Parthenon atop the Acropolis - we bet you've been there!


Andy, Terry and Taverna Owner Marios in Mykonos


Thermia (Spa) on Island of Ikaria


Christina & Demetri with our "Welcome to Samos Basket" on behalf of themselves & Andy.
You cannot see the Pythagoras Wine Cup!

SAMOS – 26 JUNE 2007

We are now in Samos which is on the eastern side of the Aegean within a stone’s throw of Turkey!

The last four weeks we have travelled from Nafplio on the Peloponnese via the Islands of Poros, Aigina, Athens, Kea, Siros, Mykonos, Ikaria and now Samos. We had intended to travel north along the east coast of mainland of Greece to the Northern Sporades however that plan changed when we realised that we would miss our friend Andy (who lives part of the year in Samos and the remainder in Wellington) who is travelling back to Singapore for 6 weeks this week and has been waiting for us to arrive in Samos since we left nearly 3 years ago!

We had a wonderful 5 days in Athens a couple of weeks ago – my first time – visiting the Acropolis and many other sites including great food markets – everything was excellent quality and very reasonably priced! Just loved the Plaka (old town) area. It was fascinating to wander around there and then look up and see those amazing buildings (what’s left of them) in the Acropolis! We had a fantastic view of this when we were sailing along the coast as well!

We parked AC in Zea Marina in Piraeus and used the train to get into and out of Athens – efficient and cheap! We caught up with our friend Chris we met in Hydra a couple of times, one for dinner on AC, which included inviting our next door neighbours – Americans visiting from San Francisco – the meal was stretched from 3 to 5, a great night!

We truly are now in cruising mode enjoying the opportunity to anchor in many beautiful little bays along the way and enjoying the opportunity to swim in the most amazingly clear blue water! We also have enjoyed some great sails with the wind going in our direction - nice for a change!

We arrived in Mykonos (after a sail by the ancient ruins of Delos) on Saturday 14^th of June and fortunately we were able to anchor in a small bay just off the town. This is not usually the case at the prevailing wind is Northerlies which means anchoring off the town (northwest coast) is not always possible. However as it happened we lucked it and couldn’t believe that the only other boat in the bay was from Whangarei NZ, Barnstorm, owned by Roy & Margit! Then about one hour later another NZ boat, Legend II, owned by Werner and Cathy came in! We have only seen one NZ flag since leaving Auckland in 2005 and that was in St Katharine’s dock London – a motor boat called Pacific Mermaid (from Auckland)! The end result was a get together on AC for drinks which lasted to midnight – it was fun!

The next day our new found NZ friends came on board once again and after an exchange of contact details and a few flat whites we bid farewell and ventured in to the town in the dinghy! We had a wander around the maze of little streets ending with a nice little lunch at a back street restaurant and “people watched” – fascinating! Yes Mykonos is very commercial with many cruise ships and super yachts, but still maintains it’s charm nonetheless!

Later that day our friend Andy arrived by ferry from Samos and fortunately the weather continued to be conducive to anchoring for another night! We had a lovely dinner at a cute Taverna on the beach – just a stone’s throw from AC!

We stayed in Mykonos another day and night, meet up with a couple of Andy’s friends, Nick and Betty and then headed further east along the island and anchored overnight in readiness for our 46 mile journey east to the Island of Ikaria. We had an excellent sail – ticking along mostly at 8 knots. There is little shelter on this very arid island but I had read about this little fishing village, Thermia, just north of the main port (small) and once again were fortunate to be able to anchor there as it was only really large enough for two boats and we were the only boat there! This place has a very small spa hotel and hot springs but it is so low key it was absolutely delightful! The water was crystal clear and just fabulous for swimming. I made the most of the calm conditions by cleaning the water line of AC. Both Terry and I remarked as we all sat on the aft deck of Alpha Crucis having a drink – special places like this, make it so worth while, sailing to the other side of the world!!

We had a problem with the hose to the watermaker and then subsequently the bilge pump failed so we actually ended up staying in Thermia for two nights but it was so special we probably would have anyway! Terry managed to get the watermaker issue resolved but the bilge pump will have to be replaced. It was great to have Andy on board with us for many reasons, not only his great company but to be Terry’s ‘Moutsos Rangi’ or gopher as it is commonly known (instead of me) but particularly so as he speaks Greek so he was able to obtain local knowledge with ease and also translate for us! He chatted to an older gentleman (83) who was trawling in the bay and we ended up meeting him again on shore that evening when we had dinner at a Taverna (just tables and chairs on the beach). He came out to AC in morning for coffee and brought us an octopus he had caught - wonderful!

The next day we headed for Samos – by this time the wind speed had really picked up but again fortunately it was still favourable in terms of direction. However what you have to watch sailing around these island as the wind gusts off the mountains/cliffs/hills are more vicious than the wind at times!

We arrived in the harbour of Pithorgorian (named after Pythagoras who was born and lived here) – a pretty little harbour side town, around 6.30pm. There was limited space for us however we managed to fit into a vacant space, Med Style, to the astonishment of many boats around us. A couple of Andy’s friends, Demetri and Christina, arrived with a basket of goodies – wine, olive oil, jam, vinegar, fresh herbs all home made as our welcome to Samos! We had intended to head home with Andy but we decided to delay this until Saturday because we didn’t want to leave AC; the wind was gusting into the harbour!! On Saturday we shifted the boat to the marina where we knew it would be safe. Andy picked us up to go to his home where we have been for the last 5 days!

Andy was born in Wellington but his heritage is Greek as his parents are from Samos. Andy has renovated an old stone warehouse directly across from the beach owned by his grandfather in the village of Konstantinos where also his mother was born! He has done a fabulous job maintaining the ambience of the original structure, the stone walls and beams, but everything else is beautifully modern. It has been a fabulous few days being in his lovely home! He has organised and driven us everywhere from doctors to provisioning so we have been very fortunate to tick off all those jobs.

We have also met lots of his friends who live full time and part time on the Island – including his neighbours from either side of his property, one of whom is his Aunty. They have this lovely tradition here of sharing – the neighbours garden are full of goodies; herbs, lemons etc – you just help yourself!

On Sunday we had a lunch for six of his close friends on AC – they are a lovely bunch of people and they so enjoyed themselves and it was neat to able to do this for Andy! These same people took us to dinner last evening at a very nice restaurant no far from the Marina overlooking the sea – very special!

Before we headed out to dinner Andy drove us up the mountain close by his house to another Village called Manolates where his father was born! The contrast from the seaside was amazing – lots of beautiful vegetation. It was very cute, lots of tavernas and restaurants and quaint little shops selling mainly locally made crafts – quite a treat to see something completely different to what we have previously seen!

We are heading back to AC today as we will anchor for the next couple of days while Terry to completes a couple of jobs; fitting a new bilge pump and fix the bow thruster before we head south to Kos and then onto Turkey.

It is our intention to go to Bodrum in Turkey first and then head down the coast to Marmaris. We need to be in Rodos by the 19^th of July to welcome our friends Seally & Meghan (from London) and little Toby (3mths) on board and they will be with us until the 25^th of July.

Then we will try to make our way across to Thira (Santorini) – difficult with the prevailing wind direction of WNW – after that, hopefully, we will be back in the vicinity of Athens around beginning of August, where our dear friend Brian McAra will join us on the 6^th of August in advance of his wife – Doris (or Lorraine) on the 1^st of September. We are so excited that finally, these special special friends of ours are coming to spend time with us on our journey – the challenge will be not to enjoy ourselves too much (Yeah Right!!!). In dealing with this dilemma – we have bought us all some genuine ‘Greek worry beads’ to use at cocktail hour!

Whilst we are in Turkey, only our UK phone will work, and then when in Greek waters again we will be back on our Greek number +306956162101.

Take care.
Yar Mas
Love The Jolly Rogers