From the previous blog you will know we had arranged to move into the house early. I had also managed to negotiate a long term car hire in favour of a scooter for the winter.

So Louise was up at the house preparing and sorting out our gear and Nicolas & I had just visited the Port Police to surrender our boat papers for the winter.

We had stopped at one of the cafes in Pythagorio harbour, and were in the middle of an ouzo when ………………….

On 30 October 2020, at 13.51 local time (11.51 UTC), an earthquake of magnitude 7.0 Mw struck off the Aegean coast of Turkey, south of Izmir, and north of the Greek island of Samos (37.91 N 26.79 E), with an estimated hypo central depth of 21 km (USGS-United States Geological Survey).

I have never been in an earthquake before and this was quite a big one.

To say it’s a weird feeling is a gross understatement. We dashed out from under cover, Nicolas at least remembered his ouzo, I left mine and it and the table and chairs crashed to the floor. Cracks appeared in the buildings and pavement and all the mirrors and gantries in the tavernas could be heard shattering.

Meanwhile Louise was up stairs in the house felt it shuddering and groaning and couldn’t keep her feet to come down a spiral staircase to get out of the house. At first she had just thought it was a heavy truck passing, lol

There was a lot of damage to the island particularly in Karlovasi nearer to the epicentre and two kids were killed.

We went to check the boats were OK then I headed up to the house. There continued to be aftershocks and every time the shuddering started we made ready for a dash outside hopefully having managed to get Lily in her carry basket.

All in all an interesting few days introduction to our chosen wintering location.

They say things come in three’s – Lily, F7 earthquake, what’s next?

We were berthed in Samos marina right next to Freya of Wight, Paul & Lorraine’s boat. They love Lily & it seemed an ideal spot 30 ft from a grassy plot and very quiet with very little traffic on the marina road, perfect, or so we thought.

We let Lily out about 06:30 on our first morning and about an hour later she came back to the boat, but the way she came down the companionway and banged onto the floor sounded very different from normal.

When I got up to see what was amiss she wouldn’t let me near her and was obviously in pain.

We were unsure what had happened but we suspected he had been attacked and bitten by two wee dogs that are allowed to run free and attack bicylists, cars, in fact anything that moves.

Now there are two vets in Samos both in Vathi , the main town but no one was answering their phones, it was a holiday.

We also found out later, from the cat sanctuary, that they dislike one another and so won’t  arrange staggering their opening times for cover.

Kleanthis our engineer friend gave us the mobile number of his friend Antonio, one of the vets and eventually with the help of Yanita a Norwegian sailor, whose husband is Greek we managed to leave a message explaining our issue.

Eventually he called back but couldn’t come to the surgery until 16:00 that afternoon!  It was also his son’s birthday.

It was a very long day waiting with Lily in obvious pain.

At 16:00 Sara gave us a lift into Vathi to the vet. Lily was knocked out examined, stitched up and given an antibiotic jab.

The vet confirmed the bites had been from a small dog, but that she would be OK.

All ended very well but I can’t understand a vet not coming out immediately for an animal in distress.

9 hours the poor wee thing was in pain.

So back to the boat with her, out for the count, but at least relieved she was going to be OK.

It took a shine off the marina though and we were glad we had the house rental set up for the beginning of November. We arranged to move up early on the 30^th October (More later !!) to give her somewhere safe to recuperate.

Lily out cold after the Vet visit

The final 23 miles of 600 miles today.

Back to Pythagorio harbour and then around to the marina tomorrow morning.

It’s the last anchorage of the season and nice to spend the afternoon in the deserted bay , with the lone exception of “Etioile Fresante” from Switzerland, who although they left the following morning before us, in the end, turned out to be fellow winterers in Samos marina. Dani and his wife.

So on the 27^th October 2020 the sailing season of 2019-2020 was officially ended with drinks on Syeni that evening.

600 miles , not withstanding Covid.

Sunday saw our English pals Sara & Brian arrive.

They were aboard Freya – their friends Joni & Bruce’s “Gulet like” boat they had bought in Turkey.

Bruce is from Tasmania, a professional skipper & IT specialist, a sailor since childhood and has worked for years with the various charter companies in Turkey. Joni is lovely and is as mad as a snake and from Africa (and I think an aristocrat somewhere along the line). A kindred spirit – goes everywere (almost) in her bare feet.

For personal reasons Brian & Sara’s boat has been in Samos for two years without moving hence they were with Joni & Bruce.

I first met Brain & Sara in Kalamata when Louise was back home for a holiday to see Harry & Diane. We met up again in Samos two years back.

Strangely enough we all ended up in the taverna after welcome beers on Freya.

Lily also staked her claim against the wee local nyaff.

Having recovered miraculously and vowing never to drink again! (Watch this space) we went for a walk to the far end of the island where we normally would anchor – we call it Blue Bay because of the water colour and clarity.

It’s obvious at some point before the Greek economic crisis a lot of money was going to be invested in some sort of retreat here. We walked through an already walled complex and partially completed villas that have just stopped mid development.

I would imagine if finished it would attract a lot of interest.

As usual though the more development happens the less the “Wild attractiveness” becomes.

I suppose it depends on the target market and how it is developed.

Who am I to say – I’m just glad we’ve seen the island as it is now.

Well as expected Mrs M has a massive hangover.

I didn’t mention the second visit to the Ouzeri, well not much, or overly often. Didn’t think it would help.

It’s only 8 miles to Arki and I am hoping at this time of year we will be able to get into the village harbour proper…. It’s usually bunged and almost normally impossible.

Well we were in luck (just!) we managed to squeeze in between Nicolas and a massive catamaran and I mean massive!

What a beautiful wee harbour. There are three tavernas, but it has no shore power or water, though I imagine you could ask for a hose from the taverna to at least fill up your tanks?

You can get a proper shower for 3 Euros in a “Guest house room” but the only real advantage is you are not using your own (in our case limited) supply of on board water, privacy, and for Louise, the all important hairdryer.

I really need to look at the possibilities of a more beefy inverter (for electical appliances) than we have at the moment, though it does seem to serve all my coiffeur requirements to the tee no bother at all.

You know it’s just yachties that think its acceptable to be scrubbing your under carriage in full view of  tourists trying  to enjoy their beer in a taverna 5 metres away from you, lol.

Today was just a recovery day (for some) and a wander for others

Lovely wee place no ?

and so to bed

Well after a week’s lockdown in Leros it’s nice to be moving even the 6 miles across to Lipsi and back into the anchorage at Katsidia.

This time it’s only two boats plus us, much better, that said it’s only 11:00 am in the morning.

As you know by now from previous blogs we can walk into Lipsi town over the hill from here and it’s quite welcome to stretch your legs. Normally it’s a visit to the bakery, obviously for bread, but they also serve a mean coffee. Well it’s Greece.

Thankfully a dearth of fruit & vegetable shops and only two small mini markets here so the skipper is happy.

Lipsi town and a pretty girl I met, funny accent though

Katsidia bay

We spent two days here before moving around into Lipsi bay & anchoring off the chapel.

We had promised to return to Manolis Tastes and had booked a table for the Thursday night. We would dinghy in to town from  across to the harbour.

That’s our boats in the distance with the anchor lights left on

It’s no like getting a taxi up the town for a meal you’ve got to wash the sand aff yer feet and get dressed for the restaurant , lol.  Some scrub up better than others Mrs M

We went for ouzo at the harbour first, but we didn’t expect the meze they brought along with it!

Then up to Manolis’ where even more wine and food was consumed. The meal was fantastic as expected ……… but ……..

Manolis’ Tastes

……. not expected …….. was Louise’s idea that we should revisit the Ouzeri for a night cap on the way back down to the dinghy.

Well this does not happen a lot!  and I am not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, so more ouzo it was (We did say no meze was required this time).

The local cat had other ideas however and was perfectly positioned under the BBQ

The plan was to head on to Arki another wee island to the north tomorrow.

I feared for Louise’s head however, she normally doesn’t have this much and usually only wine! ………… Ooooooh?

We have decided that overly long stays on anchor in the same place are not for us, but unfortunately sometimes you just don’t have a choice, the weather decides for you.

Well we were right, the strong southerlies did set in and boxed us in for a week. Plakouti bay is nice but a week is just a tad too long.

We did have a few boats drag anchor in the strong winds including us, probably as a result of the limited space on arrival but only the once and when reset the Rocna did its usual best.

On the days the winds lessened a bit we would take the bus into the Alindi supermarket. We discovered a wee gem of a cafe across the road where we would go for ouzo & tapas while waiting for our taxi back.

There was a Greek guy who also used to drop in for his ouzo on a self-built motorised cycle, clutch and everything. We got talking to him .To start it he would pedal then drop the clutch and off he went.

Unfortunately it was in Plakouti that we had the only two negative incidents  occur in all our happy time in Greece.

One was a taxi driver who tried to fleece us for 15.00 Euros taxi fare when we had been paying 7.00 all week. It got heated and even the old Lady Taverna owner at Plakouti piled into him verbally as well. Apparently he was a bad ‘un and had done this before with other tourists. I gave him 10.00 and told him to swing his hook or the Greek equivalent.

The second was Ethel, hence the title of the blog – an arrogant Brit who anchored so close us we almost touched and when we had gone ashore he let even more chain out, missing us only by inches at times.

Louise said to leave it with her (for obvious reasons, lol) and so I did.

He wasn’t happy about a woman asking him “if he didn’t think he was inconsiderate and a danger to himself and others?”

He wouldn’t acknowledge her so it was resolved through the women, although she was equally as snotty. Eventually they moved but he wisnae a happy bunny. When he re-laid his anchor he dragged a further three times, and then finally, in embarrassment, they left the anchorage altogether.

Karma just blissful Karma.

I have just the sneakiest suspicion he also didn’t like the Saltire flying from my mast…..fee fo fie fum I smell the blood of a brexit bum ,lol.

The tapas cafe & motorised bicycle

Me & my pal on the beach at Plakouti

My other pal “Ethel” and his subsequent departure

Addendum: when relaying the story to other English sailing pals of ours who are in the CA, they advised there had been incidents reported on blogs about this boat ….. so there you go eh

Today was going to be a long day.

We planned to get right back up to the far side of Leros before some threatened weather from the south set in. So we couldn’t afford to meander back up.

The plan was Plakouti bay again which would offer good protection from southerly winds. There was also Partheni, a big bay (3) at the very north of Leros before Plakouti (Chk Flag), if needs be.

I am laughing at just under 50 miles being considered a big day, given our previous two & three days / nights at sea passages in previous years.

We are getting soft.

Never the less it was a trial to get Lily back in for our planned 08:00 start, but luckily we did and  we were off.

Almost 10 hours and most of it motor sailing! We did however manage to pole out the genoa for a wee while so not all bad news.

Nicolas was well ahead of us and at 16:00 had already arrived in Plakouti. It was apparently very busy. He had also caught a fish , as yet we had not and it was to remain that way.

At first I couldn’t understand why so busy, surely the cruising should be winding down by now for most ?

I think the reason was the proximity of the two Leros marinas plus the two yards that offered lifting out for the winter. This was probably a last stop for a lot of people just enjoying the tail end of the season.

We decided to try Partheni rather than risk not getting in to Plakouti and having to double back in the dark. We were still estimating about 2 hours away at that time.

In the end we risked it and headed to Plakouti. It was indeed busy, 15 boats but we managed to squeeze in, and anchored just off the beach.

Heading towards Kos in the morning, flat sea

Looking back at Nisos Gyalos and Nisiros

I was staying off the coast of Kos, as it shoals here, and this guy takes me on the “inside” lol.

Our brief bit of poled out genoa sailing

Beautiful evening arrival just out side Plakouti bay

Wouldn’t want to have to dodge those rocks in the dark

Anchor set. Just less than 10 hours under way. Time for a dip then a glass of wine and the fish we didn’t catch (again!)

Friday 9^th October saw us heading back across to Nisiros.

I chose to go via Turkish waters and ended up in a 3 way dodge of tankers in the shipping lane around the Datca Peninsula.

31 miles and six hours saw us back in Palon Harbour, Nisiros.

Next day on the Saturday we hired motor scooters from the same company of the epic car trip with Diane, the shot putter, the year before, lol.

Louise & I were two up and Nicolas had one to himself.

Hope he is better riding a bike than he is driving a car.

His family does own a French car dealership and he has been driving most of his life….. so he tells us, only it’s just like being in a car with Jacques Lafitte the formula 1 driver!

The first stop was Mandraki  another little town 5 km around the coast.

Fruit shops again, you wouldn’t effin believe it  !!!

More views of Mandraki , it’s far bigger than it first appears.

Next stop the famous volcanic crater followed by lunch in our favourite taverna overlooking the volcano

Views of the volcano and the last from the taverna

On the way back Louise disappeared down a path to the beach. When she didn’t return I went to look for her. She had met a Greek American couple from Boston who had returned and where doing up a tiny wee house on their families land. They also owned the little harbour.

Compact & bijoux, but what a spot

The day was rounded off with drinks back in Mandraki, note the jackets

“Winter is coming”