A few days after our new "SMEV" galley stove (a three burner version) arrived in Leros and Craig had engineered supports to fit the newly sized gimball (which lets the stove swing and remain horizontal when the boat's on a slant) we were off to Lakki town's butcher, baker, fresh veg market and wine store to stock up and start cooking!! Supplies were plentiful and, with a plan to move on (back to Turkey), we may have overdone it on some selections less available there. But that evening, ready to try out the new stove, opening the frig for ingredients was shocker. Everything was warm!! The frig had totally packed up!! The ice cubes were dripping!!
So, using all 3 new burners, I started madly searing and sautéing some of the meats we thought would be better to save cooked and on ice and Craig dashed back to town with a cooler to ask the butcher to put in his freezer ... and to buy ice. We hoped that the next morning might yield either good results with our system (doubtful) or a refrig technician through the marina. No such luck. So, with our cooler back and more cubes aboard we sailed over to Turgutreis, TK to meet with our sailmaker to receive our new mainsail and bimini top. That all turned out fine and we were connected with a good refrigeration technician, but a Freon re-charge was not the issue. We needed to order a new compressor that would arrive and could be installed the following week.
Having just heard from friends Karyn & Steve that they'd returned from the USA to their boat in Didim, we decided to complete the triangle and sail north, back to where we started three weeks before. The weather was calm for anchoring outside the marina and making frequent dinghy runs to "Threshold" where we could visit and 'rent' space in their frig. It was a fun three days between the two boats, but it was soon time to sail south to Gϋmϋȿlϋk to meet up with the frig repair team from Kaan cooling. Four days later, we were still not fixed, another new (larger) compressor would need to be ordered. So that's the plan for next week! More repairs! But, in the meantime, we have a very special occasion to attend ~ Sandra and Chris have sailed all the way from Sicily and anchored in Lakki, Leros, were waiting to celebrate Sandra's birthday with us! More about that happy reunion on the next blog!