We have now exited Turkiye and have entered Greece. As Australian's we can only spend a maximum of 90 days in the EU zone, which meant we needed to be in Turkiye until 1 June. This is what the non-European yachties refer to as Schengen shuffle - shuffling your time between EU and non-EU countries.

We had a few days anchored out in a Bay near Bodrum (photo above) before going to the marina in Turgutreis, where we will exit Turkiye. Our time in Turgutreis was devoted to completing boat chores and reprovisioning. In the evening we walked into the town and had a lovely seafood meal. The waiters in the restaurants here walk you down the street to the fish shop, where you select your seafood, which is taken back to the restaurant for cooking. When back at the restaurant, you then proceed to the meze fridge to select your entree. We had a delicious meal of pickled octopus, pumpkin dip (although it did not taste like it had pumpkin in it), grilled shrimp and salad. (Yes, there will be lots of foodie pictures in this blog post)





The next morning, we were woken by the call to prayer at about 5am. We met the agent at the customs dock at 9.30, before the rush caused by a ferry from Greece arriving and checked out of Turkiye. The day was calm, so we motored the whole hour and half trip to Kalymnos. We crossed the dotted red-line on the map that marks the boundary between Turkiye and Greece. We lowered the Turkish flag and raised the Greek flag as we entered the Greek waters. In Kalymnos, we were met by our Greek agents to check in. The whole process went very smoothly. As we arrived in Kalymnos, it being a Sunday, we were greeted by church bells.


One of the good aspects of being in Greece is the Greek food and drink. On arrival we were both craving spinach and cheese pie but being Sunday the bakery was closed. As we walked along the waterfront, a waiter asked what can I get you. We replied spinach and cheese pie. He said 'we do not have but I will arrange', so we sat down with a cool Mythos beer and ten minutes later a man on a motorbike arrived with two pieces of spinach and cheese pie. We were not sure where it can from but it was delicious.



In Kalymnos we find the best tavernas for an evening meal are in the back streets away from the water front. We found this tiny taverna called 'Bottoms Up'. We ordered half a litre of house wine and a few small dishes, as we had a filling lunch not realising that a range of complementary dishes come when you order drinks. This included a fava bean dip, crab salad, pork stew and another salad. We had ordered saganaki, calamari and a Greek salad, so we ended up with a huge meal but delicious.








From Kalymnos we headed to the town of Lakki on Leros, where we spent two days. Here we stocked up on foods that we could not get in Turkiye, especially pork products, such as pork souvalaki, bacon and ham. There is a great butcher here, who is Australian-Greek. They make their own sausages and other products, so we have left Lakki with a full freezer. We had some delicious meals here, including the best pork gyros plate, which we shared, as it was way too much for one person.


From Lakki we sailed to a stunning bay at the bottom of Arki, where there was another Australian boat, Daydreamer. It turns out they are also from Melbourne and sail at Sandringham YC. We met up with Phil and his crew again in Samos.








We have a couple of large service batteries that keep everything running on board. They were OK at the start of this season but were starting to rapidly run down being flat after keeping the fridges running overnight. Having been in this situation before, we knew there was a good place in Samos to get all things boat related for a reasonable price. We had not planned on going as far North as Samos but our plans can easily be changed! We placed an order and arranged for them to be picked up a week later. So, we have ended up at Samos island at a harbour called Pythagorian (Yes, after Pythagoras the mathematician). It's a good place to spend a few days, right on the harbour front ringed by restaurants. We now have a set of good working batteries!

While at the harbour we contacted a mechanical repair guy we knew here to see if he could fix our broken anchor roller assembly. After waiting all day for him to turn up on Friday, he eventually showed up on Saturday. After a bit of head scratching, he came up with a plan that sounded good to us and promised to return on Monday with it fixed. This did mean we had to stay an extra day than planned but there are worse places we could be!

We are now 9 days into summer and it felt like the weather gods turned the temperature up, starting on 1 June. The day-time temperatures are now in the mid 30's, with 40 degrees predicted in a couple of days' time. We plan to be anchored out, so that we can jump off the back of the boat into our private swimming pool.