On arrival at Pythagorion anchorage there was an alien spaceship waiting for us.

 

Next morning we moved around to Samos Marina so Dave could have access to resonable wifi and electricity.

The boys arrived on the Thursday morning. As usual were bearing gifts and a few things requested by us. Dave had one change of clothes due to his luggage allowance being taken up by these and his work gear but his sacrifice was very much appreciated by us. However, I do think Iain could have given Dave a wee corner of his bag, lol

   

Unfortunately, Dave was still working so we had our first day in the marina just chilling and catching up with all their news.

  

We had a nice dinner in Daphne’s in Pythogorio the first night. The next day we sailed up to Posidonio, tacking all the way to give them a nice gentle sail and the opportunity to get a bit hands on if they wanted, which Iain did. Dave was still below deck working, poor soul. 

   

 

We were due to meet up with Nicolas here so he could meet the boys and join in on Dave’s Birthday celebrations. We had dinner ashore in the taverna in Pythogorion, again along with copious amounts of alcohol. In fact, the night ended in a blur as usual. Next morning ………

Gordon took the boys ashore in the dinghy, but not before going for a swim getting into the dinghy, enough said…. not a pretty sight but one that just had to be documented.

  

The outward voyage

  

and the return.

Another one of these moments was the big reveal by Dave….. That must have been some size of budgie to cause that splash!

 

Next night we had aperitif’s on Nicolas boat and gave Dave his presents.

             

He got a lovely scarf from Nicolas which was very sweet of him and an anchor bracelet form us.  I think the boys were quite taken by Nicolas boat, it’s quite a bit bigger than ours.   We walked round to the taverna at Klima Bay for dinner. It’s a lovely setting and the meal was very nice, then back to Camira for nightcaps and more shenanigans.

Originally, we were going to sail back to Pythagorion for the boys to go to the airport but we decided just to have a lazy morning recovering and phoned a taxi from Posidonio.  It’s always great to see the boys and sad to see them go.

We sailed for a few hours Northwards towards Lipsi but it was hard going with the wind on the nose. However, it was good to put a bit of effort into it. We knew Bob and Andrea were there, they were anchored farther in towards the village, but the water wasn’t just as clear there so we dropped anchor in the bay further South, Ormos Sokora, beside the wee chapel. It meant a 20 minute walk into the town but it was a nice walk past a couple of beaches.

         

We met up with Bob and Andrea in the village. Brian and Sarah from Kalamata were here as well, although Sarah had gone home as her mum is very ill. After picking Brian up we headed off for a beer and a catch up. While sitting there Margaret and Patrick, friends more of Bob and Andrea, but we’d met them also in Leros came by so it was quite a wee gathering which went on for a few hours. It’s always good to meet up with people and find out where and what they’ve been up to.

    

Lipso, or Lipsi as most people call it is very nice. I’d imagine it could be quite busy earlier in summer but it was very quiet while we were there. It has a small harbour which you can moor up at, we didn’t bother as the anchorage was safe and very quiet. The village is built up into the hillside which we climbed up and you can see all the way over to the other small bays where you can anchor in. They, however, were quite full and much further to walk to the village.

             

We were supposed to have met up with Nicolas somewhere for out full moon midnight swim but it didn’t happen for one reason or another. However, some of us, me, still kept up the tradition, Gordon backed out.

 

What a beautiful full moon it was!

We left Lipso on 27 August for Samos where we were meeting Dave and Iain. We had a great sail after we passed Agathonisi all the way to Samos,the wind as usual just came from nowhere, great though.

We had a few days in Pythagorion harbour, met the new Harbour Master – Giorghos, seems like a very nice guy. I think he’ll run a tighter ship than Diamontes did though, lol.

 

Louise sporting her new hairdo

We then headed up to Posidonia which was as busy as ever with the Turks causing the usual havoc anchoring.

 

We walked around to Klima bay for sea food linguini

      

Views from the taverna.

Turns out the yacht in the middle right picture had found a stowaway, Roland the rat and were trying to get rid.

We heard on the way back to the boat from Nicolas that Mao had disappeared in Pythagorion. Nicolas had friends out for a week and had to leave without finding Mao. We offered to go back the next day and try to find him. However, when we arrived back Giorghos informed us that he had found a dead cat in the bay the day before. It took me until night time to tell Nicolas the terrible news. He has been Nicolas companion on the boat for 15 years, it’s so sad.

   

Last pic of Mau in Pythagorion     Better days getting his morning drink from Louise in Syracuse

All in all it was a pretty awful day, we had moored up beside this motor boat, the parents went to stay in a hotel leaving the kids to party all night long, no sleep at all so left that morning for Agathonisi. We anchored in the first bay called Ayios Yeoriyiou…..heaven!

Totally alone and not a sound. We had three days here without another soul, then a few boats came. After five days we headed for Leros Marina.

Turned out Leros Marina have changed their charging structure making it quite a bit more expensive for boats of our size, so we only graced them with one night of our company, However, it did allow us to go to the wee chicken taverna across the road from it, that Gordon loves.

Then it was off to Xerocambos on the South of the island, where we picked up a mooring buoy again  for the night. The script is that you eat in the respective taverna that provides the buoys, not everybody does , but we do. Tokyma is a very picturesque but unfortunately the last time it wasn’t very good (in fact it was awful). So this time we just went in for a wee meze and drink and went on to another taverna later for dinner.

      

The next days plan was to sail to  Nisos Lipsi  –  which would be a new island for us.

Sunday night saw us anchor in Ay Yeoryious, Patmos a favourite anchorage and very peaceful. It had been a hard beat to windward.

We were running short of water and Camira needed a good clean so we headed for Samos Marina the next day. It always seems to be a good sail between Samos & Patmos a 30 odd mile passage. We were seeing speeds of 7 knots plus at times. The dolphins that visted us loved that !

After two nights in the marina cleaning up, fueling up etc we headed round to Pythagorion and anchored in the bay.

This was to be our mini cruising ground for near enough a month. Pythagorion (Samos) – Ay Yeoryious (Patmos), Agriolivadhia (Patmos), Scala (Patmos).

There are loads of pics from last year so wont repeat any views. Going into Scala , the main town on Patmos was a 1st by boat as the meltemi makes the harbour wall uncomfortable but we had a little lull in the usually strong winds. The Cyclades & Aegean weather is very strange this year.

     

Pythagorion 17th July

   

Nicolas & Mario on Camira and Agriolivadhia, Patmos 21st July

      

Georgio Armani’s boat & view from taverna later in day I’m wearing my  white Armani T  Shirt

Ay Yeoryious, Patmos 23rd July

Whilst in Ay Yeoryious we invited an English couple Alison & Dave from White Sands over for a drink “before tea”.

They arrived at 6:30PM and left at 03:30AM ! Literally drank us out of booze, lol.

   

Ay Yeoryious, Patmos 24th July

We also met up with Jon & Angie the couple who sold up everything and bought an Oyster 56 for their 1st boat, day skipper qualification certs ,ink not yet yet dried. Good on them. I think Jon is enjoying more than Angie though, not surprising he was in the Paras.

Scala Patmos 26th July

There have been a few as Nicolas would call “James Bond “ incidents:

1. Gordon swam to recover someone’s dinghy let loose in Pythagorion by a child hooligan and was heading out to sea. He towed it back in swimming!  I can hear Diane shouting “He done a Noel”. He did get a bottle of wine for his good deed.

2. Nicolas pulled a yacht off the rocks that had lost engine power and was letting in water and got it the to the safety of the coastguard boat when it arrived.  He got nuthin , lol

   

Pythagorion celebrating the defeat of the Turks 6th August