Funny how one 'quick' day turns into 3!! We arrived Tuesday at the Kos Island Marina -- a beautiful, new facility with shops (most are closed now) and all the normal services. At 33 euro/night, it is slightly above our budget but the facility is very clean and nice.

After filling up with water and dumping our one toilet I quickly got the idea I could replace the forward toilet. And while I am at it, why not just rip out the one in the port head and throw it away as well while Greece has their dumpsters, which Turkey doesn't seem to (yet, at least).

We found a Honda (motorcycle) dealer with a service shop and gave him our non-working, brand new generator to work on. Turns out the gas was full of water (from the Atlantic crossing and leaky forward hatch) and the butterfuly valve in the carburetor was corroded open. I let it soak overnight in some Kroil and by the morning it was working, albeit not very smoothly.

Fortunately for me, that was all the service guy needed to be able to tear the carburetor down, clean it, and rebuild it. Now it works great!! And instead of a 177 carburetor (plus labor), I got out of there for 70 euro. Got the bridle D-rings on the dinghy reglued today after they got ripped off the coast of Amorgos in a blow. So we have been able to knock a bunch of things off the list, and that feels good.

We'll head to Bodrum tomorrow and West Marine to pick up parts to finish the head rebuilds. Then after a tour of the castle we didn't get to see last week, it is off to Marmaris.

I'll look into the wind generator at West Marine as well. I hear what you say, Victor, about the strong wind and all. But for the life of me, I don't know where we would put those solar panels. We can't put them on the dodger cuz the boom will crack them. When we are on our 2nd reef, it is real easy to sheet the boom right down on top of the dodger. Probably where the sailmaker put the clew eye or something. Dunno. The other 2 reefs and full sail position aren't much better.

The bimini is out cuz we collapse the bimini from time to time to get sun into the cockpit during the swing seasons. Some guys mount them on their lifelines where they can swing out to collect rays, but I don't like that -- too much in the way. I can see myself doing a crash landing at some dock and having the panels getting taken out!!

I could get a piece of stainless built I suppose as a stop for the boom with a dodger mount. But otherwise that seems like a lot of hassle and a permanent shadow on the panels. The wind generator is a clean install -- out of the way off the stern pulpit. We run the risk of the governor not working in a blow and a strong wind ripping the blades off. But solar panels can break. Every system has its drawbacks. Solar would be my first choice. But without a good mounting spot, I am not wanting to force the issue.

We had a wonderful meal last night at a restaurant in Kos with real Greek food!! There are a ton of 'tourist' spots, but this one was for real. The owner is from Crete and we had some wonderful dishes involving chicken, tomatoes, peppers, pita, and more. It was great. As we were finishing up 5 Greek men came in and started ordering. As best as I can tell they just ordered off the appetizer menu. They were keeping the cook busy cuz they were ordering a dozen or more dishes. I might have to try that next time. Forget the meals and just go with lots of appetizers.

At the marina we have met a wonderful English-speaking Austrian couple who is out cruising for a year (till next Oct.). They are headed to Turkey as well, so hopefully we can play a little tag along. They leave the marina tomorrow as well.

I kind of had a bummer story happen today. The electrician shows up to work on our high-voltage panel. Once we got the generator running we hooked the boat up to it to charge the batteries. It seems that now the high-voltage panel doesn't seem to want to work! That includes the battery charger, hot water heater, and outlets. So we brought this electrician in to help me troubleshoot what was going wrong.

He shows up with a starter motor that I had supposedly 'ordered' from him. I think when I asked him via email "Do you have one in stock?" he took it to mean to order one. Anyhow, I never ordered one and he shows up with one! To make matters worse, he brought the wrong one! To make a long story short, he packs up his starter motor and leaves...without working on my electrical panel!

I feel bad that he'll have to inventory the thing till next summer. But I can buy one from America for $300 (including shipping), or buy his for 500 euro ($750). I felt bad for him, but not bad enough to shell out an extra $450 for a part I didn't order. Oh well.

Will is studying 'Exploration and Discovery' in his school. Today it was Ferdinand Magellan -- the first guy to sail around the world! So I think this cruising lifestyle helps bring to life his schooling -- particularly when everything breaks so he can "experience" a quarter of what they must've gone through!! :-(

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Well, we came back to Greece! We are in Kos right now -- 11nm from Bodrum. Since we are 'illegals' I wasn't too sure how we would be received at the marina. But nothing speaks like a 'euro', so here we are!

We had a nice spinnaker reach across. It turns out that Greece owns all the islands in the Aegean. So it isn't that big a deal hopping between Turkey and the EU. That is, unless, you have already cleared customs in Turkey -- which we did 2 days ago. So it was a bit of a risk coming into the marina. When the marina boat leading us into the marina stopped to talk to the Coast Guard I started to worry. "Oh, oh. They saw us coming across the straits and now they want to bust us!" But no one said a word. And as far as I was concerned, ask me no questions and I'll tell you no lies!

We needed the marina to refill with water, dump a ton of garbage (incl. 2 toilets), do laundry, get a shower, boat bath, the list goes on. It turns out the Bodrum anchorage had none of that, the town had no laundry or waste disposal, the marina wanted 50 euro/day, there were no showers etc. So we came over to Kos Marina, paid 32 euro, found a laundry, found the dumpsters, gonna take a shower tomorrow, and you get the idea! Hey, at least I brought in the old toilet off the transom step before we came into the marina!!!

I am not too sure how we will fare in Turkey. In Greece, there is no personal garbage pickup. They just put dumpsters at certain points and everyone dumps their garbage into the dumpsters. It was great for us boaters. But in Bodrum, we couldn't even find a stupid wastebasket on the esplanade.

This afternoon I got the idea to take advantage of the dumpsters. So I installed the 2nd toilet into the forward head. It isn't fully installed as I need some additional hose. But it works fine until I can get the hose later this week. And the smell. Ahhhh. The smell. Or lack thereof! No more 'honey bucket' smell!!! That should get Ruth happy(ier), no?

So 2 down and 1 to go. But the one left will be the 'dirty' one. That's because I gotta change out the macerator pump and all that shit in the holding tank will have to come out. Yuck. Fortunately there isn't much in there. But it doesn't take much to make the job REALLY ugly!!

I found a Honda motorcycle shop close to the marina and gave them my gas generator to see what they could do. We'll pick it up tonight along with the laundry and see. The Greeks take 1430-1730 off for their siesta or whatever. It is a good system. Then they reopen for a few hours in the evening.

And as for generators, we have been giving serious thought as to what to do. We don't want to keep using the engine to charge the batteries. And the Honda portable was a quick fix that I now regret buying. I just got anxious right before leaving Charleston and felt I needed something and couldn't decide between solar and wind, so went with gas. Now I regret it. Especially since I have a Master's in Solar Engineering!!!

So we have been giving the solar vs. wind thing quite a bit of consideration lately and I think I am leaning towards wind. I would love to go solar, but our boat would need 2-3 panels and there just isn't any room for them. We can get one easily in front of the main hatch. But we have looked and looked where to put a 2nd or 3rd but to no avail. A wind generator will be much easier. Stick a tower off the stern pulpit and away you go. So we'll see.

All of us were happy to be back in Greece. Turkey is neat. But it is sooo different. It is not European. It is Muslim. I did a walk around Bodrum yesterday and found little to nothing I needed. But the spice/tea shop was really cool there. Spices in bulk. So colorful and fragrant, just like at a 'market' or bazaar. i wish I had brought my camera.

As Jimmy Buffet likes to sing -- weather is here; wish you were fine! :-)

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We left our quiet little anchorage at the south end of Keros, Greece early yesterday morning for the mostly easterly leg to Bodrum. We were greeted with the nor'wester that was forecast. But instead of putting up the kite, with 15-17k, we unfurled the jib and reached/ran across the waves doing 8s and 9s again. I had to hand steer pretty much the whole way cuz I couldn't stand to sit by and let Otto (the autopilot) have all the fun!!

We did the 30+ nm to Bodrum and were in the harbor easily by 1300. Then all the questions of a new (muslim) country came up. Where do we go? How do we clear customs? etc. etc. We don't have any manuals to tell us how to do this, so we have to just ask around and rely on instinct.

We Med-tied in front of the customs house with all the ferries and we didn't take out any of the ferries or hit anyone in the process!! So we are starting to feel like Med-tie afficianados! Anyhow, after some delay, I finally was told I need a ship's agent to help us clear customs. An hour and a half annd 205 euro ($300) later we were cleared.

We left the marina for anchorage and set the hook. (Or so I thought. Turns out we drug anchor last night, so we'll have to reset!)

First impressions of Turkey: Bodrum is a very pretty town. It has a huge castle overlooking the marina -- the best we have seen to date! We'll tour it for sure today. Plus there is more green than on the Greek islands, which helps to make it pretty.

The big difference is the mosques. They have these HUGE, LOUD, loudspeakers. Since the call to prayer for muslims is 5 times a day, it means that 5 times a day we hear this wailing/chanting as the loudspeakers blare out into the open air. The ship's agents office was between a mosque and a restaurant. When the call to prayer started up, I noticed most people in the restaurant gave up on their conversations and just waited -- like when a plane flies close overhead. This happens five times a day. The earliest was at 0545 this morning. Hmmm. Could make for some long days!!

They use the Turkish Lira since they are not part of the EU. I think $1 = 2 Lira (plus or minus). So hopefully Turkey will be a little cheaper than the EU. Speaking of money, this has to be the most expensive time for an American to be travelling in years. The dollar is so weak. Right now the dollar is at an all time low of 1 euro = $1.50 dollars. As recently as 15-18 months ago it was at $1.20 to the euro. Lucky us, eh? :-(

Got to get a pic of this castle loaded up. Very cool!!!!

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Last night Ruth and I went to bed at 8:30...and woke up tired! That's because of 3 ferries and a fishing boat that offloaded right off our stern. The ferries were unusual in that usually there had only been one-a-night. But Thurs. night must be a big night at Amorgos because we had three! But what was particularly troubling was the fishing boat. It seems the night before, in seeking shelter from the storm, we had tied up where the large fishing boats like to come in and offload their catch.

We had been asked to leave to which I replied "Where?" There was simply no place to go! So we stayed. Well, the first night came and went without too much incident from the fishing boat or its crew. But when they came in the second night and saw us, they were pretty pissed. Well, at least I think so. They came in at around 0130 with a whole bunch of yelling as they tried to fit a 50' fishing boat along 40' of pier. And when the captain got ashore, he pounded the palm of his fist on our cabin to get us up.

Well, I wasn't getting up! What was I going to do? Listen to him chew me out and insist that I move my boat in the middle of the night? So I stayed huddled up in bed in the v-berth. But it was most stressful because we aren't the type of people who like to go around pissing people off - particularly fishermen trying to earn a living. But we were between a rock and a hard spot...and chose the rock (much to the fisherman's chagrin).

Well, this morning I couldn't get out of there fast enough! So finally by 0730 we managed to slip the dock lines off the quay and get under way. I was relieved to find our starter still working, although a little worse for wear I am afraid. Our non-resident boat engineer, Larry Robinson, has recommended replacing the bugger when we get to Marmaris. Guess I'll add that to the list.

By this point you are wondering why the heck are we even still doing this? I mean, with so much 'stuff' happening to us and the boat... Well, I can tell you. Because of days like today!! We had an incredible 50 nm downhill sleigh ride in 10-15k that couldn't be beat!!

It started rather ominously with a huge, dark cloud to weather of us that threatened rain, lightning, hail, spitballs, I don't know what! But in the end, it eventually just moved along its way high overhead without so much as bothering us with a gust of wind or sprinkle of rain.

What made the day really fun was the "leftovers" - the leftover swell from the previous 2 days storms. It was a following swell - so'westerly. With us traveling due east, and the wind from just slightly north of due west, all we could do was hoist the kite, sheet on, and smile! I was like a kid in a candy shop all day! OK, maybe an expensive candy shop! But a candy shop nonetheless.

Ruth was holding on for dear life in the morning as the boat surfed on the swells doing 8s and 9s. (OK, a 10-ton boat doesn't 'surf' for you techies. But it was enough of a push to make my waders roll up and down!!) By the afternoon, though, with the sun in full bloom, the girl showed her true colors and even unzipped her windbreaker!! Will enjoyed the ride between homework and such.

We can now see the Turkish coast. We will lay Bodrum tomorrow (God willing) and hopefully make it n time to make it to the West Marine! Yes, they have a West Marine in Turkey. Actually it is a franchise and the only one in this part of the world. But they have toilets and I am on a crusade! (I must be pretty bent to consider toilets a crusade. But, alas, that is the point to where we have gotten!)
And if you could have seen the island geography as the sun was getting low in the sky this evening, you would understand why all this work is worth it! I'd like to see the Tigers at HavaMega making 50 nm in a day AND have a wonderful lunch to boot. But then, that is probably routine for them. And I am tired now - probably as tired as they would be. Anyhow, that's all for now.

P.S. The picture today is us putting a wake out with Amorgos in the background. I am so glad to be away from that fishing pier!!!

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Geez, will it ever let up?

I fired up the engine this afternoon to charge batteries and the reefer. Ruth thought the engine sounded louder. I thought she might be right or she might be crazy. In any case, I went down below to play a game of Scrabble with Will.

Towards the end of the game Will mentions that he smells something. I dismissed it. Then later, at the end of the game about 20-30 min. after I had started the engine, he mentions the smell again. This time we do some investigation. We find our engine room is smoking! I have ruth shut the engine down and after the smoke clears we determine that the smoke was coming from the starter motor!

I have a plastic float on the key chain at the engine panel. It seems that float got wedged at the control panel in such a way as to keep the starter motor from disengaging from the engine after the engine was started! So the starter motor was running the entire 20-30 min. and frying itself.

We went into a panic because it meant no refrigeration and no battery charging -- two critical systems! We started making plans to get to Marmaris, Turkey immediately to make repairs. After about a half hour, I was going to try jumping the starter terminals to see if the engine would start. But I had Will try turning the motor over first and it started!! Once the starter motor had cooled it started working again! Man, oh man -- what's it going to be next?!! I mean, what a scare!

We still have a galley stove that needs a welder. In the rough seas yesterday we snapped the fitting off. So we gotta get that back on. Stove works fine -- just doesn't swing on its gimbals. Always something, eh?

We leave tomorrow on a Force 6 westerly. But instead of going to Patmos and Samos, we are going to skip those and go directly to Turkey -- first Bodrum, then Marmaris.

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Wow!! What a day it's been!

We left Paros (finally...yeah!!!) yesterday and had a reasonably sail down to the city and island of Amorgos. It is a cute little town set in a bay amongst some steep cliffs. Having recently been converted to marinas at Naoussa :-) , we opted to tie up at the quay. The Greek Isles are pretty deserted right now, and with only one boat at the quay to hit, we took the opportunity to practice our Med tie. To make a long story short, we did OK on the practice, but ended up side-tying behing the other sailboat and had a quiet night. Just as well as I am coming down with a cold and only have about 50% of my strenght. (Keep this in mind as you read the rest of the story.)

Then this morning I asked the other boat if they had any updated wind forecast. They said Force 6 (22-27k) from the SE and we figured since we were headed ENE that we could handle it. The first couple of hours went fine. We were getting buffeted by the gusts coming off the lee of Amorgos as we sailed on her northern side. But the sea was flat and we were making good time on a beam reach.

But as we approached the end of the island, things were looking ominous. A huge, dark, stationary cloud over the end of the island added to the scene. What we saw out there were HUGE growlers...I mean huge of the likes we haven't seen since we were off the coast of Portugal in that 35k header! These waves were 6-8' high and very sharp.

I quickly ordered a reef in the main (better to reef early, they say), and that was a good move. But as we moved further off, it was apparent there was a huge current or something causing these huge waves. We quickly had to put a double reef in the jib and no sooner had we done that than I made the call for a another reef in the main. Only this time I called for a THIRD reef! The wind had built and the boat (and us) were struggling.

We threw the reefs in the sails and were still struggling to get clear of the island. I was hoping it was just a wind compression from the point of the island. But when Will suggested we just turn around and head back I didn't have to think twice! (Why didn't I think of that?!!)

So we swung around and we're heading back when after about 15-20 min. Will notices we don't have our dinghy behind us! The two D-rings attached to the dinghy that we tow with a bridle had ripped out of their attachments. So we swung back around to start looking for our (uninsured!) dinghy. We found it and furled the jib so we were under just triple-reefed main. The engine had been started earlier to assist steering in the -- did I mention? -- HUGE sea.

We kept trying to come alongside from a close-hauled position so that we were to leeward of the dinghy. My training in MOB (man overboard) says if you put the swimmer to leeward of you then you run the risk of the boat bouncing down right on top of his noggin!

But after about 7 passes with no success, we tried a leeward approach, with the dinghy in the lee created by the boat's hull. Will was able to snag the painter on the first attempt and handed it off to me and I made it fast on the stern clean.

Off we headed back to the island for a safe anchorage. Then about another 20 min. later Ruth noticed the dinghy missing again! This time the painter had slipped off the cleat. I had tied one cleat hitch and that is usually good enough for a quiet marina tie. But in extreme conditions, well, it just wasn't enough.

By this time we were seeing winds of 7-37k. That is no typo. One moment we would be in a dead calm with the main/boom slapping, and the next moment we'd be pinned on our ear with the huge wind. These were what I would call 'extreme' conditions.

So now we turned around a 2nd time for our 3rd dinghy rescue attempt! Remember, I am at 50% strength! We got the dinghy on the first try, I think, since we were pros by now after all the previous attempts. This time I put an extra wrap on the cleat and TWO cleat hitches!

I was so tired. But there was no time to worry about that. We still had to find a harbor or anchorage. We found one after another hour or so and after moving the boat two times (which was completely exhausting in the winds), we were able to settle down and assess the damage.

All told, the boat weathered this a whole lot better than the first time off the coast of Portugal. The deck was awash, but the plugs for the deck vents that had leaked so terribly the first time were in place and worked marvelously. (Thank you, Jerry & Laura for sending those!) No leaks there.

We bent a boat hook up like a pretzel retrieving the dinghy and we sheered the stove off one of its gimbals. (Wish I had that machine shop in Naoussa now!!) Other than the salon looking like a hurricane hit it. Everything on the nav table, above the nav table and on all of the counters ended up on the floor. (I wish I had taken a photo to post here!) We lost 4 dinner plates when they flew out past the unlatched cabinet door and onto the cabin sole. But all in all, I am pretty pleased. Progress is being made!

Now the dinghy is another story! She didn't fare so well. We already have a bunch of warranty stuff, and I guess we will add this to the list. But we can't tow it anymore except in light winds, so we'll probably just throw it on the deck for windy passages.

Wow! What a day! I was telling Will "Bet your classmates don't get THIS in their 7th grade!!" Will was fantastic -- checking on stuff to make sure it didn't part or give way. Ruth was a trooper as well. She was hanging on for dear life a few times. And while she didn't particularly enjoy the ride -- particularly at times -- she never "lost it". I was and am proud of both of them. As a reward for our efforts, we all went out for a dinner at a local restaurant and had a wonderful meal full of a lot of Greek dishes.

Epilogue: After a few hours at the quay a guy comes up and rousts me out of the cabin and starts speaking to me in Greek that I have to move my boat! Seems that there is a large fishing boat coming in and he needs the space for off loading the catch.

Since I am in my 5th month of my 3-month visa, I am not in a position to press many issues. But I chose to fight this one. I was tired and in no condition physically or emotionally to move this 10-ton vessel.

So he continues to jabber at me in Greek and I keep shaking my head, shrugging my shoulders, and spreading my arms, asking him (rhetorically) where does he want me to go? To make a long story short, the boat came in, tied up behind us just fine, and left several hours later. No problem!

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