Sailing Kerensa Changing our way of life

Slow cruising Bozburun area

Fri, 11 Jul 2025 00:00:00 +0000

It's a short blog this week as we changed our plans to head North up the Turkish coast due to hearing how strict the Greek customs were in Leros where we would have checked in. We decided to stay with what we know and, as we were so close to getting the documentation we should have been issued last time we entered at Symi, we would try again and lodge an appeal if not. The documentation we should have proves EU vat payment (as a sign of the Greek admin madness, we already have the Original Vat receipts.....) is accepted and will stay with the boat forever so is very useful for when we sell her.

What a stunning location to watch rugby!

The result is that we said goodbye to Barry and Lynn on Waltz and stayed where we were for a further week. There was a bar, restaurant, shop and clear water to swim in. What more did we need? Eventually we had to move due to the black water tanks being full, so we headed around the corner to Armak Buku. This is a small bay (see header photo) which has a small population of palm trees on the waters edge, that, with the sound of the cicadas makes us feel like we are in the tropics. Apparently this specific species of Palm tree is found here and on Crete.

Amanda admiring the shoreline

....and returns with the results of our beach clean

We have spent many days just reading, kayaking, swimming and watching Lions rugby. The winds being unseasonably calm. We are looking forwards to heading to Greece next week.

Marmaris back towards Bozburun, Sperm whale sighting!

Fri, 27 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Last week we were ready to leave Marmaris after our repairs, nearly a week later and we hadn't left. A night ashore, stinking hot weather (41 degrees was seen on the thermometer), no wind and a feeling of "what do we do now?" (No plans in place) all lead to us staying put for a few more days. We enjoyed life ashore, trying to avoid the chandlery, visiting bars and restaurants and exploring Marmaris. Eventually we were forced to move due to our black water tanks being full. In Turkey it's a requirement to pump out at least every 15 days and each one is recorded on a central database for the coastguard to check as the need arises. We pumped out at the local marina, of course there's a charge to pay, in this case around £7, we have been charged £15 elsewhere (without any actual pumping out being done). Most boats still dump at sea, but still manage to get a certificate and so this requirement is mainly seen by all as another tax raising activity. Incidentally, although we visited the pump out station and the nozzle was attached to our boat it became clear that no pumping was actually done.....

We headed off up the coast towards Bozburun, our first stop being a bay called "Pregnant church" so called because there is a ruined church on the sides of the bay, legend has it that female visitors will get pregnant if they visit. We didn't go this time as it didn't work the last time we were here! Or maybe it did, Amanda now being a Grandma! There were alot of flies in the early evening, locally known as 'vampire goat flies', these look like a small bluebottle but bite and are extremely irritating. Amanda is an expert fly swatter and soon had the cockpit looking like the Somme, but they kept coming, often settling on the dead bodies of their mates...... Wasps also put in an appearance and even a couple of hornets. Nice. On the upside, snorkeling in the bay is lovely, we saw various fish, the highlight being a Remora and a turtle. We didn't remember this bay being as rolly as it was this time and so after two beautiful nights, (the stars are so clear with the Milky Way standing out), we left.

We sailed up the coast in a gusty 20 knts, the wind coming down off the nearby coast, pretty unpleasant and we ended up reefing the main and using the staysail. We were aiming for a small sheltered inlet , not shown as an anchorage. It looked very tight, room for only one boat so we were praying no-one else would be there. Also, when we finally arrived there was one day boat already there. We dropped anchor and tied the stern to shore, but it wasn't a secure position for the night. Eventually the dayboat left and we tried to reposition ourselves, by this time the wind has changed direction, opposite to forecast, and made it very tricky to get a good position. After one attempt which left Amanda with a long swim back to the boat and almost hitting the rocks with our rudder we gave up. Amanda kayaked to collect the shore line we had had to let go and once she was back on board we headed around the corner. Our little bay was very sheltered and by contrast we anchored in 30knts in the new anchorage. We dropped our large anchor and settled down, only to watch the boat next to us start dragging their anchor! An eventful evening and we slept well.

Next day we headed back to the centre of the cruising universe in this area, Bozburun, to meet up with Barry and Lynn Shotton on Waltz. We had a lovely sail in 20 knts, this time with full rig and flat water, Kerensa felt great. Halfway, between Rhodes and Turkey, we saw the unmistakable sight of a whale spout. It was big, really big. Kerensa in 14m long and it was much larger. As it crossed ahead of us, and got closer, we watched for ages as it kept swimming on the surface blowing air, clearing its lungs as it prepared to dive. Eventually it dove and we lost sight of it, we were in 90-100m of water depth. Convinced we had seen a Sperm whale (in the Med?) about 20m long, we did a bit of research and yes! although very rare they do inhabit the Med. There is a small population in the NW Med, mainly males, and the females and calves are in the Southern Med. On that basis, it must have been a female - or a male on a weekend jolly! We were very excited to see such a rare animal.

Not the greatest photos but......

We enjoyed the rest of the sail into Bozburun and the evening with Barry and Lynn. We are on a slow trip North now, planning to check out of Turkey in Didim, checking into Greece at Leros.

Bozburun to Marmaris for repairs

Sat, 21 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0000

We headed out early Sunday morning to meet up with the rigger on Monday. The sail to Marmaris was fun, being the only time we had any decent wind for two weeks. A short beat followed by a reach in 20knts had us reefing the main, even with the staysail up rather than our big genoa. The wind was gusting off the hills so it was definitely a hand steering job rather than using the autopilot. After 6 hrs we anchored just outside the marina where we stayed over the winter. The day rate is around eu250 per night there so we were keen not to have to go inside.

Old forestay attachment, showing twisted furler mounting plates

Damaged Furler

Bent forestay attachment plates, We were lucky there's no forestay damage

On Monday morning Mustapha from Moss rigging came aboard and measured up the work needed. From the photographs I had sent he had spotted that, in addition to the furler damage, our forestay was not connected correctly and the fastening point could not flex in two directions. This meant that a new attachment, some parts made to order, was required. After Mustapha left the boat, he got the required parts made up the next day and returned to fit them the following day. This wasn't easy and required grinding, cutting, drilling etc to get the old furler off. Nigel had had visions of keeping the old furler and refurbishing it himself to sell and get some money back but it was definately only ready for the bin after removal! Whilst the work was going on the mast was held up with a spinnaker halyard as forestay and the main halyard as a backstay. We have a keel stepped mast, baby stay and a staysail so the likelyhood of any issue without a forestay was minimal, even so we were pleased with the light winds at the time.

Eventually all was complete and we lifted the stored genoa out to refit it. Incidentally, its only a sail but its a real struggle for one person to lift it alone due to the weight. As with all boat jobs, one job leads to another. As we fitted the genoa we spotted the bolt rope coming away at the top. Quick trial hoist and furl to test the furler and, wow, it furled so easily we didn't need a winch. There must have been loads of friction in the old one from day one.

New furler with new forestay attachment

Genoa required a small repair

We Immediately dropped the genoa again and made contact with the local sailmakers to get the repair done. We moved Kerensa closer to Marmaris for this and they kindly agreed to pick and drop off the sail at the dinghy dock, there was no way we could have carried it to the shop. We also got a couple of small repairs done on the sprayhood and bimini whilst we were at it. It took an hour to finish the work and we were very happy with the final (small) bill. After 5 days we are now ready to resume our sailing, we decided to stay one more night to have dinner ashore and see if we can find somewhere to watch the rugby. Tomorrow we are off, probably bay hopping towards Bozburun again to stock up and then head further north. We have 3 weeks left in Turkey before heading to Greece.

Bodrum to Bozburun with WYC visitors

Sun, 15 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0000

We have missed a week and a bit on the blog due to having 2 sets of friends on board for a week each.

Firstly we picked Mike Oliver from WYC up in Bodrum, Kerensa arrived at the pick up point the evening before and, after a night listening to boom boom music, we walked into Bodrum centre to visit the castle. We under estimated how long the walk was and how much time the castle deserved and only had an hour to wizz round, before heading back to meet Mike. It was great to see him and have him on board and we headed off the next morning to Datca in a lovely sailing breeze. A little difficulty furling the sail at the end of the day transformed into being unable to unfurl it the next morning as we headed to Ciftlik. Closer inspection revealed twisted metal supports an twisted plates holding the forestay. The furler had jammed and the powerful electric winches did the rest. We sent a few photos to the rigger who took our mast out earlier this year and he advised that we didn't use the sail due to the potential forestay damage. This wasn't ideal as (probably fortunately though) the winds were forecast to be very light for the next two weeks. The staysail is a very small substitute and meant our range and speeds were very limited.

Ciflik (Locally known as Donkey bay due to the nighttime noises....) is an 'island' joined to the mainland by a narrow strip of land which allows a choice of anchorage depending on the wind. One bay is lined with a few restaurants, there is also a beach bar where we ate and listened to a live band before getting the dinghy back to the boat.

Next stop was our favourite bay, Sig Liman, where we had a walk into Selimye for a beer and a Turkish breakfast in the morning in the restaurant garden under a 300 Yr old Olive tree. We have been here twice before and the restaurant owner greeted us with a broad smile, despite our inability to communicate in the same language! Mike enjoyed this new experience, as we always do.

The next day we sailed/motored to a Kisil Adasi, very near Bozburun where we were to drop off Mike early the next morning. This bay is close to a very shallow area which used to be a village/outpost and the rock building foundations are just inches below the surface.

Sadly Mike's last morning arrived all too soon and we dropped him off at Bozburun in time for his taxi.

The next day we welcomed Mike Hanson and Danielle, also from our home sailing club, for thier first time on a yacht. With light winds and no large genoa to use it was a gentle introduction!

First stop was back to Kisil Adasi for a swim and lunch, followed by a gentle but enjoyable sail in 10knts across the bay to Ciflik, where we went ashore for dinner and a beer at the beach bar with some live music.

Next morning we motored to Bencik which is a tree lined bay with a river entering at one end, great for kayaking. Whilst we were here the floating supermarket put in an appearance. This is a boat that visits the various bays and is kitted out like a normal supermarket inside, complete with sliding doors. The only thing they didn't stock was booze. This was followed by the coffee boat

Next stop was back across the bay to our favourite spots, Sig Liman. After Snorkeling Nigel decided to blag a go on a Seabob from the powerboat anchored nextvtonus. This is an electric 'toy' that can pull you on or below the surface to 30m deep at speed. The experience left Nigel wanting more and it turned out the Powereboat had two and offered to sell one but the price of eu10k was much too spicy! Great fun though. Swimming back to Kerensa Nigel picked up a beer can from the seabed to put in Kerensas bin, as it was put on deck out popped an octopus! About the size of Nigels hand, he sat for a while then moved to the swim ladder and then off, none the worse from the experience.

Once again we walked to Selimye for the evening and followed that by a Turkish Breakfast the next morning. We are well known in there now!

After 2 nights in Sig Liman we headed off to Dirsek, the scene of our harrowing stern too mooring in winds a couple of weeks ago. This time it was flat calm, but busy. We found a slot between a yacht and a Gullet and had a quiet time Snorkeling and removed the genoa ready for the furler repairs.

The next night was Mke and Danielles last with us, plus it was our celebration of 1yr as liveaboards, so we headed for the Octopus restaurant in Sogut. The restaurant has a jetty with electricity and water, all free if you eat there. We had a great meal and night there (Thanks again Mike and Danielle) and headed off early next morning to Bozburun and Mike and Danielles taxi.

We had lunch at the ever welcoming Osmans restaurant before it was time to say our goodbyes. Kerensa feels quiet after almost two weeks of visitors, thanks for coming all of you, it was great to have you aboard.

Next is a trip back to Marmaris to get our furler replaced.

Datcha to Bodrum via Gulf of Gokova

Sun, 01 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0000

We left Datca in no wind, engine and watermaker on. After a couple of hours we hoisted the sails only for the wind to drop again. As we approached the headland where we visited Knidos last year the wind rose to around 10knts for a short while. We could see our friends on Dash behind us, catching up from their visit to Bozburun. Suddenly we hit strong winds and were caught with full sails in around 25knts and rising. Reefing the genoa, we continued on as the wind rose. It was very gusty off the hills and we were on a close reach, although it was only 6 miles left to our destination. We were broached twice, Dash later telling us they had seen 42knts on their instruments, and we finally dropped the main and genoa 2 nm from our anchorage and motored the rest of the way. It was a tight squeeze into the narrow bay but using stern lines we were secure and could appreciate the excellent shelter we now had. Dash arrived 30mins later, I think we were all a bit shaken from the short but intense winds.

Boat repair list is never ending

We left the next day to cross the Gulf of Gokova, another breezy sail in large waves but we arrived safely into the large and pretty bay at Cokertme, putting lines ashore. Once again our theoretically sheltered spot turned out to be broadside to the winds coming off the hills. With a rising wind forecast we stayed only one night and left after a walk ashore. A short 6nm sail back across the bay in a lovely breeze took us to English Harbour. This area is a series of inlets used by the British to hide ships in during the war, hence the name. We stayed here for a couple of days, kayaking the area on mirror still water and having beers on board either Kerensa or Dash.

Kayaking English Harbour

English harbour is also the location of the Presidential Palace and the bottom end is a no go area. Every bay also has a fire break cut into the woods, something we haven't seen before and must be to protect the palace.

After a couple of days we had to leave our friends on Dash and head off to Bodrum motoring 6hrs in no wind to pick up a friend from Whitstable. We have had such a good time with them and hopefully will see them again later in the summer/early autumn in Albania or Malta. Thanks for the memories Kristy and Steve!

Orhaniye to Datca - normal service resumed!

Sun, 25 May 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Once settled in Orhaniye we went ashore for a beer with crews from Dash and Lysander who joined us from the other bay where they were doing a bit of wingfoiling. whilst having a beer we planned our walk up to Turgut Falls, a small river with waterfalls some distance inland.

Our planned 7am early start was delayed by an hour due to Nigel, for some unknown reason, deciding to check the freezer was OK at 6am. It wasn't! (cue spooky music) Fortunately no food had yet defrosted but some urgent diagnosis was needed. Finding a loose wire connection on to a small circuit board that controls the compressor speed, we thought we had found the problem. However it turned out not to be so easy, the real problem being that the connection point on the circuit boat was damaged and so out with the soldering iron. Soldering it back onto the circuit board proved to be tricky (no soldering paste) and the joint kept breaking off. Eventually however, a strong enough joint was made and a replacement circuit board was ordered for a visitor to bring out for us (thanks Mike O!) at the start of June. Hopefully the repair lasts long enough.

Turgut Falls walk

We then had a long walk to to Turgut Falls, over a hill and along a road, back up another hill. The 12 mile round trip was tiring and a number of us had sore feet at the end of it. In any event the Falls were beautiful, a series of 5 Falls in a narrow valley with a boardwalk along it. Being out of season there was noone else there. On our return of course we had to have a couple of beers in a bar before returning to our boats. Rumour has it that Charlie slept all afternoon and most of the next day!!

Pump out the poo tank!!

We headed off next day to get our pump out certificate and fill with water at a marina. We took the opportunity to hose off all the salt that had accumulated everywhere from the previous weeks events at Dirsek. The boat felt so good afterwards. After giving Kerensa a good wash we headed to Kurucabuku, a bay just over a spit from Ciflik Limani. We stayed there a couple of days walking and eating Turkish food from a van on the beach. The highlight was spotting a starlink train of 23 satellites on their way to their orbit. The line of lights sped across the sky in about a minute. We were able to watch again on the next night as they sped past getting higher. Amanda described them as a string of pearls.

Nigel and Steve, Captain from Dash, commissioned the watermaker on Kerensa, it's been pickled since we bought the boat, and a long time before that Nigel was concerned about that but with Steve's guidance all was well and we can now make our own water. Thanks Steve!

Commissioning the watermaker

When the time came to leave, Dash and Lysander headed off to Bozburun (we will see Dash again in a few days) and Kerensa headed off to Datcha, en route to Bodrum to pick up a visitor. We will not see Charlie and Carol again unfortunately as we wil head East later in the summer. Big thanks to them for looking after us last year when we arrived, exhausted, in Turkey, and showing us the best spots. We have had a great time spending time with them this year aswell, eating fabulous meals on Lysander. The party night on Dash (Dash disco) will forever be legendary guys! Thank you so much.

We had a lovely sail to, and time in, Datcha, spotting a large turtle feeding next to the boat. Suitably reprovisioned we are now heading around the peninsular and exploring places we haven't been to before.

Bencik to Sig Limani - broadsided by strong winds when stern to.

Mon, 19 May 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Our plans to head North from Bencik changed with a weather forecast of 30+ knts from the SE in a couple of days. There aren't many places to hide from a SE wind on the Datcha peninsular, so after a 4 boat discussion. we decided to head to Dirsek. Dirsek is a bay where we can anchor with stern lines to shore against a large hill blocking the Winds from the South East. Perfect! or so we thought.

Dirsek on a calm day

After a light wind sail we arrived in the bay in plenty of time to get secured. Amanda swam ashore with the stern lines for the first time this season and with our anchor taut against them in 13m depth and 50m chain out we felt secure. We had Pip and Paula on Julia Too on our starboard side and Carol and Charlie on Lysander on our port side. Steve and Kristy on Dash were a bit further along the hillside. As the wind picked up we started to get some gusts and decided to take our bimini down to reduce flapping and possible damage to it. Despite having our stern to the wind and a large hill, we started to get severe gusts mainly onto our Starboad side, but also from the port. These gusts built up, we were experiencing zero wind and then Bang! a 30knt short gust. Some of these were whipping the water up into a salty spray and the boat heeled well over each time they hit. Some of them were rotating gusts as they sped across the bay. Eventually the wind started to impact our little flotilla. Firstly Julia Too lost their windward line off the rock they were tied to, they up anchored and reset using a spare line from Kerensa. Next to go was Kerensas windward line, also lifting off the rock it was tied too. Kerensa drifted into the side of Lysander. Fortunately we had forseen the risk and both boats had fenders out ready for such an eventuality. We had to wait until a break in the gusts to get Kerensa off Lysander, whilst hoping we didn't cause their anchor to drag. The gap in the gusts eventually happened and we lifted anchor and reset position again, this time using a bit of the space where Julia Too was previously. They had moved only 30m further away and were experiencing far fewer and lighter gusts now. So far all this happened in daylight but next to have an issue was Dash, pulling the rock they were tied to into the sea at midnight. This was followed by the same thing happening to their other line at 0230hrs! All boats got out with no damage fortunately but there was a distinct lack of sleep that night. Overall the gusts were broadside to us for around 12hrs before they died down. Unfortunately any photos we took really didn't do the situation justice.

White dot was our location

The next day, having had enough of Dirsek, Dash and Kerensa headed back East to Sig Limani, one of our favourite spots around here. Lysander and Julia Too headed off to another bay for Charlie to try out his new wingfoil, we will catch up with them in a few days.

From Sig Limani both crews from Kerensa and Dash walked over the hill to Selimiye, a nice town with a few waterfront bars and restaurants. We had a lovely evening and followed it up with a Turkish breakfast the next morning ashore at a local place, sitting under a very old olive tree.

Breakfast!!

We have now moved to Orhaniye to shelter from the next winds blowing through, we will be here for a couple of nights, before resuming our passage north.

Marmaris to Bencik

Tue, 13 May 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Very much in slow mode this week, enjoying the sun and sea.......

We left Marmaris after exploring the bars and nightlife along the shore the evening before, and after refitting our sail bag with its new, and expensive zips fitted. There was plenty of wind in Marmaris bay but it dropped as we made open sea and we motored to our overnight anchoring spot in Serce Limani. This is an anvil shaped bay we had visited last year and cooked ashore. This time we just got our heads down for an early start the next morning. We awoke and headed off to meet Carol and Charlie Baker at Bozburun, the wind was up and we managed to sail the whole way, although this did mean an agonising half hour drift as we rounded the headland. An easy med mooring allowed us to sit back and watch other boats perform in the harbour!

Peaceful evening in Bozburun

After a couple of nights we headed to Sig Limani, one of our favourite bays. Nigel acted as rescue boat while Charlie tried out his new wingfoil in light but challenging winds due to gusts. Pip and Paula, also from WYC joined us here. Great to see them again on their boat.

Bencik

We were forced to leave after a couple of nights. due to a blockage in the toilet, thankfully our first and only one so far, Fortunately it was easily sorted and we were able to head into Bencik, a relatively narrow bay which feels like we are anchored in a river. Extremely quiet and we can hear the owls in the trees at night. Amanda spotted a Bittern whilst kayaking up the 'river' to where a small stream enters the bay.

We were joined here by Steve and Kristy from Dash, who we met at Easter in Astypalea, great to see them again. This made for a 4 boat flotilla, all anchored in 'our' bay. We found a spot ashore to bbq and have a few drinks before retiring onto Lysander (Carol and Charlie) for more drinks and a drunken dinghy drive back to Kerensa at the end of the evening!

We will be here for a couple of days before heading north to new areas to explore.

Lindos, Rhodes to Marmaris Turkey

Mon, 05 May 2025 00:00:00 +0000

We arrived in Rhodes town via a lunch stop in Anthony Quinn bay, named after the actor who bought up the land around the bay. It's really beautiful and we enjoyed Snorkeling and getting surrounded by a huge school of fish that swam circles around us as we floated.

Anthony Quinn Bay

Still fishless since we left the UK, Nigel tried to catch some off Kerensa. The water was so clear we could see the fish circling the lure/hook but going no closer. Incredibly frustrating and we put the rod away, still fishless. We had a short sail from there into Rhodes marina to drop the boys off and reprovision, not before heading into town to experience the sights of Rhodes and some nightlife. The boys headed off to do their own thing while Amanda and Nigel ended up in a bar taking the mickey out of an Audi salesman whilst his gorgeous Indian girlfriend laughed along. A good night was had by all, Nigel and Amanda surprised the boys by getting back to the boat later than them, around 3am, proving we still have it when it matters!

We said goodbye to the boys that morning and spent another day touring Rhodes and the spectacular Grand Masters Castle.

Knights Street

Inside the Grand Masters Castle

Heading over to return to Marmaris, from where we left in February, we were a day early and dropped the hook in a bay 7nm from town for 2 nights. We were not allowed ashore as we weren't checked in, this wasn't a hardship as the rain was back. Checking in later was simple, with no questions as to where we had been since leaving Rhodes, and we anchored in Marmaris bay. What a change since we left in February!! The coastline is now lit up with the lights from bars and there's a boom, boom all evening until the early hours, thankfully we are far enough offshore for it not to bother us. Marmaris is full of chandleries and yacht service shops, which was fortunate as the day we were supposed to leave the zip broke on our lazybag (sail cover). We were able to run it ashore and will have it back in 24hrs with new, better quality zips in place. We had replaced the zip in Tunisia so this has only lasted 9 months. Hopefully the YKK version will last longer.

The upside of this delay was that we were able to put some beers in the dinghy and head over to the start line of a yacht race, part of the International Mediterranean Cup. It's good to see that there's much more shouting on the start line than in your average Laser race.....and you still get barging at the committee boat end!!

The Start

We are leaving tomorrow to head North and meet up again with Whitstable YC members and possibly the couple from Dash that we met in Astypalea at Easter.

Astypalea to Rhodes

Sun, 27 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0000

We had a long, 10hr, passage from Astypalea to Amenia en route to pick up Amanda's youngest and friend from the SW tip of Rhodes.

We arrived at the island of Amenia at dusk, dropped the hook, ate and slept well. The next morning we went for a hike and met the islands only inhabitant, Kosta, who was extremely friendly and showed us what he was doing on the island. As a child he said he always felt St George in him and, after running two or three bars for a living, he decided to give it up in is early 50's and move to the island and renovate the Church there, which was dedicated to St George. All the materials needed to be shipped across the waters from Rhodes in his tiny motorboat. He has friends that bring items too. He told the story of getting permission from the 'Big Papa' (regional head of the church) to stay and work on the Church, as part of that process he collected him from Panormitis on Symi in his tiny boat (and scared him to death!) to show him his plans. He has done a magnificent job, creating not just a beautiful church but a beautiful home too. There are many ruined buildings on the site to work on and he's created places to stay for visitors to the island (for free) and a small museum room housing the artifacts he has found on the island.

Kostas' house.

We spent hours chatting to Kosta and drinking coffee, he gave us food as well as two Easter eggs (hard boiled eggs dyed red) and showed us how to crack them together to bring good luck. He told us how St George has provided him with an island, a home and more recently a wife, a lady who had come camping on the island with a friend. It was a shame we hadn't arrived a few hours earlier to the island. Kosta had entertained 200 people to celebrate St Georges day for the first time. Karos was very proud that the Big Papa was there along with people from the neighbouring island of Chalki. Karos explained that those people had always questioned what he was doing and his motives. H e was now hoping that things would be better going forward.

We can't do justice to Karos' story here, suffice to say we had an engaging time with him and left with his phone number and an invite to dinner next time we are close. We will endeavour to do that.

The island was host to a German submarine base during the war and we took a dinghy ride and short stroll to two barracks buildings where we found art drawn onto the walls by the wartime residents. The pictures were in remarkably good condition considering they were over 80 years old.

German soldiers artwork

We could have stayed there for much longer but we had to collect Ellis and George from the Sw tip of Rhodes. With not many suitable bays in the area Nigel had identified a peninsular of beach joining a small island to the main island. With a strong offshore wind forecast Nigel anticipated flat water on the leeward side and was almost right..... Some swell coming into the beach hadn't flattened off fully at pick up time giving an interesting dinghy trip in and off the beach! Boys safely onboard, we headed up the coast to the lovely bay and town of Lindos. The boys headed off in the Kayaks to explore the caves and cliffs whilst Amanda and Nigel toured the town with its passageways dotted with shops and restaurants. We also had a walk up the hill to the fort which would have been magnificent in its day.

Lindos is an upmarket tourist town with beach bars etc and rooftop restaurants, fortunately it was not overwhelmed with people at this time of year.

Lindos bay with Kerensa anchored in the middle

The most dramatic event of our 3 day stay there was a massive cloudburst which came out of nowhere one afternoon. We dived into a bar for shelter and a beer, watching the narrow passageways turn into raging torrents of water. Whilst the rain fell and turned to hail we suddenly realised that, in our efforts to get two teenagers out of bed before midday, we had forgotten to close the hatches 😱. During a rain break we dashed down the hills to where we had left the dinghy on the beach, only to find the beach in that area had literally been washed away by a newly created river of fresh water. This had happened in 4 places along the beach. Very fortunately for us a kind chap had moved the dinghy to stop it getting washed out to sea. He had lost several sunbeds, umbrellas and a stand with tools which was now buried somewhere in the newly shaped beach line. The dinghy was half full of water.

Picking up the dinghy

Back on the boat we set about drying all the wet stuff and were relieved that the water in Kerensa was not worse, Nigel had pulled the hatches down earlier in the day which helped alot. We got up early in the morning and filled the deck with drying items in the early morning sun and reflected on our amateur error!!

We have the boys for 2 more days and will drop them off in Rhodes before heading to Turkey for 3 months before returning to Greece.