Ending the Season

Panormitis, Sym

We spent time anchoring in our favourite Turkish gulf, Hisaronu Korfezi and returned to Iskele pontoon when we needed to fill with water and jobs were overdue. We met with friends Pattie & Paul of Sarilla and spent many nights with them (mainly on their boat as their air con works better than ours!!) before it was time to head off. But the socialising didn't end there as we met with Vonasi again. Our six week wait for Jane & Mark went quickly and we were soon making our way back to the Gocek area where thankfully it seemed a bit cooler or were we just getting used to it?

Crazydream at anchor

Boat cleaned and jobs completed ready for Jane & Mark's arrival when we planned to take them out to cruise in the Gocek bay (Skopea Lamini). Idyllic as it has short distances between anchorages, flat seas and wind from the south most afternoons. In fact too much choice of idyllic places to go! Girls had a treat when we headed to Fethye and moored at Yacht Classic, a hotel with a pontoon where yachts moored there they can use the hotel facilities, including the swimming pool with the understanding that you eat in their restaurant and pay a small fee for the boat (which includes water and electric hook up). The treat for the girls was a Turkish "starter pack" Haman. This consisted of a sauna (the longer the better they said to get the dead skin off!) then laying on a marble slab to have water thrown over you with no warning - refreshing after the sauna! You were then scrubbed before a foam bath was put all over you followed by more throwing of water. Finally a nice relaxing massage for half an hour. Very nice and all for 100 Lira (approx £30.00). All this was to prepare us for the trip back west towards Bodrum - against the prevailing wind and current.

Heading out of "Shark Bay"

The weather has been checked and it was good to go, we managed a 45nm trip in relative comfort and sailing for three hours of it. It doesn't sound that great but we've had bad trips along this coast and a few years ago we'd have lost Jane below decks with a bucket for the whole trip, where this year sunbathing on the aft deck was taking place! Back into familiar waters for Jane& Mark which saw us anchoring once more in idyllic places in Hisaronu Korfezi, relaxing before the dreaded trip around Knidos, a notorious windy corner which we had to get round to get Jane & Mark to the Bodrum area for their flight home and us to Leros for our winter berth. There were reef's in and out of the main sail (mainly in - making the sail smaller) and we had a fairly comfortable, if wet passage only changing destination once as the waves increased and the wind went more on the nose. Again Jane remained on deck and participated in the reefing manoeuvres. On one occasion when P had a moment of forgetfulness and managed to trap her hand in the self tailing genoa winch, Jane rushed below decks to get an ice pack and administer first aid whilst the boat was under sail and heeled over. Going below decks when undersail, other than to lie down, was a thing Jane never used to do, even trips to the heads went on this year!Thankfully no serious damage to P's hand just a little blood and a lasting bruise!

Evros Marina, Leros

Jane & Mark's time on the boat ended too quickly and found them heading off to Bodrum airport and P&G back to Leros where Crazydream was to stay again for the winter but in the marina in Lakki this time. Too many changes of rules and regulations put a stop to staying on the hard in Partheni and so into Evros Marina we headed. The winter list of jobs came out and got slowly ticked off as we cleaned and got ready to be lifted out of the water and head back to the UK for the wedding of the year, G's niece, Maddie and Bill.

Gordon had been asked to give Maddie away in place of Grandpa who passed away three years ago. He was very honoured and did Maddie proud. Everyone looked lovely with the excuse to dress up. The whole day went smoothly considering the worry and stress that was happening when we arrived home.

The Bride & Groom

Guest in Turkey

There are some idyllic ancorages in Turkish waters near to Symi and we anchored in some whilst killing time till we could check in. The Turks have a visa rule which at this time is 90 days in every 180 unless you take out residency, which you can with a yachts transit log but it all costs! We knew we needed to be in Turkish waters until the 10th September (Jane & Marks hols) and so worked back to when to check in. Anchoring in the Hisaronu Korfezi, mainly Orhaniye allowed us to catch up with friends we hadn't seen in sometime, Cloud 9, Advocator and Fandangle. Some drinking and the odd late night passed easily but we may have to stop off in Symi to restock - again!!
Ian and Yvonne (previous Nicola Jane owners) were on their annual Sunsail flotilla holiday and again our paths would cross and Crazydream would choose to moor next to sunsail boats again. It was great to catch up with Ian and Yvonne and as their route took them to Symi we put a order in for more supplies (beer & wine) and organised a rendezvous later in their route to pick it up. We were returning to Orhaniye to pick Jonathan up, our first guest this year.

Hot P&G walking from Wall Bay to Ruin Bay

After settling onto the boat and a good nights sleep after travelling, we set off for a weeks sailing and mooring on restaurant pontoons. Jonathan said this was what he'd like to do and who were we to argue! Most days we got some sailing in but definately everyday there was much drinking and partaking of food. We met up with Rassy Lady for a night on her return from the Gocek area and the important rendezvous with Ian and Yvonne for the exchange of "supplies" and another night with Sunsail.
After a sail in uncomfortable seas we finally made Skopea Liman, the Gocek bay area where the sea is flat but there is wind and numerous bays to anchor or in most cases pick up a buoy. The bays are so deep that you are grateful of the buoys as you don't have enough anchor chain to feel happy relying on your anchor. So far we have managed to find free buoys - hopefully this will continue into the July and August months.
Our last night with Jonathan saw us in Boynoz Buku on a rickety pontoon with a shady wooded restaurant ashore. Their special that night was lamb casserole which was delicious unfortunately the wasps thought so too. The Turks have a great wasp deterrent - burning coffee powder, apparently they don't like it and if you don't like the smell you have to wait till dark to eat when the wasps have gone to bed! As we left the next day we were a little embarrassed as the waiter chased after us in his rib saying we hadn't paid. We all thought Jonathan had when he'd got his Raki (a local drink) at the bar but after further thought, Jonathan was sure his card come out of his wallet but he hadn't entered any numbers into a machine. The waiter was very understanding and said that Raki did this often!!

Iskele Pontoon - Orhaniye

Into Gocek town for some souvenir shopping for Jonathan, supplies and cleaning for Crazydream. The boys were going for a shave and hair cut, a first by anyone else for Jonathan (a shave that is). Both came out squeeky clean and feeling 10 years younger - for a while!
A great week but now we were ready for a rest, oh dear no such thing, Vonasi (Chris and Claire) were in the area and we had essential supplies to give to them (we managed to hide it away and not use it ourselves) and we wanted to catch up on their travels since we'd last seen them. We also only had 5 days till Kathryn joined us for her hols.
Having picked up Kathryn we headed off to explore some more of the Gocek bays and to see how busy the area was. Thankfully Kathryn didn't think that the 34-35'C temperature was too bad but she was always willing to swim the lines ashore or take them off. Even the sea temp was up to 30-31'C. We're starting to think its too hot for us here and its not even August. Cooler area needed next year!!

Kalekoy

Despite the heat we did some tourist bits with Kathryn, Gemiler Island, an old Byzantine settlement and Kayakoy the abandoned Greek village from 1923 after the exchange of populations between Greece and Turkey. Its the setting for Louis de Berniere's novel "Birds without Wings" which describes the events leading up to the population exchange and the birth of modern Turkey under Ataturk, a thought provoking read.

P&G at Kalekoy

We experienced our first real katabatic wind (the night time strong wind that blows off the land as it cools) with Kathryn on board, which started about 2am and continued through till 8am. Thankfully our anchor was in well, holding Crazydream with the side wind as many boats had to move as they weren't holding, even the large gulet next to us anchor was not as tight as we'd have liked with him swinging about next to us. Many people had people up on deck but not Gordon, he slept through most of it!!
Nine days Kathryn was on board and her least miles during her stays so far with less than 70nm covered but some good sailing each day. Definately no competition as to who could get the highest speed out of Crazydream but G managed 8 kts beating to windward and getting the side decks wet! Kathryn says she'll see us again next year so we haven't put her off - yet!
We now have six weeks on our own till Jane and Mark head out and we'll spend the time in this same area hopefully still finding space and we'll be meeting up with Vonasi who are in the area for a little longer. Not sure that the beer and wine supplies will last, we'll just have to pay the Turkish price for some more!!

Crazydream Sailing

Well that was our inital thoughts but after a few nights with Vonasi, bbqing and drinking, supplies took a big hit and the temperatures in Gocek seemed to get hotter - 39'C by 10.30am!We made the decision to head back toward Symi for coolness and supplies. The seas were big outside of the sheltered Skopea Liman but it was not uncomfortable and we made good progress covering the 70nm in 3 days and being rewarded with cooler air and sea temperatures. We'll stay around here until we return to Gocek to pick up Jane & Mark for their annual holiday.

Start of the Season

We stayed our 10 free days in Leros, infact we stayed 12 as the wind was very strong and from the wrong direction. There was also a large swell coming into the harbour which meant big waves outside. The good thing about Lakki is if you take a short walk you can see out of the entrance and see what the sea is doing. If you see trees in the sea - its too rough, if its bushes then the sea is calming down!! Finally we left, we had to we were having to pay! We sailed to Kalimnos or rather motor sailed as the wind had turned right off. We were welcomed on the quay like long lost friends from the taverna family and spent a couple of days. They did give us some duff info on the buses - they don't actually run on a Sunday and so we walked up to the Hora and then up the steep steps to the castle. Hard work but worth it for the view from the top.

View from Kalimnos Castle

We went onto Nisiros to sit out a southerly wind which in fact when it came blew from the east there and thus straight in the entrance. We watched a boat get blown across the fishing boats, then our neighbour - a large Amel yacht had his anchor displaced and lent on us for half an hour as he had no power to pull up his anchor or to start his engine. Crazydream was in full ahead, still tied to the quay hoping that the anchor would hold both of us with the extra weight on it. There were fenders protecting the aft quarter and people on the quay pushing us off - it was a long half hour with the wind increasing all the time. Once the boats were sorted G helped the Amel sort his lack of power and recieved a bottle of wine for his trouble. Then a chartering skipper asked for advice about pulling off the quay and where to put his ropes (yes he really should not have been left in charge of a boat) and G got another bottle of wine. All this before 9am but thats not all, when a Swiss charter boat came in and really didn't know what to do he managed to pick up our anchor whilst trying to moor. Engine on full ahead again with "instructions" being shouted from the bow of the boat! When they managed to release our anchor and drop it, it was in the wrong place and with alot less chain so we decided we needed to relay and with the help of some people on the shore went out and relayed in 20 knots plus cross wind and even if we say so ourselves, did it quite well. The Swiss charter boat was still trying to get in an hour later, when we saw them in the taverna that night G apologised for the language used in the "instructions" and asked where they were going the next day so we could avoid them! They bought us a drink each. A stressful but rewarding (in alcholol) day.
We didn't want another day like that and with a favourable wind we set off for Symi. We didn't expect the wind and sea to be as much as it was and then to increase the nearer we got to Symi, gusting up to 30knots but thankfully from behind with only the genoa poled out and surfing the waves with speeds up to 9.5 knots. The sea was building as well and we were seeing waves up to 2 meters which at times meant we couldn't see the hull of the boat that was sailing close to us off Symi. Once inside the entrance of Panormitis the sea was fairly flat, we dropped anchor and stayed a week! We took the bus to Symi town to stock up and to see a bit of the island. A dozen hairpins on the road up to the top of the "hill" and then fabulous views of the Greek islands of Nisiros, Tilos, Rhodos and the Turkish coast. Half an hour to shop before the bus returned and the hairpins, if possible, were worse going down!

Symi Town

Temperatures were improving and we finally had our first swim of the year on the 27th May when the sea temp actually rose above 20'C - just! When we finally left Panormitis we had some gentle sails and stopped in some nice anchorages on the Turkish coast. We hadn't signed into the country yet but Rashit, the man who made our sprayhood last year was available to make some cockpit cushions for us so we stopped in one of favourite spot in Orhaniye to meet him. Two days later we had new cockpit cushions which we are trying desperately to keep clean - maybe a darker colour would have been better!!

Orhaniye

 We headed back to Symi to re stock and after some days at anchor, for some wi-fi.We stayed longer than we expected due to a fouled anchor - stuck fast to debris on the bottom and held more so by a another boats anchor and chain. A long story short was that we needed to get a diver to free us. We split the cost 150€ with the other boat and as they had caused more problems they paid two thirds of the cost. Great we're free we can go except the other boat (French) managed to re pick up our anchor chain and wrap it around a block on the bottom. Thankfully the diver was still there and didn't charge again for going down to sort us out. When we were finally sorted it was late in the day and so we re moored (in a different place) and went to the divers cafe for a drink! Oh the joys of cruising!
We will check into Turkey soon as our first visitor arrives there in a couple of weeks and we'll then head towards the Gocek area,

Back to Greece

After three months of working following our Australia trip there was enough money to head back to Crazydream (well we cashed in some of our premium bonds to be sure!). P was definately ready for a rest from the NHS although she applied for a permanant 6 month contract whilst home and is still waiting to hear if she's got one. It'll give a little more secruity in her employment but also a little less flexiblility. A small holiday in Kos prior to getting to the boat, this was because when we booked the flights there was no ferry the next day to Leros and so we booked for 2 nights in a hotel. There was actually a ferry the next day but we decided to stay and relax before boat jobs started. Crazydream was fine when we got back to her and needed very little doing, this was an advantage as Gordon was doing some work for our friends Steve and Maggie on Rassy Lady. A frustrated G, as it turned out, as he was unable complete one of the jobs that Steve wanted doing but is booked in for more work this coming winter. With no rush to get back in the water we spent 10 days on the hard and on the last day before launching treated ourselves to a very pleasant lunch with new friends from Rusty Beever, Colin and Jean in the taverna in Plakoudi on the north coast of Leros.

Launch day saw a nerve stopping moment when the engine failed to start in the dock but with G, the resident engineer, it was soon diagnosed as fuel starvation and rectified. A pleasant sail down the west side of Leros with just the genoa was a perfect start to our season before mooring up in Lakki. Rules had been changed in our marina and they were only giving 10 free days in the water, charging for electric and water and when you were on the hard you weren't allowed to stay on the boat or do some of your own work. So knowing we had 10 free days we decided to take them - just on principle before heading south and back into Turkish waters. We were lucky this year Lakki had been stocked up with beer and so Crazydream could be, with special delivery vehicle!

We're now ready to start this years summer cruising.

Australia Trip

We were off to Australia, staying with Mads & Rick and hiring a camper van. Working and playing all the way up to the departure date we were finally glad to be on the way. Flying with Quantas, it was a fairly pleasant journey even if it was 23 hours!
We spent our first night in a hotel near the airport, crashing out and recovering from the journey. Rick was picking us up the following afternoon. We walked out in the morning and explored Darling Harbour, our first taste of Oz. Strange having Christmas decorations around when it’s warm, something we didn’t really get used to throughout the trip.
To arrive at Rick and Mads house saw us needing a trip in a dinghy, their “cat litter tray”, to arrive at their island or rather Scotland Island in Pittwater, they share it with a couple of hundred houses and wow what a beautiful place. Stunning scenery in a sub tropical rain forest with tropical birds flying around and their yacht moored just off the jetty. It was a great place to recoup from the journey, catch up with each other, chill out and generally drink far too much over the weekend!
Monday morning saw us up early with Mads to get to the airport for our flight to Cairns to pick up the camper van. That’s where the heat and humidity of Australia hit us; phew it was hot at 35’C+ and more than 80% humidity. But we were soon in the van with the air con on, stocking up and heading off to our first campsite, Wonga beach. There were literally a couple of trees between us and the idyllic beach and ocean. The caretaker was friendly and insisted on sharing three bottles of bubbly with us while the regular evening torrential rainfall hammered down!
We found a few problems with the van and after contacting the hire company we were heading back to Cairns having the van checked. Actually the problems turned out to be so severe that they had to change the van – twice! The brand new van that they were going to give us ended up having a leak from its pressurised water system and they had to find us another van. It did take up time in our holiday and caused some stress but they did compensate us. While this was all happening we had a day trip into the rain forest and the village of Karunda on the scenic railway and skyrail cableway, fantastic scenery and a great experience.
A big highlight and best value of our trip was a flight over the Great Barrier Reef in a 4 seat Cessna plane – Awesome.
Once the vans were finally sorted we began travelling south and headed for the Atherton Tablelands. The humidity was a lot less here due to the altitude, more stunning scenery with waterfalls and winding climbing roads. We could have spent more time here but needed to move on after just one night. From here we headed back to the coast and onto the Bruce highway. Its mainly national park along this road and so it’s very scenic – which ever way you look, again we could have spent longer in this area but knew we were limited with time to get to Sydney. We arrived in Airlie Beach, a tourist spot for heading out to the Whitsunday Islands and the Barrier Reef. We had decided we wanted to actually snorkel on the reef and thoroughly enjoyed a day trip on a fast catamaran. Taking in the Whitsunday’s and then out to the reef. Words can’t describe the colours of the fish and coral, absolutely amazing.
A touch of inland after that and walking in the Cania Gorge. Again more stunning scenery and an excellent campsite where the drinks around the campfire still went ahead despite the rain!!
>This led us onto the Sunshine coast with stunning beaches backed by national parks, why it’s called the sunshine coast though we’re not sure as it rained and was overcast the whole time we were there. The Glass House Mountains, isolated pinnacles jutting out of a flat plain are visible for miles around and are rather dramatic to see.
When in Australia you have to visit Australia zoo, made famous by late “crocodile hunter” Steve Irwin – crikey! It was expensive but once we had been up close to kangaroos, koalas, wombats etc blissfully free of other tourists and then watched the “wildlife show”, we felt we’d had our monies worth. Again awesome!
We had no intention of stopping at Brisbane, just another big city are our thoughts although others we are sure will disagree. We headed straight through to the Gold Coast and Surfers Paradise with its skyscrapers, golden beaches and rolling surf. The beaches stretch on and on here including the most eastern point of Australia, Byron Bay. A top tourist spot for hippies and backpackers. We were quoted the highest price for a night with the van here. Needless to say we didn’t stay but drove for half an hour and paid a quarter of the price.
We spent a few more days on the coast before we headed for the “Hunter Valley” and the obligatory wine tasting. In fact we started with some beer tasting as the campsite was very close to a micro brewery! On a tour of the vine yards some great wines were tasted and bought but they weren’t as cheap as we thought they might be.
From the valley we headed out to the Blue Mountains where it took most of the day for the rain and low lying cloud to lift and for us to see the spectacular mountain range with a blue tinge. We even managed a late afternoon hike to some waterfalls.
Time to head to Sydney and return the van. Time had gone far too quickly, we could have easily taken three months or longer to do the same trip; maybe we’ll go back one day!
Christmas and New Year saw us spending time on Scotland Island with Mads and Rick, eating, drinking, playing (or doing maintenance) on their yacht and generally chilling out. We watched the start of the Sydney Hobart yacht race, glad that we weren’t going out in to the huge swell and remembering the horrors of tragic race when many yachts and sailors were lost. We gave the Sydney fireworks a miss on New Years Eve for many reasons, mainly the city was a alcohol free zone (not ideal for any of us!), an hour or more drive and if we wanted to be on the water a cost of 400$ or more each. We instead did the local Pittwater 9pm fireworks from the yacht and watched the city fireworks on telly.
There was so much to see and do in Sydney that we booked into a hotel and spent five days being tourists. Climbing a pylon on the bridge for the views over the harbour. The advertised bridge climb being far too expensive and possibly a bit scary and you couldn’t take your camera in case you dropped it on the traffic below. We did the Opera House tour inside and out, 18 years to build it at a cost of 112 million dollars – Awesome. The Botanical gardens, Aquarium, Maritime museum, Hyde Park Barracks Museum, sight seeing bus to Bondi Beach (you have to say you went there!) were some of the other things we visited. G will also say we choose the hotel well as it was opposite a microbrewery with decent beer and cider at the right price and of course Chinatown for eating was a must and great value.
Our time ended all far too quickly and it was soon our last weekend in Oz to spend with Mads and Rick chilling out in the “tree house”. They made us so welcome we’ll definitely be going back some day.
Now it’s back to reality, working and saving to get back to “Crazydream”.