Having spent great days in Turkey, we wanted to return to Greece and position ourselves to meet dear friends Jens and Tino, who were to be arriving from their home in Munich, Germany to their regular vacation spot in Kos, Greece. So on a beautiful breezy day we set out from Yalikavac, Turkey and headed some 25 miles away to familiar Leros where we had overwintered last year.
The familiar waterfront, with its Italianate buildings from the first half of the 1900's and the ancient Pantelli castle way up on the mountaintop - look closely and you can pick it out - along with the row of windmills recently renovated into rental cottages were really welcoming.
Also really welcoming were the America crew of Onset, Bunny and Bill - that's Onset anchored off Lakki town (the white Norseman 447, not the yellow trimaran) and Katherine sharing a laugh with them in Sangaris's cockpit (maybe because Bill's clowning a bit with a grape leaf on his teeth).
Anyway, we buddy boated with Bill and Bunny (how's that for alliterative?) for a couple of weeks and thoroughly enjoyed their company - we're looking forward to crossing courses again soon.
A super example of the camaraderie of super folks out here is that one night we told Bill and Bunny about an anchoring nightmare we had had in Turkbuku the last week, when we just couldn't get our 35 pound CQR anchor to "punch" through the weedy bottom and dig into the sand. The next day Bill showed up with a "treasure of the bilge" - a 45 pound CQR anchor he'd had aboard but didn't need - it's now proudly become our primary anchor (and we've got a new treasure for our bilge!).
Now, how great is that?