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”

As I mentioned in the last blog there is a local bus a couple of times a day to and from Symi Town. The downside is the outward journey kicks off at sparrow fart.

However on enquiring the price of a car we found it was strategically priced to neither entice nor dissuade from the overall return fare on the bus, and given we would probably have aperitifs and lunch perhaps the bus would be the better option.

So an early 07:30 start it was and we arrived in Symi town about an hour later around 08:30. Things were just opening up.

We had coffees and I visited the pharmacy to get some drugs! For some reason I suffered an attack of vertigo.

Now I think you know me and food shopping. Yes, I know it’s necessary but I would prefer to visit a supermarket and buy it all there.

Not the French! No!

Nicolas (and Louise) were in heaven. We must have visited and revisited almost every fruit and vegetable shop in the town and about 5 mini markets to boot.

By the time the food shopping challenge was ebbing I was well ready for an aperitif!

Symi town is definitely very pretty and I can imagine in full swing it would be buzzing, but I think we won a watch seeing it when it wasn’t over-run with tourists. It was still busy enough for some atmosphere though.

However I can see why it does get a bad name for charter yachts causing anchoring & mooring chaos. It is relatively small and together with the fishing, day trip boats and the ferries coming & going I would imagine some hairy issues would be had on a daily basis.

Note to self ….”If ever back stay in Panormitis and get the bus”

After drinks we found a nice taverna for lunch and then headed back to the bus for our afternoon return trip to Panormitis.

I have just posted the colourful pictures of the day, with no further narrative, I think they speak for themselves, a very pretty town.

And so that was Symi.

Now time to start heading back from whence we came , funny old game this cruising.

Was it worth it?

Louise & I think so – not sure if Nicolas does though.

Its now Sunday 4^th October.

There is no phone reception in the anchorage at Tilos so no WIFI or weather forecast available for today. No wind in the bay, just a few zephyrs. We are going to take a chance and hope that the wind picks up mid morning, don’t fancy 26 hot miles motor sailing across to Symi.

After a swim and breakfast we headed off at 10:30 with a waypoint set just off of Panormitis bay, our planned destination and anchorage.

Our passage for today and an enlarged chart of the anchorage

You can see how close we are to Rhodes & Turkey here.  On a previous Neilson shorebased holiday we managed to blag a spare yacht for one of our weeks and sailed in Turkish waters right past Symi. I remember Louise’s comment at the time ….”It’s all very beige”.

There was still not enough wind to sail so we put the fishing lines out in the hope of catching our dinner. I am quite happy when we don’t however.

Just after 12:00 the wind picked up and blew steadily from the NW all the way to Panormitis. Genoa only but a nice 4 plus knots average SOG.

We arrived in Panormitis at 17:30.

It was busier than expected & not as pretty as expected.

Happily no fish were injured in the making of this blog, so something else will be required for tea.

Anchored in the bay & the monastery which dominates it

The next morning was spent ashore having a coffee and visiting the famous monastery. It is quite impressive and I think you can hire out little rooms or cells rather should you wish to retreat from the world for a bit, at least that’s what they looked like to me.

The whole of the bay is part of the monastery and the vehicular access on the road is kept locked, only opening for arranged taxis, trips and the local bus to Symi town.

While we were visiting a ferry arrived and deposited a boat load of tourists, mostly Greek Pilgrims I think.

Now, remember Covid 19 restrictions, masks, etc are in place. However inside the little church there is a golden shrine to a Saint where the custom must be to kiss it  – so everyone proceeded to take off their masks and do so one immediately after another!

No sooner had they arrived than they were off again leaving the monastery deserted.

There is a taverna, a small mini market, a lovely bakery  and a coffee shop so we were OK for provisions. The Taverna was nice enough but just OK – lacking customers & the buzz I suppose.

Views of the harour & the ferry arriving seen through the archway of the monastery entrance

Inside the monastery

Inside the church and the “Covid Kissing“ incubation shrine

Now you see them ……………….

Now you don’t……………….

It’s certainly a very peaceful anchorage and it does grow on you.

At night with the lights on unfortunately not such a good picture.

Symi has long been recommended to visit and rumoured to be very pretty so the overall objective of the mini cruise had been to get to there this year.

We had not visited Symi before in part because it is usually inherently busy with charter boats but also difficulties in securing a berth, especially in Symi town, allegedly rife with mooring rip off merchants.

One of the “Benefits” of C19 and the heightened tension between Turkey & Greece is that it would be less busy this year.

The last leg then from Kos would be back via Pserimos down to Nisiros, Tilos and then across to Symi.

Leaving Mandraki Harbour Kos on Sunday morning 09:00

We are heading to Pserimos again, where we stayed before, for a further three nights in that beautiful anchorage, before we double back past Kos town and on to Nisiros.

It’s not common to be able to get pictures of your own boat under sail, but on the leg down to Nisiros from Pserimos – Nicolas managed to take some of these.

On passage south to Nisiros 27 miles, 25 knots , a good day !

We arrived in Palon Harbour, Nisiros at 16:00 where we stayed for a further 3 nights before moving on south to the island of Tilos.

Palon Harbour , Nisiros

Dinner on Syeni, Palon Harbour

Saturday 3rd October and we are at anchor on the north of Tilos having headed south 12 miles from Nisiros

Lovely clear blue water and fawns & peacocks on the beach.

October!

In Scotland we would probably have packed up in September and the boat would be out the water by now.

Ormos Playio anchorage , Tilos

I see from the log the swell was a bit uncomfortable overnight but a lovely anchorage none the less.

Now heading for Symi, finally.