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People with a delicate stomach may wish to skip over this blog. We spent a few days in Leros marina, sitting out the high winds. Our guests, Sue and John, had to get back to Kos by Sunday evening for their late flight out back to the UK, which was the same flight on which our new guests, Tony and Rachelle, would be arriving. We needed to decide if we would sail to Kos, else ask our friends to get on a ferry (yes, obviously not the same one, I’m not that stupid). The forecast

Bozburun mosque We were rudely awoken, early, to a chorus of a host of Greek cockerels, but later were soothed by a slightly melancholic Muslim call-to-payer. We left the blue domes of the orthodox church behind, to be replaced later by the silver-grey dome of the village mosque. The bell-tower was replaced by the needle-like minaret with its sharp, pointy, missile-head, blue hat. At the half-way point from Symi, we dropped the Greek courtesy flag, to replace it with the cres

We left Arki slightly heavy of heart, a bit worried about Billy. However, a great sail across to Patmos soon shook out any cobwebs, and perked us all up. There was lots of room on the town quay, and we decided to park up next to a boat sporting a French tricolour. We slung the hook, and started motoring back to the quay, when a rather familiar-looking man appeared on the bow and started yelling at us. “ You stupide people ” he shouted. Now, there is nothing our skipper likes

Given that the Greeks have been making wine longer than most, and for at least 6,500 years, you would have thought that they’d be pretty good at it by now. Well, they are! I’m not sure one could say the same in 1987 when I first visited as a 20-year-old. But then again, I was not a wine-drinker back then. If I did drink it would have probably been a can or bottle of icy-cold, locally-brewed Amstel or Mythos beer. I certainly wasn’t knowledgeable about wine. We didn’t drink wi

Regular readers will remember that we have had a few battery problems since launching Missy Bear. We had a boiled engine battery coming into Sardinia, and another boiled battery in Kalamata marina. We set off from Leros marina on Saturday afternoon, motored out and then sailed up to the island of Patmos, where we anchored in a lovely bay. Padding around in the saloon in bare feet, you tend to register temperatures underfoot. The floorboard covering our house batteries was hot