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”.

Back in the UK

The end of the season lift out saw strong winds blowing across Crazydream and we were glad to be on the hard and not trying to shelter from the 42 kts plus that blew over her that night. We hid down below with the volume turned up on the DVD to drown the noise of the wind and tried to ignore the shaking of the boat. Thankfully it was dry and the jobs went ahead as planned with time to chill a little on the last day. There was a general strike in Greece on the day before we flew home - fine we thought it won't affect us! There was in fact a back log of flights to catch up and air traffic control were working to rule. It could have been a lot worse than the five hour delay we did incure.

Back in the Uk and straight back to work, P at the hospital working on the bank in Orthopaedics and G DIYing for family and friends. The purchase of a car making life a lot easier and made us independent rather than relying on others. Hopefully the Hyundai Accent will do us as well as the Citreon, we can only wait and see - it was the right price!!

Now that we are back we have taken the plunge and booked a trip that we have been thinking about for the last 18 months. With the inheritance from P's Mum we no longer had the excuse that we couldn't afford a trip to see good friends Mads and Rick in Australia. The flights are booked, a campervan hire arranged, East coast Australia here we come!

End of the Season

A stop off in Lakki (our home port)on the way south to clean the boat and recharge the batteries found some changes to the marina. You now have to pay extra for water and electric even if you have a contract with them. It's not a lot but when the water is salty and not drinkable it seems a rip off. Needless to say it has made us think of moving on after this winter, who knows where yet though!
A quick sail running downwind saw us in Kos for Jane and Marks annual hols with us. We hired a car to enable us to do a big shop and and to pick them up from the airport. No buses connect with the easyjet flight and a taxi was the same as the car hire. Amazing how much you can get in an Atos!
A decision to go south was made so that a new area to Jane and MArk could be explored but it meant a long first day, 37nm. The wind was favourable and we sailed most of the way and with the sea temperature at 29-30'C a swim on arrival in an anchorage to revive us all before the first of many bbq's.
The weather or rather the wind was kind and we cruised around the island of Symi and some anchorages in Hisaronu Korfezi, illegal as it was Turkish waters and we didn't have a transit log or visa's for Turkey but not a problem. No one approached us or questioned us except if they were trying to sell their goods from their boats. We enjoyed returning to these anchorages and it makes us think we will cruise this area again next year.
The trouble with going south is you have to come back north at some time and with the prevailing wind coming from the north it makes it a little difficult at times. We had to change our destination once due to the uncomfy sea and wind. The thought of 7 hours to get there helped in the decision but we ended up in a rolly anchorage which 2 out of 4 on board (the girls) found nauseating, even the daily game of scrabble had to be abandoned! It saw us up before the sun, anchor up and nav lights on, moving off by 5.30am. The wind and sea was much kinder that day and we had a pleasant sail to Nisiros.
On to Kos saw our lines taken from Chris on Vonasi, on his own for a few weeks whilst Claire was home with her mum. He joined us on a couple of sails to anchorages and at Kalimnos town, the two westerly yachts "racing" each other. Well two boats going the same way constitutes a race! One all and then different destinations for the third race and the fact that Crazydream reefed made the "race" null and void!
After just over two weeks is was time for Jane and Mark to depart and us to make our way to Lakki and then the boatyard to be lifted. We are heading home earlier this year to get some extra work in and thus hopefully a bit more money for the year ahead.

Back to Greek Islands

We checked out of Turkey the easy way, by paying an agent. They take all your paperwork and passports, get the relevant bits stamped and return them all to you on the boat. For a sum of course but we felt 30€ an ok price, they even did it on the Saturday knowing we weren't going till the Sunday.

We motor'd across to Symi town, stocks were low again! Symi is a lovely town but from a yachs point of view the north quay is the better, shade earlier in the evening and no loud bars. Unfortunately the harbour has "mooring men" who tell you where you're to go and if you object greatly they get the port police. Needless to say we were outside the noisy bar playing music till 4am - oh well only for one night!
We moved round to Pedi a bay just south of Symi town, to anchor next to Miss Sophie, Finnish friends Gustaf and Harriet from Kalamata. Pedi is a beautiful bay and visited by many yachts unfortunately the holding is not great. We happily sat there for two nights but late afternoon on the third day we dragged our anchor. Miss Sophie had already moved onto the quay and there was space opposite them which we took. A little later many boats were dragging as the wind had increased and we took pity on a 30ft New Zealand Wharram catamaran and moored them alongside us. The quay is where the water boat and supply ships moor and although we stayed on the quay for a week we moved five times (kept the batteries topped up!). The ship with the gravel delivery was the last straw, the boat got covered with dust - time to move on.

A weather window saw us sail to Nisiros where C'est la Vie were moored, more socialising and a stay of 4 nights. Supplies were going down quickly! The port police were active in Nisiros but at a charge of 4€ a night (the longer you stay the cheaper it works out) wasn't a problem. There was water and electric if you wanted it at a small charge but no washing off boats as their water is brought onto the island by tanker. Surprising how many people were trying to wash their boats.
With Crazydream still filthy, we left for Kos sailing at good speeds for the first hour then the wind turned off till the corner of Kos when 26 knots plus and big seas hit us. P had a sense of humour failure at this time and wanted to get off, a canal boat or camper van being a preferred option. Thankfully it only lasted an hour and we were then safely tied up in the marina washing the boat down.

On to Kalimnos town the next day, again to windward but this time well reefed and ready for the 25 knots. Once clear of the shallows on the NE corner of Kos and headed more west it was a very pleasant sail, well till we came out of the shelter of Pserimos then it was G's turn at the helm and a bit more reef. Again strangely the wind turned off about half hour out of Kalimnos and the iron sail came into use again! We could see a yacht still sailing slowly approaching Kalimnos from the opposite direction, we knew it would be Vonasi, Chris and Claire who we were meeting in the town. They are the boat that will sail everywhere even if its only at half a knot. There was space on the quay, in fact we moored next to Just Maid and Cloud 9 with Vonasi coming in next to us half hour later. More socialising! One of the gatherings was a wake for Geoff of Matapan, a great man and good friend who lost his fight against brain cancer. We all knew him and shared some good memories and a few drinks in Geoff's honour, we even played some Leonard Cohen, his favourite artist but found that far too depressing and settled for Take That, humourous to those who knew Geoff.
It was good to catch up with everybody and to sit out another blow (the Greek islands are definately cooler because of the breeze) but time to move on. We decided to head north for a bit till Jane and Mark come out for their annual holiday. We anchored for a couple of nights abstaining from alcholol - the livers needed a rest before heading to Lipsi.
Another blow was forecast and its a good place to sit although its always windy there. Surprise surprise, Just Maid and Cloud 9 had arrived an hour before us - more socialising. The quay is free unless you have water and/or electric and so we stayed beyond the blow waving the others goodbye till next year, they were going further north and we only wanted to get to Arki. Saints day festival, wine festival, good food, easy shopping, nice beach all helps to keep you in Lipsi

More Turkey

We met Ian and Yvonne in the Hisaronu Korfezi, a large bay to the north and north east of the Greek island of Symi.The bay has numerous anchorages many of which we'd see in the next few weeks. We managed a lunchtime reunion and swim before heading into Orhaniye. Possibly the only time you'll see Crazydream anchored with a Sunsail boat alongside!! We even moored on the Sunsail pontoon and became honorary flotilla members for a few days. It was great to catch up and reminisce over the trip along the Portuguese coast and our winter in Portimao. We followed the flotilla over to Symi to re-stock on beer, wine and pork but parted ways after that as they were going to windward!!
Back in Orhaniye Rashit of Anil Marine canvas work having measured for our spray hood fitted the finished article but sadly needed a little tweaking and would be back in a few days for the final fitting. We hung around in the anchorage meeting up with boats we hadn't seen in a while, needless to say a few sore heads all round. Orhaniye is an idyllic anchorage with numerous restaurant jetties, mini markets, a chandlery and weekly market. There's also a marina if you feel the need but with a quote of over 3000 euros for 6 months winter on the hard for Crazydream we didn't use it. We waited around in the area for the Spray hood and also Kathryn, aka windy witch who was joining us for 10 days. Both arrived on the same day, Spray hood fitting very well along with new hatch covers and a steering wheel cover, tarting (whoops G says smartening) the boat up nicely.

With the boat stocked and sea worthy we set off to different anchorages around Hisaronu Korfezi. Windy witch was not living up to her name and we had some pleasant light wind sails covering over 100nm in 9 days. Sods law as Kathryn left the wind increased!
We'd come to the end of our 3 month visa in Turkey and decided we'd head back to Greece and the Dodecanese islands in the hope that they might be abit cooler and to meet up with yet more cruising friends who are in the area