All play and no work makes blogging a dull job!

Too, too much fun to be had, so my apologies for the gap in communications....

Having bid the Duncan's farewell, it was time to spring clean the boat once again and by 8:35 on the 11th July, we were headed on what looked to be a rough ride for the 50nm sail to Mitilini on Lesvos, where we were to meet the Hayman's. They were joining us from Santorini, Greece... Oh, and the Galapagos Islands and various parts of South America. I just can't handle people who do things by halves!

Mitilini is a huge harbour and frighteningly officious. Frightening because we had Sally and the kids on board who we'd picked up in Turkey but had not officially checked into Greece. If they tried to check in it would mean the boat had left Greece without checking out....It gets way more complicated. You see, the Greek Islands and Turkey are so close along this stretch of coast that boats tend to bounce between them. Checking a boat and crew in and out of either country takes hours so we don't bother as long as we have the correct paperwork for the boat in both countries and are flying the correct flag on arrival all should be good...


As we entered the port of Mitilini a Port Policeman was standing on the dock beckoning us toward him and indicating I go to channel 12 on the radio.... "Where have you come from and how many people do you have on board?"... Well I couldn't say Turkey now could I? and so the complex web began.







The Hayman's arrived at 10;30pm so a late dinner at a great little restaurant right on the end of the mole was in order. We'd managed to hire a 9 seater van so we could explore the third largest of the Greek Islands and places we probably would not be sailing to.

We drove to Molinos on the northern tip of the island as recommended by the car hire guy, a really lovely, if a little touristy town which climbs it's way up to an impressive castle at the peak. Narrow, cobbled, ancient creeper covered alleyways with 'hole in the wall' shops selling all manner of poop interspersed with bars and restaurants with views over the cutest little harbour. Stunning!














The harbour was so attractive that we tagged it for possible future mooring. The next recommendation was to eat at a little town called Skala Skamineas for lunch. "The best seafood in Greece" was wheeled out once again, but this time, there was no argument. It was to die for.
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The drive was to take 23 minutes on dirt according to Google Maps but it took way longer than that because of what we witnessed along the way. It is a story about refugees which will be covered in a separate blog as it deserves to be.

Back to lunch... Skala Skamineas is right out of a post card. The tightest little fishing harbour jammed with fishing boats and rimmed with restaurants all so delightful it made choosing a tough decision.

So good to be with such good mates in such a beautiful place eating the best octopus ever.

Entertainment was provided by the local trannie who paraded, modelesque around the harbour as if nobody else existed.

I put my hand up to drive back to Mitilini so not your usual long lunch for me, but such a comfy spot we could have stayed and certainly planned to return.

Back on the boat and conditions were shaping up for a perfect sail down the coast of Levros and around to Plomarion once more. Although we had already been there, it was worth a second trip for the Hayman's if only for a great sail, but we did want them to sample Maria's restaurant and beach. We had a couple of days before we we needed to head across to Turkey to collect Jenny and Warren Green who were joining us after their European jaunt. They were flying into Istanbul rather than a difficult route via Athens, hence our need to go to Turkey once more..

It was indeed a perfect sail to Plomarion which was as we had left it back on the 3rd of July and Maria's lived up to our hype. Happy to see us again, they poured on the service and the food and we ate and drank, sunbathed and swam and left them with a memento we hope will be there for a while.

The Summer Amy Cap....












Last time we were in Plomarion, Sal had noticed a pool hall tucked away in the back streets and having put the kids in front of a movie, we were persuaded to go and have a game.

Al suggested a great game when you have 5 people playing.

Each player has three balls and their task is to protect theirs and sink everybody else's. If a mistake is made, each player gets to retrieve one sunk ball.


We played three games.... Prizes for guessing who won all three... The bouquet came from the ladies toilet.. A fitting reward I guess?

Next stop Bademli, Turkey, an anchorage in beautiful surroundings touting hot springs that were used by the ancients and bubble away to this day.

After another perfect sail, the anchorage was indeed beautiful, the water so clear and refreshing but after dropping the dingy and motoring around to the hot springs we found them a crushing disappointment. The "natural rock pool about the size of a bath with sunset views across Kalem Adasi" turned out to be filthy, slimy and unusable.

It was a long way from where we anchored though, a glorious evening on the boat meant a long refreshing swim in the morning, something we cannot do in any harbour.

At 11:30 on the 15th we motored up and Med Moored in Alibey, Turkey where we were to rendezvous with the Greens who would be overlapping with the Hayman's by one day... Imagine the shenanigans with that mob!