Marathrocampos, Samos

We had been to Marathrocampos by car but never by boat. It had been recommended by many people. It has a small harbour with, at present, free water and electricity and an assortment of tavernas, a pizzeria, a reasonable supermarket and even a chandlery.

The passage is westward along the south coast of Samos then north west between the island of Samiopoula and the mainland. In total it was 19 miles but we split the journey anchoring under the castle at Pythagorio (outside the now banned bay) to see if it would be suitable for an overnight stop. It was safe enough but just a wee bit too rolly for a comfortable nights anchoring. We had a coffee and a bite to eat then resumed our passage west.

We arrived at 2:00 pm and I reckoned we were small enough to go inside the mole, which we did and tied up alongside. However it turned out to be young guys spot when he returned at 4:00 pm “He had marked it in red”.

Now strictly speaking these harbours are public and usually paid for by EU grants so no one has a right to a permanent berth, but it’s his country so we explained we would only be a few days and could we possibly squeeze in together? Which we did, he only had a wee motorboat and it would have fit in his space 3 times over. I took his number and said I would phone when we were leaving so he could reclaim his full patch. Turns out he, Michalis, was a very pleasant young man, and wished us a happy stay.

Nicolas had been heading to Pyhagorio from Samos the same day to pick up his next visitors when we explained the non-anchoring situation to him. He decided to alter course for Marathrocampos as well and would see us there. I think this will now be his port of choice for picking up his visitors.

We had four lovely days here and we all said we would like to come back later in the year but as usual the weather dictated our departure to get somewhere safe for the usual expected blow. In hindsight we would have been better just seeing it out here. Hey ho

Marathrocampos harbour and you CAN see “his red mark”

Out on the town  – with the heat there has not been much cooking done on the boat.

Really nice wee place.