is the anticipation as to whether or not we'll get a spot on the wall. This is not just so that we can get the bikes/kids off and step on and off without having to drop the dingy. It's got more to do with the way in which we have become used to being informed by some waving, shouting, most unwelcoming (enter description here) that there is no room and where to go. It tends to put a real downer on a place and it has happened quite a lot lately.

All we want is to see their town and to spend some money in it! Why do they have to be so rude? We are only consoled by the possibility that they are delivering their message in a second language...

Don't get me wrong, in a nice quiet anchorage, the dingy is a hoot to go off and explore in, but just to commute backwards and forwards to town or to provision the boat.... more for Sal in a surgical boot than for me, it's a schlep.

The 'Turquoise Coast' reputation is a little more justifiable here. The beach is long, lined with interesting tavernas and is of small flat pebbles which ordinarily is not our choice, but here it gave a nice clean feel to the place and the water. If you'd like to see and hear how relaxing this was, go to YouTube and type 'Summer Amy Pebbles' (case sensitive)

Speaking of interesting tavernas, here was an innovative attraction... A 'dolls' house on top for the kids, particularly Summer, and a spot for the adults to sit and smoke the hooker pipe down below... Unfortunately Turkey has changed somewhat since my last visit in terms of what you can smoke.

At last a taste of what we, and specially Sal have been waiting to experience.... the Sunday markets..... yum!

Still not your actual souk, but getting there.

Now, a couple of key differences from Greece....

The hours they keep here are similar to ours, ie; Lunch is at lunch time, there is no siesta and dinner is at dinner time. It all shuts down around 10:00pm.



The other is, there is no house wine in 250ml or 500ml carafes, in fact there is no house wine at all... Here it is beer or raki.

Wine comes in full bottles, the contents of which is an anathema to the publican. The problem with this is, Raki is not my cup of tea, Sal is ok with it, we try to stay away from beer as we are quite fat enough, but if wine is the go, then we drink either none (not), or too much, and generally it is not very good and it is always expensive.

These are jarring changes after 5 months of getting very comfortable with the Greek way of doing things.

Finally, whilst it is school holidays in Australia and therefore, school holidays on the Summer Amy, Summer continues to educate herself while her 'teachers' insists on taking the holiday.

Here is an example of how her maths is coming along.....

I should point out though, she did use a calculator.

Smashed by the Meltemi.... and a dollop of ignorance

Each day we had to check with Marina staff as to whether we could stay another night, the last conversation went "yes, but you must be out by 10:00am tomorrow"
So, 10:00am sharp, the wind was already up and the pilot boat thankfully arrived. We were tightly moored alongside at the end of two full rows of expensive looking boats and the wind was coming across the rows. The pilot had a big bumper on the front of his boat which he used to spin us around point us in the right direction and bid us farewell. He'd done this before, I could just tell....

The Meltemi blows from the North here and it swings from the NW at waypoint 3 so we were in for a great sail with the wind up the clacker for most of the way. We were aiming to get to Palamut where you see the red arrow, which is where we are now, but it was not to be on this day....

Mobile speed App

The sails went up before we left the bay but seemed to slacken off a bit initially.

Then slowly but surely it built. By the time we got to waypoint 2, we were firmly at 8 knots and enjoying the ride. That point you see to our left is the point at waypoint 3.




By the time we reached waypoint 3, we were surfing the swell travelling at 11-12 Knots and loving it.

Then we reached the point.... We knew the apparent wind speed would increase by a good 10 knots, so in came the headsail. We had been sailing on the first reef (reduced sail area) all day and were confident that we were not overpowered..... That is until we turned East. The wind simply howled around the point to around 50 knots, the sea bucks wildly and Houston we have ourselves a problem...

In hindsight, there were a few options, but the only option at the time seemed to be to reef the main again to de-power the boat a little more and continue on our course.

Turning 180 degrees to get the wind on the nose in these seas as one way to achieve the reefing was not an attractive option so the plan was to get the wind directly behind us, centre the boom and secure it to avoid a massive jibe, loosen the main halyard while tightening the second reef line.... Good in theory, but in practice the main came down a little quicker than the reefing line could bring down the bottom of the sail. This caused the main to blow out and snap the lazy jack lines on the starboard side. These lines are there to guide the huge catamaran sail into the bag on the boom when you bring it down (under controlled circumstances). Without it the sail with all its heavy batons simply flails uncontrollably either side of the boom.

The main then blew out across to the port side and did the same to those lazy jack lines......

Soaked Sal Selfy 

Options limiting, wind howling, kids "put your life jackets on" Sal and I soaked at the helm. sails flapping wildly with no possibility of lashing them in this mayhem, the only option now was to face the wind, bring the sail all the way down and make for Knidos, a small, windy anchorage under the point about a mile away.

Although windy, the sea would be calm, we could anchor and with boat bell weathering into the wind, we could deal with the problem.

Ancient Knidos is renowned for two things: The statue of Aphrodite, the first ever sculpture of a naked woman, and the scientist Eudoxos. (Feel free to Google these)

It is now renowned for one more thing... saving our butts!

This is Knidos anchorage...

As you see, there is little to stop the prevailing wind from coming through the gap from the other side, but once in the bay the sea is a lot calmer and we were very happy to finally get anchored and get onto tidying things up.

We would have looked a sight coming in, we'd clearly had a problem, but not one person in the fairly crowded bay offered any assistance of any kind. When a neighbour lost then their dingy in the wind, one of them dived in to swim to it but he had Buckley's. We  retrieved it for them before it blew out to sea. We had to drop our dingy whilst others, with dingys already in the water simply sat and watched...

Strange?.

After two attempts we managed to get the anchor to bite. We got busy tidying things up but I was anxious to dive on the anchor to make sure it was in properly. The wind was aggravatingly persistent and if we dragged in the middle of the night, we would have been on the rocks behind us in no time. The anchor was only half in, jammed behind a tussock which looked as if it could come away, but by the looks of the bottom, we were lucky it bit at all. On testing it was more solid than it looked so we decided to leave it be, but with the howling wind buffeting the boat all night, it made for an almost entirely sleepless night.

We use a Wind App called 'Predict Wind' which is pretty accurate in forecasting wind speed and direction over a period of a week. It showed that even when it is backing off elsewhere, it continues it howl through here.

So even though the Meltemi was predicted to persist for the next few days and we were relatively safe and secure, we resolved to move on to our original destination under motor and headsail the next morning and get to where the wind had a modicum of sanity to it.

As for Knidos? Without the wind, it would be a very pleasant and interesting anchorage. A great little Taverna, the ruins are fairly intact and kept the kids happy while Mum and Dad 'settled the nerves' so to speak.

Will on the IPhone

As for options in hind sight?

We probably should have sailed straight into Knidos leaving the main where it was, reefed in calm waters facing the right way and continued our journey. or; Dropped the main and anchored for the night. Instead we'd set our sights on Palamut and hadn't thought of stopping in Knidos until it was the only option.

They say you can't buy experience, but we could do without it being rammed down our throats. We have reefed or attempted to reef twice now....

Inelegant was the way I described the first time back in Lakka, disastrous and expensive on the second attempt here! With a little more experience, perhaps it will be third time lucky on the next occasion.... stay tuned.

Bodrum

Early start to beat the Meltemi we cast off at 8:00am on the 16th September and motored west. We were in Bodrum harbour by 11:10 and anchored with many varied craft in one of the two half moon shaped bays divided by a peninsular on which sits one of the Mediterranean's most intact castles.

Once again we were reliably advised that we would not get into the Bodrum Marina by someone who, in his 8 years of sailing this coast had never managed it in a mono hull. In a catamaran we held out little hope. We'd anchored on the advise of the Marina staff who we'd contacted by radio on our way in.


They'd asked that we contact them again at lunch time to see if a space had opened up but sounded doubtful.

Sal's foot is slowly improving, but hopping in and out of the dingy is not ideal and with the persistent Meltemi, anchoring can get uncomfortable and sleep depriving in a crowded bay.

12:00 on the dot I called. "Yes we have a spot, if you would head to the Marina entrance our port pilot will meet, escort and assist you with mooring...."

We moored alongside, spitting distance from the best showers and ablutions we had ever seen, power and water wooohooo!

The only issue was the price.... 215Euro per night, the power and water a separate charge. The aforementioned 8 year veteran had also left us in no doubt that we'd find Turkey much cheaper than Greece...

One wonders what he was on?

We managed to stay for three nights allowing us to go through the riggers of checking into Turkey, really enjoy the last couple of days with the Fraser's, have the boat professionally cleaned and fully provisioned and get across Bodrum and its wonderful castle.

Last time I was in Turkey in the early 80's it was a third world country. Not any more. It is clean, sophisticated, prosperous and well organised..... not to mention.... expensive.

Meal and wine prices have more than doubled, Vodka and Tonic AUS$15

The Castle made an amazing school outing for the kids. Given it sits at the entrance to the marina, we dingied across and parked among rows of huge Turkish Gulets. They truly are the most beautiful of craft and a great way to tour the Turkish coast if you were thinking about it.

We spent 3 - 4 hours inside the castle, Summer being photographer and both enthralled by everything. Even as I was trying to leave, well over it by now, they both wanted to see the very final thing... the Dungeon...

As I switced on my phone torch, Summer declared she'd be sleeping in Will's room that night!

Once again we found ourselves saying goodbye. The Fraser's had come to sail with us for a week or so and then go to Rome where Wendy had never been.

We were very pleased that they extended their time with us to two weeks cutting their Italian jaunt, which was to include both Rome and Florence, to just three days.... What the hell guys.... seen one old church, you've seen'm all!

Not sure Wendy was as pleased as Greg.... she'd not as yet seen one.

Turkey here we come.... 3 blog catch up today, so scroll down

When entering a new country, you are supposed to fly the 'Q' flag which is orange, the Q standing for Quarantine harking back to the Cook era.

Formalities can be time consuming and tedious and so we decided to simply fly the Turkish flag as if we'd complied with the rules and visit some anchorages for which the Turkish coast (or Turquoise coast) is famous.

We'd then head for Bodram where the Frasers would depart for Rome on the 18th, giving us a couple of days to explore before they went.

First stop, Yedi Adelari 30 odd miles away. The boat was back in the water by 11:30. We gave it a quick scrub and by 12:00 on the 13th September, we were on our way.

The Meltimi is very consistent here. Very light in the early morning, but by 10:30am the white caps appear and she is blowing 25 knots and does not quit until late into the night. From Kos the wind comes from the West, so we had everything up making 8 knots all the way to our first anchorage.

A beautiful spot up 'East Creek' well protected from the prevailing wind, but not the turquoise coast we had been sold. The water was clean, but not pristine. Greg swam the long line ashore, but hot as it was, we didn't envy him. The shore line was littered with the usual coastal flotsam and really quite a disappointment.

In the morning we decided to head for Castle Island. This is a place where Cleopatra had galleon loads of sand imported from Egypt to create a beach for her lover Mark Anthony


A complicated exit because by our 11:45 departure time the wind was finding its way onto our starboard beam so as soon as the long line was released at the far end, the wind would push the boat into the rocky shore to our port. We made it, but it did mean towing Greg for quite a way before he was able to get back onto the boat. Really not sure how we will do this without them?

Castle Island was crowded with Tripper Boats and tourists but we found a spot and waited for them all to leave before taking in the environment. Once again, the shoreline was littered and the water had oil slicks from the tripper boats.

In the morning we ventured ashore and after a long a difficult bush bash we were rewarded with a fantastic and intact amphitheater among other fairly impressive ruins. Unfortunately, given that we swam in, I have no photographs at all of this island to show you....

We had one more night of anchoring before having to head for Bodrum and we'd have to leave early to avoid beating straight into the westerly Meltemi. We chose Cokertme as our destination and at 07:15 on the 15th September, Wendy swam to retrieve the long line and we were on or way.


Cokertme instantly overcame all our Turkish disappointment as we entered the bay.

We had managed to avoid the wind and we were met by a man in a dingy. He pointed out where we should moor, which was on his jetty. I positioned the boat and when I looked around, we was standing on our boat. He'd hopped up off his with very long slime line in hand and gave me advice as we reversed in.

Moored,. All we needed to do was eat at his restaurant and the wifi, the power, the water, the laundry and the mooring were free!

We were in by 10:30 just as the Meltemi cranked up outside the bay.

Getting somewhere early means you can really enjoy the place even though we were only there for the one night.

The water was pristine and the kids frolicked for hours on and around the jetties and a floating swim platform.

The Frasers found shaded sun beds and Sal and I relaxed in true Turkish style enjoying what turned out to be quite expensive Rose'. The food was out of this world, so fresh, so tasty and so different from what we had been eating over the past 5 months. Sal is in her element having tired of Greek cuisine within a month of arriving there....

We dined at the water's edge that evening. More exquisite flavours, washed down with sumptuous Turkish wines but when the bill arrived, we did come to understand why everything was free if you ate at their restaurant.....

Nisyros

Somehow this blog is out of order. it should be read before Kos...

A leisurely start, we cast off and weighed anchor at 11:50am on the 7th September. Great to have extra crew to help with the lines and anchor.

Nil wind at first so we motored.









At the very start of the journey there is a handy short cut between waypoints 2 and 3 above. It is narrow and shallow so you need to be awake, but beautiful and of course always great to share these moments with close friends. Once we cleared the gap, the wind came up and straight at us so it was a beat all the way to Nisyros.

Greg and I lay out the sunbeds on the trampolines which for me was a first. We were just getting set for a little doze when we noticed that we didn't seem to be going in the right direction??


I went up to the helm to be faced with blank screens and the boat was cruising on manual and being turned by the wind. The girls hadn't noticed so it was a good thing we hadn't dozed off! No rest for the wicked....

We checked all the systems but ended up under the guest bed with that pesky 40amp fuse. Unfortunately, it was not the problem.... right next to it were two relay switches, both making quite a racket and both searing hot. We pulled them out, let them cool and replaced them. Everything came back up but we remained unsettled. Once in port we pulled them out again, cleaned all the contacts and the problem seems to have abated, but will need to be fixed.

Two harbours on Nisyros, this one being Pali and the main ferry harbour, Mandrakion around the corner.

A very safe harbour. We were fortunate that we got there when we did choosing a spot on the mole looking across the water at the town and mountains behind. Beautiful.

No sooner were we set when in they came in droves eventually completely filling the available space and then some.


The port policeman was as efficient and courteous as we've seen in Greece. He asked me to come to his office by 9:00pm which I did and his administration was complete. He wondered why I hadn't filled out a new Crew List in Symi?? "Mate we didn't even see Port Police in Symi." He didn't seem surprised and said I should get it done in Kos, Nisysros was not a port that this could be done.... 22 Euro later, a further 10Euro for the power and water and we were sorted. A good deal really.

This island is famous for this active crater.

Although there were bus loads of tourists, we enjoyed the walk across to the bubbling mud all to ourselves while the hordes were being lectured to up top.

The place wreaks of sulfur a bit like Rotarua in NZ but fascinating and a first for Sal and the kids.

They regretted the fact that they had done school work in the morning as this should have been a 'project'....

And at the very top of the island, a church in the most obscure and difficult place to build one.

All over Greece we have found churches in this type of setting leaving not a clue as to who, why or how they were put there.

Kos - Not quite as planned!

We were assured by another catamaran owner that we would have no chance getting into either Kos harbour or the Kos marina, that we’d have to anchor outside and dingy around. 

As we arrived, there were a number of boats at anchor outside but we sauntered into the amazing circular old harbour in the heart of Kos just to take a look…..

‘The book’ says yachts can go stern to on the wall to the right as you enter the harbour if there is room. Well, there was heaps of room so without delay we dropped anchor and Med moored on the wall. Not quite believing our luck and being a little gun shy these days, we inquired of our new neighbours as to whether we’d be kicked out for any reason? “No, you can stay here for free as long as you want”

We got set took the bikes off and surveyed our new home….. But wait! Over there on the other side, are those power boxes and doesn’t there appear to be heaps of vacant space? 

More enquiring of our neighbours…. “yeah, you can park there but you have to pay.” Well, being the power and water sluts that we are, "c'mon everybody, we’re moving," up came the anchor and across we went.

Picked a nice spot on the wall but as we were about to reverse, out came Mr Wavy Arms…. “You can’t park here, it is reserved, but you can park over there….” Great, we repositioned and parked right at a power and water post, plugged in and we’d just have to go get the bikes later…..

A long walk around the circular harbour, the bikes were duly collected and at around 5:00pm a nice uniformed chap arrived and asked how long we wanted to stay… “Three days, maybe four”…. “THREE DAYS! There is a ferry arriving in 10 minutes and you have to be gone, you can park right across there for free!"

A glance back across the harbour revealed that two more yachts had parked where we had been but there was still room so off we went before anybody else arrived. Anchored reversed and felt a little silly about being right back where we started….. we’ll have to collect the bikes later.

Completely set and very comfortable and a nice uniformed lady arrived to inform us that we were parked in the space reserved for a tripper boat and that we’d have to move along one place….

“OK, we have so far moved three times and on two occasions, someone in a uniform similar to yours has told us to move and where to move to. This was where we were directed and why can’t the tripper boat just park next to us instead of us having to up anchor and move 10 feet?” “This is their spot, look see, here is there sandwich board.” “OK, wouldn't it be easier if we just moved the sandwich board?”….

And along came the company representative who had clearly not had much PR training and she went off like a parrot…. “You park here because you don’t want to pay your taxes!!”.... Huh? Na, we didn't get that one either......

Things escalated…. but we are now seasoned at this and simply but quietly refused to move. The tripper boat circled the harbour…. Parrot from PR   “you are keeping all those people on that boat waiting, don’t you care about that?”… “Yeah, we give a rats….” And it circled….

Nothing for it but to pour and nice cold Vodka and Tonic and watch it all unfold from the helm. The uniformed lady had given up and left, but Parrot from PR would not quit…. The tripper boat finally gave up, quite easily parked alongside and then it all got super comical!

The captain of the tripper boat had obviously informed his 100 or more passengers that the reason for this long delay was us! So now, not only did we have the parrot, we had the entire passenger list abuse us from the the tripper boat as they filed off. From “we’re going to sink your boat” to death stares from minors as their parents made arses of themselves. All we could do was laugh at the whole pantomime….

We went out on the town and gave it a good shake. Greg and I riding one and pulling one got the bikes home at around 2:00am along very crowded pavements. Made it with no mysterious bruises or scrapes but only remembering when we spotted the bikes in the morning.

The next morning I radioed the other side and asked if there was space. To our great surprise, there was and we could come over right away. Imagine that, a reserved space with power and water…. for little old us! 

We’d have to collect the bikes later….

We weighed anchor for the third time in this harbour but half way out to the anchor, the anchor chain snagged on something very solid and ceeeRUNCH!, the boat came to a sickening halt with the bow dipping right down as the chain ripped the front section of the anchor guide right off! The damage was not obvious from above but it was the sound of it that nagged, we got the anchor up and were duly directed into our reserved spot. Once set I decided to take another look at any damage to the bowsprit.

 

I had to get right out over the front to see it, but what I saw was not good at all….. The 8 or so bolts holding the front of the anchor guide up onto the spar had ripped right out, bending a large piece of stainless steel in the process which was now hanging by the bolts at the back.

This was going to be expensive, it was going to take a long time and the boat was going to have to come out of the water……

I spoke to the guy taking care of the wharf and he made a call, “There will be someone at your boat in 10 minutes.” And in 10 minutes there was…. He took a good look and "it was going to be expensive, it was going to take a long time and the boat was going to have to come out of the water…… This is not a part that you find in any chandlery, it will have to be ordered, let me make some calls”

We could sense the Fraser’s sailing holiday with the Wilkinson’s was not going to involve a lot of sailing….

“I've just called the workshop and you will not believe this…. We have a charter yacht, a Lagoon 440 like yours which had the same problem. We have temporarily fixed it for the charter season but we ordered the part and it is sitting in our workshop!”

And clockwork prevailed. We sailed over to the Marina the next morning, the 100 tonne hoist at the ready, we were up and out and on the way to an hotel within minutes. The haul out included a power wash of the hulls and I had told the guys who were to repair the anchor guide that I’d also like them to repair the keel damage and to replace the auto pilot relay switches while they were at it, and I’d like a new layer of anti-fowling seeing we had the boat or of the water.

This was Thursday morning and we would be back in the water and off to Turkey on Saturday morning with all the issues we had with the boat fixed, insurance claim in!

Although we were looking forward to a mini break from the boat, the hotel was just not us. Huge, packed and with buffet meals to feed over 1000 guests in two hours per meal time. It had a nice beach and swimming pools but catered mainly to Russian tourists who, let’s face it, are culturally a little different.

The Starboard Keel damage

Repaired Keel

I spent most of the time at the boat watching the most professional workmanship you could wish for. A very thorough job was made of both the anchor guide and the hull, the anchor guide now being 20% or more stronger than before. The part itself cost 2400 Euro but they discounted this because they’d be left with my bent piece, they could use that and save themselves a bomb. The relay switch repair was free and the whole thing cost 3900odd Euro not including the haul out and bum clean.

So impressed were we that we inquired about and will in all likelihood be wintering the boat in KOS.

A very nice surprise is Kos. Designated cycle tracks everywhere, waterside tavernas, piazzas, cobbled streets and minarets all expanding out around the circular old harbour.

To be enjoyed when we return, as you can imagine, events here somewhat over shadowed our stay.