A Holiday in Samos

Pythagoria, a secondary port of Samos

We'd finally crossed the Aegean sea, got out of the jet-stream that crosses the middle of it (called the meltemi) and washed up ashore in Samos, the Greek island closest to the Turkish coast. Turkey is only 1 nm away, we can see it from our 'porch'.

The coastline of Samos

We've finished most of the pressing maintenance tasks on the boat. Only two main items remained, we'd bought a new anchor in Lavrio which was residing in our rear cabin. Since we are expecting some visitors in the next few weeks (David and Caroline, Megan's brother and sister in law), the anchor needed to be installed on our bow roller, and we needed to say good-bye to our faithful old CQR (get it?). Our house battery bank is also failing, so we needed to replace the 3 huge lead-acid batteries that store our electrical power.

Main port of Samos, Varthi.

We enquired around, and met Stelios, an old wizened Greek mechanic, who assured us that he could do the required welding so that the new anchor would fit and be contained in our bow roller.

Our favourite swimming hole in Pythagoria

Let me digress a little about anchors. The anchor is the number one safety item on a boat. If you don't believe this, read my post about living on the end of a piece of string. That anchor is the only thing keeping us from being smashed onto rocks, drifting into our (expensive) neighbour's yacht or keeping us secured in our chosen anchorage. Its an important bit of kit. Our CQR was a venerable and capable design (and we had a 60 lbs example, a big monster) but it has been made obsolete by more modern designs. Once the CQR is set, it hold extremely well. But getting it to set is another story. In the bay off Samos, we took 5 attempts before we could set the anchor properly through the thick sea-grass growing on the bottom. In fact, it wasn't until we could lob it into a sandy patch, that the anchor finally bit. Of course, all this is a bit stressful and energetic, specially since the entire moored flotilla is watching our performance. The other problem with the CQR is that many Greek ports are tiny, maybe only 3-4 boat lengths across. That means we have to put our boat hard onto the opposite side, drop the anchor, and try to get it to set before we reach our destination. Often, we'd look out and see our anchor lying only meters away from the boat.

Traditional Greek caique's.

So we bought a new 25kg Rocna. Its an agressive looking spade anchor that has the reputation of setting RIGHT NOW. But its a different shape to the CQR, and lolled around in our bow roller like Dolly Parton in a hammock. We designed some alterations that would hold the anchor securely (get it?) and asked Selios to weld them up for us. We also ordered some new batteries from him, specifying deep cycle batteries. He assured us that he had the perfect batteries.

An old temple site at Pythagoria

We'd been accustomed to the excellent inox (stainless steel) craftsmen in Turkey, who could create a gleaming polished article of virtually anything you requested. We were thus astonished at the amateurish and pathetic attempt at welding that resulted from Stelios's adminstrations. It was just a very sorry excuse for a reasonably simple job. We'd even turned the boat around and moored bow first so that he could work from the dock, with good access to the bow roller. (That was an interesting exercise, deploying our reserve Danforth anchor from the stern by hand, as we went bow first into the dock. Pulling it up by hand when we exited in 25 knots of wind was also 'interesting'. Megan came through with flying colours). Then the batteries arrived. We removed the 3 130 Ah batteries, which weigh 35kg each, taking them off the boat via the bow (a very precarious operation). We installed the new batteries. Then I looked the battery type up on the Internet, and found that they were just normal truck batteries, and were not deep cycle.

Early Christian tombs at Pythagoria

Further remonstrations with Stelios, and then we had to remove 90 kg of new batteries and re-install the old. We then had the joy of trying to negotiate a reduced price for the botched up job Stelios had made of our bow roller. His position was, that while agreeing that it was a bad job, he maintained that he'd quoted us for a 'bad job', and that a 'good job' would cost much more!! Clearly, Greece is not the place to find skilled tradesmen, or to get significant maintenance work done. We are looking forward to returning to Turkey for these things.

Cafe life is popular in Greece

We enjoyed the island of Samos, and rented a car to explore. First stop was Lidl, our favourite German grocery store. Staples cost half the price here, so it is a good place to stock up on essentials. Also, alcohol is prohibitively expensive in Turkey, so we stocked up on beer and wine as well.

Old church at Pythagoria

We also toured a few of the old churches and archeological sites in Samos. We found lots of examples of the re-use of antique stones in newer buildings.

Good use for an old mill-stone

A floral motif from an earlier age

Re-use of old columns

Samos is the birthplace of Pythagoras, and the port Pythagoria where we are moored is named in his honour. After spending years drilling Pythagoras' Theorum into students, it was a delight to see the theorum inscribed into a tablet next to the town hall.

Pythagoras himself

The theorum immortalised

The main port town of Samos is variously called Vathy or just Samos. We travelled there by bus, and Megan was lucky to find a dress for her daughter's wedding, in November this year.

Megan looking stunning in her 'mother of the bride' dress

Lion guarding the port of Vathy, Samos

So, we've really enjoyed just 'hanging out' in Samos, the boat list is temporarily in abeyance and we can just enjoy life.  We're also looking forward to returning to Turkey. The cost of living is so much less, we'll be able to relax about financial matters. We've also missed the excellent and cheap fruit and vegetables available in Turkish markets. Bring on the lire!

Pavlov snuggled up in Pythagoria port

A night out with Mario, Lilli and Dessi.