Referendum and after

Jade and Elliott left and John joined us on July 2nd. The forecast for the next few days was strong winds, so we decided to stay in Lakki for a couple of days while we did washing and stocking up. We kept our hire car one more day so that we could go for dinner at Dimitri's with Sue and Steve,

 watching the full moon come up over the bay.

We decided not to leave on Saturday because there were still strong northerly winds and big seas. Lin and John walked over to the beach at Marikhia. Simon was going to follow on the Brompton, but as he rode up the first hill a rear spoke broke. On closer inspection he found that three spokes had broken, so the bike had to go away until we could get new spokes. No doubt the bike shop in Lakki would have made us new spokes, but as we were going home soon it made more sense to get proper ones back home.
The forecast for Sunday, July 5th, referendum day, was not much better, but the wind had dropped in the morning so we decided to go for it. We motored up the west coast of Leros, which was in the lee of the wind, in quite gentle wind and seas, but the wind blew up and seas got bigger as we rounded the top of the island, so we decided to go inside Arkhengelos and up the east coast of Lipsi, where the wind was still a solid 5-6, but the seas were much less. We got to Arki at midday, found a good spot on the quay, and went to lunch at Nikolas's.
Lin was very impressed by part of Nikolas's display of shells, which she thought had been arranged to look like a turtle,

but Nikolas assured us that this was not deliberate.

In the afternoon we went up to the school, which acted as the polling station. A woman who was voting at the time did not want to be photographed, so we had to wait until she left.

They count the votes on the spot and phone the results through, so we had the results of Arki's voting by 7.30. Of the 53 electors in Arki, 36 voted no, 11 voted yes and there were two spoiled ballots. This was not unexpected, but by 9 pm we knew that Greece as a whole had voted massively NO.
Tsipras's gamble had paid off with a vengeance. It was clear that the troika was not going to be able to engineer regime change through economic pressure and would not be able to find weapons of mass destruction to legitimate a bombing campaign, so the only way to avoid a victory over resistance to austerity was to engineer the collapse of the Greek economy with their own weapon of mass destruction (http://www.mediapart.fr/journal/international/080715/we-underestimated-their-power-greek-government-insider-lifts-lid-five-months-humiliation-and-blackm). Most people we have talked to have felt that things would be much worse in the short term, but at least they would have some hope for the future. Ominously, a handful of people felt that things were better under the junta, but it is unlikely that the CIA will engineer another military coup. A spoof Russian website claims that the Russian electoral commission, observing the referendum, reported that 85% of Greeks would like to join the Russian Federation and that Putin would appoint Tsipras President of the Greek Republic (http://intersucks.com/2015/07/06/svyshe-85-grekov-vyskazalis-za-prisoedinenie-svoej-strany-k-rossii.html ).
With continuing strong winds there were very few boats coming and going from Arki, in fact four boats had been here when we were here last week with Jade and Elliott, until Wednesday, when the wind dropped and there was a mass exodus.
We spent our time in Arki chilling, reading, following the news, and swimming, on the town beach

and at Tiganakia

We all walked over to Tiganakia on Monday, but it was a bit of a struggle for Simon with his stick, so on Wednesday morning he stayed on the boat while Lin and John walked over there.

On Wednesday morning we heard the shocking news that a yacht carrying 40 refugees had sunk between Agathonisi and Farmakonisi, just a few miles east of here, with 20 rescued by Turkish and Greek coastguards, with 20 still missing. There is no further news, but we hope it is not a repeat of the tragedy in January last year, when three women and nine children died when  their boat capsized while being towed by the Leros coastguard. In that case a Syrian who it was claimed was steering the boat was sentenced to 145 years in jail, but the refugees claimed that the accident was the fault of the coastguard, who were trying to tow the boat back to dump it in Turkish waters (https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2015/01/greece-farmakonisi-migrant-tragedy-one-year-and-still-no-justice-victims/ ).

Most boats left on Wednesday and a couple more came in. Nikolas is very worried that there are so few boats thus year, He has taken on a couple to help him over the summer but there is not enough work for them to do and he does not know how he will pay them, support his large extended family and save enough to see them through the winter.  At least fewer customers mean that Nikolas and Carolina can take a break now and then. 

It is a real mystery why there are so many fewer boats. You wouldn't expect liveaboards to change their plans, there are lots of boats based in Turkey coming to Greece to escape the visa rules and most charterers would have booked months ago.

We left Arki for Arkhangelos on Thursday morning, following Nikolas's dad out of Arki as he went out fishing in his little boat. 

With very little wind we motorsailed, with the sails not providing much power but at least giving John the sense that he was sailing!

We anchored in a good spot in Arkhangelos,

close to the taverna,

where we went for a superb evening meal and brought greetings to Dimitra from Arki.

With Dmitra, Tassos and their mum and dad

Mia Hara from the taverna

The taverna (Stigma) was built by Dimitra's dad, with some help from a friend, and has new developments every time we come. They get their water from an 800 year-old well that used to serve a monastery, of which no trace remains, and their electricity from solar panels. They have now completed the hut, on the right of the photo, in which Dimitra lives, and are just fitting windows to the inner part of the taverna to keep it warm in winter. The food is superb and you can phone them and get picked up from Partheni if you do not have your own boat.

On Friday morning, with almost no wind, Simon went up the mast to fix the wind instruments, which had twisted round so the wind direction readings were inverted. He straightened it up, but will have to go up again to glue it more securely into place. Lin and John then rowed ashore to walk up to the ridge on Arkhangelos to enjoy the view.

In the afternoon we chilled, swam and listened to Test Match Special, before going for dinner at Stigma.

On Saturday morning we left Arkhangelos at 6.15 to pick up a buoy in Partheni, ready to get lifted out before flying home for three weeks on Sunday.

We lifted out at 9 on Saturday morning.

We rented a car for the last day and went for a swim and lunch at Alinda and into Lakki for the evening, before flying out on Sunday midday.

Lin has asked me to make it clear that this blog is Simon's work and she does not want to be associated with it!

Life with Jade and Elliott

We spent another day chilling in Palionissos after Frank and Lin had left, feeding the ducks.

We left Palionissos on Tuesday, June 23rd, to sail down to an anchorage on the east side of Pserimos, but when we got in the wind was blowing quite hard so we decided to go straight to Kos marina, where we were picking up Jade and Elliott on Thursday evening. As soon as we arrived Simon went to find an engineer to look at our overheating engine. He came that afternoon, checked everything over and took out the heat exchanger - problem solved, it was clogged up with debris from the impeller that was destroyed in April last year!

He took away the heat exchanger to clean it and brought it back next afternoon. He also changed the coolant, telling us that we should only use Yanmar coolant.
Simon got a lift to Lidl with an English couple, who had a rented car, and stocked up for Jade and Elliott's visit.
Jade and Elliott arrived on Thursday evening - having spurned the Resorthoppa transfer we had booked for them, they shared a taxi and arrived, starving, about 10.30pm, so we took them straight to the marina cafe.

We were parked next to a Polish charter boat, who had arrived noisily the night before and now kept us awake till 1 am talking very loudly.
We had to leave the marina on Friday morning, although it was still very windy, because they needed all the spaces for returning charter boats. We set off at 8 o'clock and motored up to Palionissos in strong wind and big seas, with waves breaking over the deck - Jade did not like it! But our overheating problem was solved so we could make a good speed.
Jade and Elliott soon got into their sailing routine, playing with their phones

and sunbathing.

As we passed Kos town we heard an American boat radioing to the Greek coastguard that there was a rubber dinghy with about twelve people in it, paddling towards the shore.

We got to Palionissos by 11 and went to the beach bar for beer, burgers and kebabs. In the evening we ate at Pothitos's taverna, with beautiful views of the anchorage and the evening sun on the cliffs.

Next morning we motorsailed up to Lakki, where we had booked a place in the marina. As the forecast for Sunday was Force 7 northerly, we decided to stay two nights in Lakki and hire a car for the day.
Everyone is suddenly very worried about the crisis. People had been queuing all night at the cash machines, which soon ran out of money. The butcher told us that he is having big problems with supplies. The wholesaler has to pay cash in advance for his meat, but he has a cash flow problem. A taverna owner told us that he had problems paying for his meat because he had to pay cash, but he could not transfer cash because the banks were not working, so he just had to send it in an envelope.
We got the impression that there will be a massive NO vote in the referendum. Some people said that they had not decided how to vote because they had not seen the question, but a lot of people, even conservative ND supporters, say that 'we have had five years of it and we cannot take any more'. There have been a lot of cancellations of holiday bookings. A big rally of RIBs, which would have brought over 1000 people to Lakki over two or three days has been cancelled, as has the tour of the islands by Athens doctors, who travel round in their RIBs treating people for free and staying in the islands.

On Saturday evening Simon drove Jade and Elliott up to the cafe in the windmill on the ridge above Pandeli.

On Sunday we drove Jade and Elliott round the island to see the sights (mostly the beaches at Xerokampos and Pandeli) and went to see Sue and Steve, who had just arrived in the boatyard. Sue had forgotten to get any euros, so they only had 20 euros. Fortunately we could ask John to bring some out for them when he comes on Friday.
At Pandeli Jade not only went into the sea, despite her fear of sharks, she even swam a couple of strokes!

On Monday, June 29th, we motor-sailed up to Lipsi in another strong northerly wind, arriving at midday. There were only a couple of boats on the quay when we got there. It turned out to be Jade's least favourite place, not least because it was windy and cloudy so no good for sunbathing or the beach, but Lin needed to do some washing because water had got into the forepeak on the drive up from Kos and soaked all the bedding.
We left Lipsi on Tuesday morning to motor sail up to Arki, where we arrived at half past ten, again to find it almost empty. Nikolas told us that there had been very few boats the last week or more, which was a complete mystery because we would not expect sailors to be put off by the talk of crisis.
Elliott bravely dived into the harbour

and he and Jade rewarded themselves with ice creams.

After lunch in Nikolas's taverna,

in the afternoon we went to the beach, which was almost deserted.

We left Arki early on Wednesday morning to motor sail back to Lakki in light northerly wind, arriving about 11 and picking up a hire car for the day. Jade wanted to go to Crithoni Paradise so she could swim in the shark-free pool, and Simon and Elliott had disgusting burgers. We then drove over to the windmill cafe for a drink before coming back to the boat. Simon drilled out the fitting for our new bow anchor light, burning up two drill bits getting through the stainless steel.
On Wednesday evening Elliott treated us all to a steak dinner at To Petrino. Jade and Elliott thought they were the best steaks they had ever tasted. We had planned to go to a concert after dinner, which was to have been in the castle but was moved to the school in Agia Marina, but after dinner we decided we were all too tired to have a late night.
On Thursday morning, July 2nd, Simon drove over to the airport to pick up John and we went straight to Poppy's for breakfast. Then we all drove over to Agia Marina to put Jade and Elliott on the catamaran to Kos to get their flight home.
After a club sandwich

they got on the catamaran

and sailed away

We had a really enjoyable week with Jade and Elliott and all wished they had come for longer. Elliott was really interested in the sailing. It was a pity that there was either too much or too little wind to give him a proper sailing course.

Our Southern Tour

Our Southern Tour was not quite as momentous as that of Deng Xiaoping in 1992, but I am sure that it was much more enjoyable.

We left Lakki at half past eight in the morning of Wednesday, June 10^th, expecting a good wind to sail the 20 miles west to Levitha. In fact there was very little wind to start with, so we motored for the first hour. As we came out of the harbor we were passed by a Greek warship leaving its base. An hour later we met a similar (the same?) gunboat coming the other way. This one was the Navmachos.

Once the wind got up we had a good fast sail the rest of the way to Levitha

We got to Levitha at lunchtime and in the afternoon went for a walk up to what everyone calls the pirate castle, but judging by the stonework it was probably originally an ancient signal tower to relay from island to island.

On the top was a cairn with a goat skull

And a good view of the farm

And the anchorage (we are the boat on the left).

Simon found it a bit of a struggle scrambling up and down the steep scree and clambering over the rocks with his stick, but made it in the end. When we passed through the farmyard it seemed that there was nobody but an old man there, so we decided that we would probably eat on board rather than in the farm’s tavern. Our decision was confirmed when two large Italian chartered catamarans with about twenty very noisy Italians parked behind us and went up to dinner there.

A favourable forecast meant that we decided to leave the next morning to sail the thirty miles down to Astipalaia. We left at 6 in the morning and had a very good sail downwind, arriving in Astipalaia at lunchtime, where we got a space on the new quay.

That evening we got a text from Simon and Christiana to say that they were going up to Nissiros the next day. Since this would be our last chance to see them and the forecast was good we decided to sail over to meet them.

We left at dawn on the morning of Friday, June 12^th, to find another (the same?) gunboat anchored in the bay, with the sun rising behind it.

We had a very good fast sail the forty miles to Pali on Nissiros and again arrived at lunchtime, just after Simon and Christiana, with whom we had lunch at one of our favourite tavernas, Afroditi, where we were welcomed like old friends, particularly as Simon and Christiana really are their close friends.

 

Panoramic view of Pali harbour

Mia Hara in Pali, Afroditi on the right

Pali town beach

Simon and Christiana left next morning as they had to get to Leros to pick up new batteries. They had come up from Tilos, where they had been parked next to Frank and Lin. Frank and Lin had told us they were staying in Tilos for a few more days but, just as we were planning to set off to meet them there, they sent us an email to tell us that they were on passage to Pali, where they arrived at lunchtime, so we all went off to Afroditi again for lunch and a few beers.

Lin did a lot of washing in Afroditi, which was then dried naturally.

On Sunday, June 14^th, we hired a car for the day with Frank and Lin to drive around the island. It turned out that the car hire man, Mike’s, daughter was going to Warwick in October to read English and Creative Writing, having just graduated from the English school in Athens. We told him she must be a very clever girl, which pleased him no end.

We had all been to the volcano, which is very hot and sulfurous, so we skipped that bit and drive round to Nikia, a very picturesque village on the rim of the crater, with great views. 

Frank and Simon walked up to a chapel on the top of a hill above the village, with even better views.

 We then walked around the village, getting back to the car just as two tour buses disgorged their loads of day trippers from Kos.

Mike had told us to take a road to drive up to a wonderful panorama. We found the road, drove up and found that it was the same chapel that Frank and Simon had walked up to earlier.

We then drove back to Emborios, on the other rim of the crater, much of which is still in ruins from an earthquake in 1931, and stopped at the natural sauna on the edge of town.

With lunchtime approaching and Frank gasping for a beer we drove to the main town, Mandraki, where we had lunch by the sea. After lunch we went to the fairly new archaeological museum, which is beautifully laid out with very information panels. The Byzantine collection downstairs was closed because they could no longer afford the staff. Irini, who now works in Afroditi, her family’s tavern, told us later that she had worked in the museum, which she had loved, but now Maria, the curator, is the only remaining member of staff and has to do everything on her own.

After the museum, and getting more reserve cash from an ATM, we drove up to the ancient fortification walls, which have recently been very well restored and are very impressive – we were the only people there, apart from one young man who was leaving as we arrived and chided us for driving as he had walked up (in the heat) from Mandraki.

Lin on the walls looking across to Giali (settled in prehistoric times, now a giant quarry)

reconstructed tower with original stones

Frank and two Lins at the ancient city gate

Mike had insisted that we should see the sunset from Mandraki, but as that was not until 9 pm and we were already hot and tired we went back to Pali and handed back the car. Soon after getting back on the boat Simon realized that he had left the ipad in the car. When he went back to Mike it turned out that he had already rented the car out to another British couple, but he told us not to worry, they seemed very honest. Simon tried the find my phone up, which reported a couple of hours later that the ipad was back in Pali. Simon went along to Mike’s, but as he passed Afroditi Krysanthi called out that she had the ipad – Mike had left it with her.

Lin and krysanthi

We had lazy days on Monday and Tuesday, reading and swimming and working through the menu at Afroditi. Frank and Lin set off on Tuesday on their journey north. We decided to go down to Tilos on Wednesday, June 17^th. When we said goodbye the night before, all our friends in Afroditi, Nikos, Krysanthi, Irini and Tsambika, said goodbye with hugs and kisses and gave is a two litre plastic bottle of their house wine and a little bottle of ouzo.

We left Pali at 7 on Wednesday to sail the twenty miles down to Tilos in a moderate north wind, arriving at 10.30. There was plenty of room in the harbor at Livadi, but when we picked up the lazy line a gust of wind caught our bows and swung us round so that Lin had to drop the line before her arm broke. The same happened the next time, when Simon could not hold the line. The wind dropped a bit and it was third time lucky, Simon holding the line and then winching it in. 

The next morning, Thursday, June 18^th, we got the bus to Megalo Horio, the main town on the island. The bus was packed, mostly with walkers, but Simon’s hip is not up to ambitious walking, so we just walked around the town, 

Megalo Horio from the bottom - a steep climb to the castle at the top

first up steps to the top of town, then down to find an art gallery, advertised as being 100 metres down the road out of town. The streets were lined with very impressive displays of flowers.

It was certainly a Greek 100 metres to the art gallery, and when we finally got there we found it closed and locked up, so we walked back up to a taverna, with wonderful views, for a beer before getting the bus back. 

We had dinner in a taverna in Livadi that Frank and Lin had recommended, but we probably chose the wrong things because it was not a very good meal.

The forecast was for moderate winds on Friday, increasing over the weekend, so we decided this was the time to go back to Nissiros, which we much prefer to Tilos because it is friendlier and, in Pali at least, less touristic. We made our usual early start, only to find that the wind was much stronger and more northerly than forecast, making the trip one into a wind on the nose and quite big seas, so we decided to motor. The engine was overheating, so we had to keep the power down, which meant that we were sometimes only doing 3-4 knots into the seas. We eventually got to Pali at 11 and got onto the quay without any trouble, though as the wind got up in the afternoon a lot of boats had difficulty getting in – one which had been swept alongside onto the quay was taken over by a gullet skipper.

The wind got up through Friday and Saturday, so we did not swim until a lull on Saturday afternoon, but we walked up for a view of the harbor from the headland. 

Simon checked over the raw water intake to try to cure the overheating. He found a small hole in the end of the intake hose, so cut the end off and refitted it, hoping that would be the cure.

We met a British couple who were reaching the end of their sailing years, though they were only 73. They had spent six years sailing round the world, but were now finding it very stressful sailing short hops in steep short seas and getting in to tricky harbours.

On the Saturday evening before we left Pali we were again showered with kisses and gifts – another bottle of ouzo and a scarf for Lin that Tsambika had made over the winter.

We left Pali just after six on Sunday morning, having been woken by the next door gullet leaving, intending to go to the anchorage on the east end of Pserimos. We had a good sail on the wind for an hour or so, then the wind did so we motor sailed with just the main. The wind got up again, howling round the point at the southeastern end of Kos, so we kept on motorsailing. Once we got round Kos we found the wind decreasing, but on the nose, so we dropped the main and motored. Since the wind was less than forecast, but was expected to increase over the next two days, we decided to go directly to Palionissos. We texted Frank and Lin to let them know our change of plan, in case they were intending to meet us in Pserimos, but they texted back to say they were on passage to Palionissos. We arrived after forty miles, mostly driving, to find that the last free buoy was reserved for us – lucky we had phoned ahead. We picked up the mooring and Frank immediately radioed to suggest going ashore for a beer, which we did, Simon supplementing his with a super burger from the beach bar. During the day new charter boats flooded in, some anchoring and some going away to try their luck elsewhere (the holding here is notoriously bad).

On Monday morning Frank and Lin called to say that they had decided that they would go straight up to Leros before the wind got up tomorrow. At lunchtime we rowed ashore to pick some more wild sage and have a beer in the taverna.