2016 Where is LeeZe? Patmos > Partheni > Leros (with some excitement!)

Dear all,

We arrive in Patmos on 6 August and we settle in. This is the first Greek port that we have been in that the city wall is full nearly 100% of the time, and stuffed come 1800 every night.

When we arrive, we laid out some 100+ meters of anchor and chain, thinking that we had laid it between our neighbors' chain. We were half right. Our port side neighbor was able to retrieve his anchor without touching my chain, but he got tangled up with his neighbor to port. LeeZe's chain was laid over three gulets' chains and one left after we arrived and the other two left the next day. (They all had the old style fishermen's anchor which has a so-so holding factor so when they anchor, if they are anchoring in NY harbor as an example, their drop their anchor in San Francisco Bay (or so it seems!))

Later in the week, two other boats fouled my chain when they landed their chain on top of my chain.

I have never had so many fouled anchor chains, ever, even in Symi!

And the boats that come also side are not small. I currently have a 70' to starboard, but I have had 105', 85', a gulet that had to be over 80' long and three stories tall, a 41' go fast boat, as well as the usual suspects of sailing vessels.

We had an altercation with the 85' who wanted to run his generator overnight but the exhaust was getting into the master cabin. We asked three times for him to go on shore power but he refused, saying the shore power he needed was not here. Finally, in desperation, with the owner present, we pleaded with the Captain to shut it off and even offered to come to the cabin and take a whiff. Guess what? Within 15 minutes it was off and the crew was pulling out their shore power cord. (Liar liar pants on fire!)

So, it seems to be as busy as Grand Central Station especially after 1600 until about 2100. When things get tight or when a really big boy comes in, out comes the "rodeo master" who with a very loud and shrill whistle, directs the big boys to the spot he wants them in. If room can be made by shifting boats left or right, he starts barking orders so room can be made. Once he came to LeeZe and was about ready to "ask" me to shift sideways, but when he looked at my 4 doubled stern lines, he decided not to. Wise man. (We were once asked at dinner time in Lemnos if we could shift, and we said, sure, in the morning. Nope, the guy wanted me to shift in the next 15 minutes! That is just not going to happen.)

So, on Thursday, 11 Aug, my Aussie neighbor to port and I were discussing the upcoming blow, where the wind was predicted to reach up to 50 knots from the N/NW. He has a 42' sailing vessel and he dug out his springs. Ugh! If he thinks he needs springs, then I sure as heck do also.

So, I dig mine out, and decide to add two additional lines from the stern to the wall, crossed at the back, but one cleat over from what my normal stern lines are using. I wish to say that this is a quick step but it is not, as one has to slack the anchor chain, pull the lines tight (after shackling them to the cleat) and then take the slack out of the chain. That whole process took three hours, but at least the day was calm with no wind.

Thursday was also the day when the clamp that I use to attach my snubber line to the chain was repaired and returned to me. I had bent it in Samos somehow and wanted to get it repaired because while I have three, when a big blow is coming, I put two snubbers out in case of failure. I learned this lesson the hard way when I had a clamp come undone in a 45 knot wind and installing the backup, I had to verify that I still had all 10 fingers when I was done. So now, I do this when it is calm.

So, I am moored opposite the Blue Fin marine store. For those that ever come here, the repair person is north of that store, north of the supermarket, and just past a superb boat electrician's shop owned by Skios, make a left and walk 10 meters down that road. The repair shop is on the left. I gave them the clamp on Tuesday and thy fixed it for no charge by Thursday. Nice people. Only speak Greek. Store name is in Greek soooooooo, hard to name it.

But, with the help of another customer, when I noticed that this place stocks all sizes bronze screws for boat building and repair, I inquire about metric size nuts and bolts. Nope, they do not have them BUT there is a hardware store near to the Alpha Bank that does.

I get excited because I have been looking for about 3 years for metric bronze bolts and have been quite unsuccessful.

Get on my trusty bike and with a sample in hand, rush off to find this hardware store.

Again, the owner speaks only Greek, but he asks me to wait and he makes a phone call. 5 minutes later, his 12 year old daughter who is studying English in school is there to help.

I explain what I want and he says he has, somewhere. So he says something to the girl and she runs off, coming back a few minutes later with two greek coffees. She hands me one and tells me to wait. Dad goes digging and so does the daughter. To my surprise. He pulls out three very old looking and dusty boxes from somewhere deep behind other boxes. He opens and there they are! The bolts I have been looking for. He has 20 and I take them all. He also has 21 nuts, and 24 very special thick electrical cable washers. I take them all. The price? About $25. He THINKS he got these maybe 5 years ago, maybe longer. The price he paid for them was written on the box so he added 10% and that was the price I paid. He said that he will order them from Athens for next year, but he thinks the price will be quadrupled of what I paid today.

Later on Friday, I went back to that store. He called me his bronze customer. I look around. This is a hardware store that I imagined one would have been in the fifties. Old dusty boxes of nuts, bolts, door fasteners, knobs, hooks, hinges, etc etc etc are sitting on shelves with inch thick dust in some cases, having not been touched for a very long time it would appear. The inventory is in this man's head, and while he is not exactly sure where stuff his, has a pretty good idea of where to start to look. He is a dying breed.

Saturday, 13 August, the blow starts. My Aussie neighbor to port and LeeZe are so far fine. My 70' yacht to starboard is having a devil of a time corralling his stern. It seems it wants to dance all over the place. He is wedged in between me (at 44 gross tons) and a 36 foot sailboat on the other side, which is taking the brunt of his "dance." Winds peak tonight after midnight (recorded one 50 knot gust), die down a little, and then peak tomorrow after midnight.

We did take the afternoon off

A view from the path to the cave 

to go visit the monastery and the Cave of St John,

The Monastery is at the top. The white boxy building is the cave. The white building below the cave is a school.

the disciple who dictated the Book of Revelations. The monastery was neat and quite interesting as it is more than 1000 years old and still houses a bunch of monks. (No pictures were allowed. They wanted you to buy their slides from their store. Who still has a slide projector?) The Cave……… well a little disappointed. I was expecting more, especially after the walk

needed to get to it. But a cave is a cave is a cave.

We are now looking for a weather window around 20 Aug. And we find it. We take advantage of the nearby beach,

do some chores, and make ready to depart. But first, there is this restaurant in the middle of town that overtime we go past, it is full. Not a table to be had. It could be 2000 or it could be 2230. It serves mostly fish so, on a Friday night,

with our Aussie neighbors, we arrive at the restaurant at about 2030 and there is one table open.

We grab it and after a wonderful dinner, we walk back to our boats.

On Saturday, 20 August, I awake to a scene that I just could not believe. There is a 78 meter fuel ship med moored to the northern most part of the wall. Just last night, before dinner, we walked that area and it was full of cruisers. I ask around and it seems that sometime around 2300 last night, those moored there were told to depart to make room for the fuel ship. Ugh! I further learn that it is refueling an diesel fired electrical generating station across the street. Per the agents on the wall, it comes in about 3-4 times a summer so its arrival is not unusual for them. When he leaves (and we are all taking bets to see if his anchor is fouled (we all loose, it wasn't)), the three large 80-100' yachts moored at the cruise liner dock all rush in to med moor, because having such a large part of the wall empty just does not happen in summer.

On Sunday, 21 Aug, our Aussie neighbor decides to leave. The wall is mostly empty around us and there are no large yachts moored around him, or me. We have decided to go on 22 August, so we watch him retrieve his anchor without incident and sail off. Very nice people!

Later toward evening, we pay our mooring bill (~ 130 € for 16 days), check out with the Port Authority, and have dinner.

22 August: We have coffee, and prepare to depart. Here is the moment I am dreading. I have to retrieve my anchor. It has been messed with so many times that I am unsure what I am going to find. As we move away from the wall, two boats down from me to starboard are also leaving, and of course, their two anchors are fouled with each other, and a third's boat. I am relieved to see my 20 meter chain mark so I know I am close. Then the windlass stalls. So, try again and no luck in getting the anchor up. I put back on the snubber and have Zehra very slowly motor forward, which breaks the anchor free from the bottom. When I finally do get it up, it has a brown clumping dirt on it that is very hard to get off. But we are clear and while I clean the anchor, Zehra drives us out of the harbor toward the Northern point of Leros.

After a 3 hour very rolly ride, we arrive are at Partheni, an anchorage recommended by our Aussie neighbors. It is very sheltered and calm. There are two boat yards and an airport nearby but neither are noisy. We anchor in 6 meters of water, and plan to take two days to decompress from Patmos. I also need to replace a rubber snubber that failed in Patmos.

There is not much here if you take away two huge boatyards that straddle the airport runway. This small enclave of a village is where whatever activity that happens originates from.

But there is a little bit of excitement! Just as dinner from the BBQ is was ready, Zehra notes water on the floor by the galley sink, tastes it, and announces that she must have spilled a lot of our homemade lemonade we drink. But then she notices that it is still coming so she opens the door under the sink and sees nothing. Feeling the bottom of the cabinet, she then announces that the anti-skid mat is very wet and soapy. Dinner is NOW done so I take it off the grill, cover it, and inspect the cabinet with a flashlight. There is a water hose that has lost its wire mesh sheath and the rubber hose is exposed. I also note that the connector of the same hose is very loose. Thinking I found the leak, I get out a wrench and tighten it. I have Zehra go turn on the water pump (we NORMALLY have it off when we are at sea, just in case a water line breaks) for 5 seconds which in theory should pressurize the line and I slowly open the valve. No leak so I think I am done! Hurrah! Let's eat.

Ah, but there is a nagging doubt in my mind so with the valve open, I have Zehra turn on the pump for 10 seconds, and sure enough, I get a face full of water from the now found broken rubber hose.

We decide to eat, and then clean up.

The hose that broke goes to the faucet that we get our drinking water from so after cleanup, we decide to leave the cabinet open to air out and dry. Meanwhile, I take some black electrical tape and tape off the broken wire mesh (little slivers are embedding themselves in my fingers!) and use the hose to fill two more bottles of drinking water just in case repairs take a while.

So after two days here, we pick up the anchor and head south toward Leros. The ride south is really rolly, though the wind is light, but on one roll, there is a huge noise from the galley and the drawer under the oven has coming flying out, crashing into the items that are out from under the sink so we could let that area dry!. Great. Super!!! Nothing we can do about it, but I contemplate the repair to that drawer is going to be very much a big PITA!

We arrive in Leros, and here is where confusion reigns. My trusty EagleRay port guide has remarkably little info about Leros. There is a marina on the west side, a marina on the east side, and the city wall is to the east of the marina on the west side. Got that? Yup, confusing. We were told by another Turkish boater that the marina on the west side was cheap. But, looking around, we do not see any way to contact them! None, Nada! The marina on the east side (Leros Marina) has a sign saying contact them on channel 10. So, I try to raise the Port Authority on Ch12 and no answer. I raise Olympia Radio on Channel 16 but they all me to call the Port on Ch 12 or 13.

Seeing a huge space along the city wall, we decide to take that. Now, let me paint the picture for you, because this dumbass should have seen it for himself. To the left and right of this huge empty space are sailboats so tightly squeezed in that there is no room between the boats. But this space is empty! Just for me? So, drop anchor and start back and when we get close enough, another boater tells Zehra that this space is reserved for the Greek Coast Card boat. And, once we are close we can see the words saying that painted on top of the sidewalk. (BTW hard to see then when 100 meters out!) And, my port guide has NO MENTION of a huge orange buoy in the water directly perpendicular from the center of the empty space. Greek Coast Guard uses orange buoys for mooring buoys.

So, feeling really stupid, I pick up the anchor and head off to the marina on the west side.

Now, this is going to be a very new learning experience for me. And when that happens, Zehra gets so frustrated and depressed that she has to sit down in the salon and take a moment to breathe.

You see, this marina, give you lazy lines that you tie off on the bow after you get a stern line over. The marina person reminds Zehra to remind me not to drop my anchor! Never did it that way. All I have ever experienced is getting these lines from a guy in a small boat before putting over a stern line.

So, as per our routine, I get Zehra to get one line over and tied off, when the guy on the dock says he wants me MUCH closer to the boat to port. Zehra cannot help here, and wisely sits down. He wants me to use my bow thruster to get closer. I do but I am cringing. He yells more , and I do more. More again, many more times, punctuated by the words, "go forward a little bit……… good, now more." I envision my bow thruster going up in flames or melting.

Eventually I am fender-to-fender to my neighbor, a few meters from the pier, so he wants some reverse thrust so he can come aboard and help me get the port lazy line on. So, I do, he comes through a salon all messed up from the stuff under the sink on the floor, as well as that drawer that came out during a roll. I am so embarrassed but he says not a word.

Together we get the port lazy line done, he goes ashore, hands me the starboard one, and I put that on. He wants them tighter but I say I need to fix the stern lines first.

He says "OK, let's do it." Normally I do this myself but I take him up on his offer. Remember I am still fender-to-fender to port, and he says "I need about ½ meter separation between the two of you." Since I normally cross my stern lines, he agrees that will do the trick and we cross.

He welcomes us to Lakki Marina (now we know the name of the marina!) and says that after getting settled, we need to check in. So, while I am tending to lines, putting on chafe protection and tightening up on the lazy (bow) lines, I ask Zehra to see what a night will cost us and ask her to see if there is a place in town to get a new hose to replace the broken one below the sink.

She comes back to say that a night is 29€ (not expecting that given our Turk friend said this marina was cheap!) + water and electricity AND she comes back with a new hose, with adapters to connect the new hose with the old hose. (It is about 1230 and its a Wednesday. greek shops close at 1400 or so on Wednesday's and reopen on Thursday morning, so there is a short window to get the hose I need.)

So, remember, I have not yet finished working on the lines, the salon is a mess, but the day is calm with little wind. So, elect first to work on the drawer, Zehra empties it and I inspect for broken parts. I see none, and think that is really strange. Our drawers close themselves once they close to being closed, and I thought I had broken that doodad. But, I carefully put the empty drawer back on its rails, the rails lock in place with the distinctive click, and the drawer closes itself. WOW! I dodged a bullet! I do not have to repair the drawer! Did I tell you that one of us failed to lock the drawer close prior to underway?

Then on to the sink. I hate adapters because they provide one more point for one to leak and now I to deal with two. The directions that came with the hose (remember, this is the EU!; there are directions on everything! The marina installed new toilets and there on the top of the toilets are direction on how to use the toilet!) say that finger tight is all that is needed. Nope, nada. Tried finger tight and the now dry cabinet is wet again! Try moderate wrench tight and still water. Time to break out the big guns. First I dig out my thread sealant "creme" for potable water connections. I liberally apply and using a 22 mm and an 23 mm wrenches, tighten those puppies up until I cannot move them a silly more millimeter. The sealant needs some 15 minutes to seal so I start to clean up, a little. After waiting, I slowly turn on the water, and behold, no leaks!

Onto the lazy lines. After confirming that we are close enough to the pier to get on and off, I take each lazy line to the capstan and tighten them until the water is wringing out of the line. Then I tie it off. Do the other side and now I am done. Welcome to Leros!

That concludes this entry.

If you have any questions, please ask.

Lee and Zehra

MV LeeZe

https://whereisleeze.blogspot.com

2016 Where is LeeZe? Actually Where Has LeeZe Been!

Dear all, I was asked if I could show my approximate route that I have taken so far this trip.

So, below are some Google Earth screen shots, that show the routes taken.

Currently in Patmos, in a blow. We are safe!

Lee

MV LeeZe

Patmos, Gr

2016 Where is LeeZe? Chios>Samos> Pythagorean>Patmos

Dear all,

14 July. We arrive in Samos and  with the exception of  6 greek sailing vessels (look like they are permanently moored here) two German smallish patrol craft, a SAR rescue boat, on Turkish fast cruiser, one PT-109 like Greek patrol gun boat, and two Greek Coast Guard patrol craft, the long wall of Samos is empty. Port Authority tells us that we can moor in front of the JOY cafe, and we do. 

This harbor is open to the North and the land formation is like a funnel, so the swell from the consistently blowing N, NE or NW winds pushed water into the bay, which circulates around, rocking LeeZe and everyone else almost as bad, but not quit as bad, as Chios. 

Big ferries moor on the opposite side of the city wall, but they also cause a circulatory current that rolls LeeZe side to side.

I put out extra lines, having learned my lesson in Chios, but in a few days, the jerking and jarring and pulling and twisting had already caused one snubber to fail, and other to start to fail.

I consider pulling out from storage my huge winter springs, but realize there is no real safe way to install them on the pier and them move my lines to them. I need a really calm day to do that, and per GRIB forecast, one is not coming any time soon.

I go and check in and the Port Authority people are very friendly and nice. I give them my papers, and they ask a few questions. I come to learn that there is no fee to be at the wall, and water and electricity is included. Nice. But I know why! The swell and the circulatory current is nearly constant, anyone at the wall is very discomfortable, so few boaters come. 

But we will make do and we settle in. 

In the previous blog, we noted the attempted coup in Turkey 16-7 July so will not cover that again. Many did ask about us and Zehra’s family, so we appreciate the concern. 

And we have some notable successes. We found a hardware store that took our Turkish 35 liter syrup can that Randal from Diesel Duck Dora Mac gave me (Thanks Randal!) and a metal pole, and for 10 €, they filled the bucket with cement and delivered it to LeeZe. Using that contraption, I mounted the satellite antenna to it and we enjoyed nearly perfect TV reception through out our stay. 

I also found a great marine store owned by Nick (N. Tsoumakis, Fishing Accessories - Marine, http://www.tsoumakis.gr) and he was able to get from Athens in a few days 4 new snubbers, exactly what I get in Turkey, for less money than what I pay in Turkey. He also got for me the chart book from Eagle Ray for the local area (Volume IV) and passed on the discount he received. Nice man. Easy to work with. Not far from the main square.

We found a good place to eat Pita sandwiches (Teleion Plus) and they were ever so nice. 

Regrettably, there was no close beach to go to and while the harbor looked clean, at times, it did not smell so clean. There was one person that persistently would fish. Never saw him catch even one. 

There is not much to say about Samos. To be honest, nothing significant broke, which is a good thing. The town’s shops are open Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday nights, so on those nights, town was busy and we could people watch. The days were not as hot as Zehra’s family were experiencing at the summer place on the south side of Turkey, so that was nice. 

Regularly, both German gun boats would depart in the evening and return the next morning. I never saw them with any refugees. Same for the Greek “PT-109” boat and the  Greek Coast Guard patrol craft. There were a few refugees in town, apparently staying in apartments. They would come out at night, and stand out, some, because of the way they dressed, and others because the color of their skin contrasted sharply with the Samos people. 

There were not as many young adults here as there were in Chios, but more children were here than Chios.

At night, the town square became the focus point of the city, and LeeZe was not far from it. 

We stayed long enough to enjoy the annual City Festival. It was on Saturday night, 30 July.

It starts with the Church leading a Parade of Blessing.

The streets along the water front were closed, restaurants and cafes filled the street with tables and chairs, venders came out to sell their wares along the sea wall, some bring their antique cars

and some bars had DJs spinning music far into the night. 

There are fireworks and a fishing boat parade.

Our favorite restaurant will sell all of these “doners” this evening. 

One was playing music for the Joy cafe, and when I went to bed at 0130, he was playing Greek music and dancing, like that which was depicted in the movie “Momma Mia,” was on full display.  Even though it was Saturday night, nearly all shops were open, with discount on many items. It seemed to me that the whole island came to the city that night, and many got dressed up!

The Germans though did not get a chance to enjoy the festival. They departed that morning, and returned the next day. Do not know this for sure but my guess is that the town did not want two EU “warships” along their city wall.

A cruise chip was in port for the festival. 

Then there is an odd object on a building:

That white object at the top was there our entire stay and no one touched it. In my mind, I came to believe it was a raft, placed there for when the great flood comes. 

We depart Samos on 1 August for a short, 19 nm trip around the island to Pythagorean. We had taken  city bus trip to this town while in Samos, and so we decided to come. I need to anchor to repair the lines damaged by the constant jerking they experienced in both Chios and Samos, and also needed to clean the water line of LeeZe from the dirt and the filth that stuck to it while in Chios. (I was hoping to do this in Samos, but chose not to due to the apparent condition of the water.) 

We anchor in the inner harbor, chose to stay on board. In the afternoon, a big inter-island ferry comes in and drops her anchor REALLY CLOSE to us, or so it seems. This ferry will again come in on Wednesday, but by by then, we had taken up some on the anchor and with the wind gusting to 25+ knots out of the NW, she is not as close this time.  (The zoom on the camera for the picture is 1:1.)

The next day is nice, so we use that day to clean the waterline, dive on the anchor to ensure it is dug in, and do other chores. We stay in Monday night, have a steak dinner (better than what we would ever be able to get ashore) and watch a pre-recorded version of the movie “Man from U.N.C.L.E.” Even though our plans were to depart for Patmos on Wednesday, a check of the weather on Tuesday indicates that our first good weather window for the 6+ hour run over open water MAY be Friday. Given that, we lower the tender into the water so we can go ashore. 

Here is a shot of the city that we took on our bus trip.

The city is small, and made to handle the tourists. There are many more yachts here because the city is protected from the North wind by the hills, so the harbors are much less rolly. The city wall stays relatively full. Not at all like Samos. 

Beside the Blue ferry ship, we also have another “PT-109” type boat that regularly goes out to patrol the narrow strait that exists between Turkey and Greece. 

If one is underway, on Channel 16 you can usually hear them telling Turkish fishing boats that they are in Greek waters and they are to leave immediately. I overheard one exchange where the person on the radio, speaking English, did all but jump thru the microphone to personally tell a Turk to stop fishing and leave. It was amusing to hear his temper rising with every order. 

Of course, the Turk did not respond. I have no clue if he had a VHF radio, and if he did, was it on, if he even knew any English, or just did not care. 

We do get ashore Tuesday night, and cannot find a good pita restaurant to have dinner. Our second choice was full and we did not want to wait for a table. We did sit down at the “House of Taste” and had a perfectly ordinary, nothing spectacular, meal. I had the village sausage dinner (only one sausage, where in Chios and  Samos, there were at least two on the plate, sometimes three) and Zehra had fish, which was dry and overcooked. Prices here are at last 20-30% higher than Samos, for less quality. 

Wednesday, 2016-08-03, the morning is very nice and calm, but as predicted by GRIB, the winds start up about 1300 and are blowing hard by 1700. A look outside the harbor toward the straits shows waves and whitecaps. Some go fast yachts that went out this AM came back in a hurry by 1500. 

Friday, 5 Aug, underway for a small anchorage called Marathokampou, as we hop, skip and jump toward Patmos. Th weather has brief 4-6 hour windows where the wind and waves are such that a transit is possible. I elect to break up the transit from Pythagorean to Patmos into two or three shorter legs, each about 2-3 hours in duration, because of the weather. So, off we go to Marathokampou,  and anchor outside the inner harbor, but inside the outer harbor. We had towed the tender thinking that we would use it to go ashore, come back, at about 2000, and lift it before the next leg. The next leg is across a strait that is about 10 miles wide, and IF the weather report is wrong and we enter the strait, or are in it when the winds hit 30+ knots, we stand a chance of losing the tender. Better to have it on the boat deck, strapped down, and covered. But, at 1800, Zehra announces that she does not want to go in, so we lift it and stow it.

Sat, 6 Aug. Underway at the dawn’s early light, for an horseshoe shipped anchorage called Vlychada Fournoi, at the southern tip of Fourni Island. But, it becomes obvious that the GRIB data is slightly off by about 3 hours and the calm weather has arrived early, So, with a course change toward 180, I decide to head off to Patmos.

Patmos, Greece. We arrive at about 1150 local, and for the first time in a long time, even with the Eagle Ray Chart book write-up, I am really confused as to where we are to moor.

So, I call up the Patmos Port Authority (PPA) and ask if I can moor at the city wall. They say no, I have to more at the “marina.” Uh? Drop anchor and review the books. Eagle Ray reports that there is a “marina” on the NE side of the harbor but when I poke my nose into it, there is no way in heck a 44 ton boat going in there safely.

So, call the PPA again and ask for clarification. I get the same answer: Go into the “marina.” I tell them there is no chance that I am going to safely fit into the “marina” on the NE corner and can I more at the city wall that is on my west. They say NO and I must moor in the “marina.” 

I repeat myself again, but this time, I ask if it is possible to moor at the wall (note, did not say “city wall”) off my left! Now, any reasonable boater will tell you left and right have no place in this discussion, but in this case, I get back the answer “ if there is room at that wall for you, of course you can use it!” 

So, having received permission, we med moor to that wall, near to a shore power pod. 

So, we take our time to tie up, doubling lines, putting on chafe protection, when a civilian shows up at the passerelle, welcomes us to Patmos, tells us we have to check in at her booth, and that she requires our papers. Zehra says fine, and while working (it takes a couple of hours to get LeeZe positioned so that the 3 meter passerelle is resting near to the edge of the wall, the anchor chain is reasonably tight, and the stern lines are doubled and protected) I observe the people at the shack. Come to learn that they are agents, working for a travel agency (Astoria Travel) and that they want your papers so they can do the check in process for you, for of course a fee (sizable one as it turns out).

So, after the lines are done, clothes changed and with our papers, walk over to the PPA’s building to check in. 

The walk into town along side the road is a little dangerous, as for most of it, there is no sideway. We see our new friends from SV MY Way tied up and come to learn they have just arrived. 

Anyway, at the PPA, we check in and I ask about the agents. In a nutshell, they are looking for business. One is NOT required to give them your papers, and while they collect the mooring fee on behalf of the PPA, they cannot tell you that you have stayed one enough and you must leave. (That is nice to know as one man suggested to Zehra that after 5 days, we would have to go.)

I ask about the term “marina” and the PPA lady starts to laugh a little. “So, you are LeeZe she says.” To make the story brief, of course we know you cannot fit into the box marina (that is their term of the marina on the NE side) and you are not allowed at the city wall because that is where the day boats and the small commercial ferries tie up. You have to go to the west wall. So I ask why do you call it a marina? Because, she said, if we called it the city wall, like other islands, that would confuse boaters so we call it  the marina!  I suggested maybe you can call it the NW city wall and she laughed so hard, I started to. She said there are not many people that understand N, S, E, and West so that will not work.

I throw in the towel and we leave.

So, we are in Patmos, at the NW city wall. 

That concludes this entry.

If you have any questions, please ask. 

Lee and Zehra

MV LeeZe

http://whereisleeze.blogspot.com

2016 Where is LeeZe? Izmir (Levent Marina) > Chios

Dear all,

It has taken a while to get this going as I have been quite busy.

Over the winter, we stayed very near to downtown Izmir, @ Levent Marina. It is a small marina, and next to us for most of the winter, was MY Jackson, also a George Buehler designed hull. But where LeeZe's salon is up, on Jackson it is down. It is owned by an American couple and was built by the same yard as LeeZe.

We actually got our pictured snapped and posted in Google Earth:



The two black rows that you see are our solar panels. Just behind the panels is a dark object, which is our tender's dark blue cover. The small object off of out stern is our passerelle. Jackson is the next boat to the North of us. (Soooooo, Big BROTHER is watching!)

So, got all the chores done that needed to be done before taking a 5 week trip stateside to take care of urgent personal matters, and to spend some time relaxing off-boat. Our departure point from the USA was Miami and we found Miami to be like we had entered another country. We were @ Ikea doing some last minute shopping and when I went to get a coffee from the machine, all of the instructions were in Cuban / Spanish. When walking on the street, nearly every shop owner trying to entice us into his or her store started off with Spanish. To sum it up, we did not enjoy Miami as much as we thought we would and it is not high on our list to return there again.

But upon our return, it was time to haul LeeZe from the water, paint her bottom, do some repairs, do some preventative maintenance , and put her back in. The last time this was done, LeeZe was lifted by a crane and driven to the "parking spot." This time, LeeZe was driven onto a steel and wooded cradle, then dragged over logs by a wire rope winch up some 100 meters to our spot. (Not much different than the way it would have been done in Noah's time ☺!) It was a weird feeling because even though the winch was pulling continuously, LeeZe moved in small steps. The winch would pull the wire, the wire would stretch and tighten on the drum, LeeZe would then lurch a little more forward, and repeat.

The yard prepped and sprayed on the bottom coats of epoxy and paint, while I dropped and painted the anchor and chain. Another company at the yard came on board and replaced the 1½ inch sea water isolation valve that had been malfunctioning for nearly two years with a bronze one. As a good measure, I had all 6 replaced in the cofferdam with bronze versions. Of note, it took nearly three months to locate a company in Turkey that made bronze valves and fittings.  I was concerned by the potential for leak(s) because there is really no way to test until LeeZe is in the water. But, turns out they did not leak, and for cathodic protection, had the yard install a round zinc on the sea water side of the cofferdam before bolting its strainer plate into place.

With the work done some 12-13 days later, it was a time for launch. It pretty much goes the same as being pulled out UNTIL the cradle is in the water and LeeZe's hull is wet. Then, with the next turn of the winch, one hears a lot of yelling, feels a very funny feeling in the belly, as LeeZe QUICKLY slides off the cradle back into the sea. Need to get the engine started and in gear to stop my backwards motion into what I thought was a rapidly approaching concrete dock. In fact, it was perception only as I had time and distance, but it sure did not feel that way.

We take LeeZe to the pump-out dock, get rid of our black and gray water that we accumulated over the winter, and then some 2.5 hours after launch, we are back in our spot, tied up nicely.

So, it is now June, and we want to depart. But there is work to be done on board, and this takes longer than we liked. In previous years, as an example, launching the tender and getting its two stroke engine going has ALWAYS  approved to be entertaining. This year turned out to be no exception. I had properly winterized it, made sure the plugs were gapped, installed, and wires connected (forgot that once), primed the fuel system after installing the filter (had forgotten the filter once!), and then inserting the emergency stop key (forgot that TWICE!), pulled to start it up. After a few pulls, it starts but …………, no cooling water coming out.

Great, another delay. I can just see me pulling the engine off the tender, throwing it into the back of the car, taking it for service, waiting weeks etc, etc, etc.

Took off the cowling and found where the cooling water hose mates up the the overboard nozzle. Followed the hose back to where it connects to the engine and gingerly, pull the hose off both connectors.

There is sea water in the hose because some came out as I did this, and so I tried blowing thru the hose. Nope, clogged. Zehra got m a wooden stick we use to cook kebabs on a grill and I used it to clear what looked like to me some type of waxy substance from the hose.

Reinstall, and viola, on the next engine start, cooling water flow!

All is well now in tender land, so we lift it back up to its cradle, and something is now horribly misaligned. The tender is way too forward of its cradle.

Now, one of those chores over the winter was to take the tender's winch off, get new wire loaded onto the drum, do some work, reinstall. At the same time I replaced out a rusted steel pulley that was on the boom directly above where the tender sits in its cradle. Turns out the new pulley had slipped forward some 60-70 cm and that was the problem.

Sooooooo, after man-handling the tender onto its cradle, spent the whole next day trying to get this new pulley to stay on the boom under load without moving.

To make a long story short I think I got it to stay, but if I ever have to move that pulley again, I think I will hire a BIG BURLY guy to do it for me.

Lastly, I determine that the large frame alternator that charges our house battery bank is broken. So, on a Sunday I spent the day taking it off, so that the next day, we can take it to the repair shop. It comes off fairly easily, and with pictures taken along the way, I feel somewhat confident I can put it back on.

But, I am a little depressed. Another delay, and God only knows how long the repair shop is going to need.

So, early (by our standards!) we depart for the shop and get there about 1000. I explain the problem and he says he needs to bench test it. Having belts in hand, he sends me down the block to a auto supply place to pick up new ones. The new ones have teeth, while the old ones were just smooth rubber. Back at the alternator shop, he tells me it is fixed! Huh??? 30 minutes? Yup, needed a new regulator. Pay him and we are both relieved that the repair took nearly no time.

So, have the rest of the day to install the repaired unit. With the new belts, reversing the procedure that I used to take it off does not work. Ugh! Frustrated, I check the pictures to see what I am missing and I am missing nothing!

So, before calling for help, I take the mount of the alternator off also, and assemble the alternator on the mount. Then, loosely bolting the mount to the engine, I install the belts. Then it becomes a magical act to get the 5 bolts tight, with the belts also tight. Not knowing ANYTHING about tooth belts, I read up on them on the Gates web site and the site warns installers not to install them too tight! Well, that is good because I can barely get them "loosely" tight. But I do, connect it all up electrically, say a prayer, and start the engine. Physically everything is rotating as it should be and the alternators output is 110 amp DC, pretty close to rated output of 120. So, I decide NOT to tighten the belts any more, and run them for about 4 hours, thinking they will stretch and then need to be tighten. Nope, nada, not necessary.

So now, I check the output on engine startup and plan to tighten the belts when I note alternator output is lower than expected.

So, it is about June 16-17 and my birthday is on the 19th. I tell Zehra we are ready to leave, and will, after my birthday. So, with our next door neighbors, we do go out and celebrate.

With the weather not cooperating, we wait, get more supplies, wait some more, shop some more, etc etc until it looks like MAYBE Friday, 24 June will be good. It turns out that it is Saturday, 25 June, that the weather is good, and what can only be chance, a great friend from Ankara is in town with Australian guests that we know, so we end up having dinner together that night.

Saturday we do depart, late, after 1200, waiting for the winds and waves to die down, and some 5-6 hours later, we are safely anchored in what turns out to be a somewhat open area off Karaburun. It is only for one night so we make do with the rolly conditions, and leave early the next morning for Chios.

Chios Arrival:

We arrive on a Sunday at about 1230, usually NOT a day to check into a new country. But Monday's weather looked not-so-hot, so instead of anchoring in some cove and coming in the next morning, we bite the bullet and come in. We check in with the port people by radio, who tell me I have to tie up at the Customs dock. We knew that, but in this case, I could see no room for us there. We try to explain that to them on the radio, and they just do not get it. They keep saying go there. We FINALLY get the point across that there is no room, and they say, "wait, I will go and look." The lady comes back and says "you are right" and directs us to med moor opposite a hamburger restaurant on the "South" wall. There is no "South" wall. There is a SE one, and a SW one but we find the restaurant and tie up. By now, the wind is blowing 18-20 knots and it takes me about 2+ hours to get LeeZe tied up well enough so we both can leave her and go check in.

We check in, no problems, but it takes time as there are lots of people departing Chios for Turkey, and Customs and Passport Control have their hands full. (This will come back to haunt us as when we go to check out, a paper I am suppose to have was taken from me by the Customs person and he kept it. He was no where to be found so a duplicate was made and we project problems further down the road.)

Finally, about 1730, we are in officially, and so is LeeZe, so we go off to rest a little, and then go out. We are given the name of the person who can help us get shore power and water, but given we have a full water tank and battery, it is not high on the list.

Monday, we catch up with this official, who tells us we have to move! Huh???? Port people told us to moor here!. Turns out they do that because the restaurant sign is big and easy to spot. In fact, this spot we are in belongs to a Greek Coast Guard patrol craft and when they come, they want their spot.

So, we all go and look where to move too, and agree to do the move, the next day, in the morning, when the winds are low.



We do move. We get our water and power, and over the next few days, the wind builds and builds, never quite dropping to any speed near close to what we had on Sunday and Tuesday. Stern lines that were fine in light winds are now doubled, chafe protection put on, changed and beefed up again. Bow lines to the wall are put on, with the starboard one tripled because it is taking the brunt of the wind that is twisting LeeZe to port. More chafe protection as the city wall's rocks are quite capable of eating into these lines quickly.

The wind blows and blows, at times reaching 35+ knots, with white caps in the harbor, garbage collecting on the swim platform (seems the people in charge never clean the harbor of floating trash) and the noise from the waves crashing into the wall is deafening.

One afternoon, for example, after experiencing motion akin to one might experience if placed into a front loading washing machine, we had to get off and go ashore. The waves are so tall that we had to close all the portals in the master cabin as sea water was coming in. It has been like this nearly constant, for the time we have been here.

I am looking forward to moving on, and as of this entry, that appears to be next Wednesday. We MAY have guests arriving this weekend and if so, we THINK they may be departing Wednesday. In any case, if the weather forecast holds, we are out of here on Wednesday!

(And, if any one is curious, so far that Greek Coast Guard patrol boat has yet the show, and there are now 4 boats med moored in its spot, as the wall is somewhat full. It is so full that a 105' expedition yacht came yesterday when the winds were topping 30+, looked around, asked, and was told there was no room for her. She left, heading North, in a high wind and 2+ meter high crashing sea. Nothing she could not handle, but her crew must have been disappointed that they could not find shelter even for one night.)

2016-07-04: Today is USA's Independence Day so I am flying the flag. It is a 3'x5' flag (BIG) and nearly all US flagged boats around here are owned by locals and registered in Delaware, so their US flag is practically no bigger than what one would buy to hand wave at a parade. Even the million $ yachts fly this tiny flags, which really gets me mumbling under my breath "Hey guys, can't afford a larger flag???"

Zehra goes for a walk and come back with a BIG surprise, Safak Izgi, from Bodrum. She found him at the bus station. He was in Chios to catch the night ferry to Athens, so we have our first guest, if only for a day. This was a very nice and very pleasant surprise!



2016-07-10: We have two overnights guests on board, from Zehra's side of the house, so they are our first "real" guests for this cruise.



The pictures above are from a dinner out. In nearly all street side restaurants, the "table cloth" is something akin to butcher paper. You eat your meal and they do NOT take away your dirty dishes until you pay and leave. This is because they dump all the garbage from the meal onto the paper, and throw that away. Efficient, but it means that if you want to sit around and talk, you are left with the dishes on the table. Hard to get use to. In Turkey, the waiter is practically taking your dirty dish away while one is lifting the last bit of the meal to your mouth. Also hard to get use to. But at least a dirty look gets him/her to stop. (Ahhhhhh, the pleasures of experiencing different cultures!)

The weather is starting to calm down a little, but the GRIB forecast shows some serious gusts of wind tonight and tomorrow morning. Chios harbor is full of trash down where we are and I got sooooooo tired of looking at it that I take my boat hook and started flinging out what I could catch onto the sidewalk nearby. I am hoping that a street cleaner will complete the job and cart the trash away. Its appears that there is no water craft assigned to fish the trash out from the water.



Over the last two days, people were assembling boxes and display on stands on the sidewalk. It turns out these are for book sellers, who, starting last night, put out an array of books for those to peruse and if so inclined, to buy. We noticed many more girls than guys looking at the books as they walked by, and in some cases, we laughed as groups of guys would seem to accelerate their walk as they past the displays. Those boys who did show interest had a girl at their side and when she was showed interest, so did he. What guys will do for the attention of gals! ☺ And, we are told this book street fair will run thru the end of August. One stand had a few books in English. What seem to sell the most were children books bought by the parents for the little one(s) in tow.

2016-07-14: We checked out late last night so about 0730, we are weighing the anchor, taking time to clean the harbor mud off of it. However, the mud is quite reluctant to release our anchor and my tattletale line that usually floats above it is gone, probably chopped off my a passing boat. So, after some back and forth, the anchor is free, full of mud, but free. We depart, and turn South toward Samos. The wind and sea is relatively calm, so we decide to go direct. What this means is that we will cross into Turkish waters, and then back into Greek waters. So, The Greek flag comes down, and with just the American Flag flying off the stern, we motor on. On the radio, a Greek patrol craft is trying to tell a Turkish patrol craft that it is in Greek waters, and of course, the Turks disagree. This goes on for more than an hour and finally the Greek stops talking. I can tell you that around the Chios/Cesme area, the international border is in dispute because neither country has agreed as to where it is. So, most of us ASSUME it is half way between the two, but as there is no treaty, there is plenty of room for disagreement. We pass a Turkish Coast Guard frigate who shows no interest in us at all. Off in the distance, EU and Greek patrol boats are also patrolling, all part of the agreement to control the illegal entry of refugees into the EU.

Lat year, in Mytillini, there were THOUSANDS of them. This year, in Chios, maybe a hundred? The agreement seems to be working.

For those that care, here are the particulars for Chios:
For assistance, call Koumis Stelios (Ch 69 or +30 694 686 1747)
Need 220 VAC 63 amp or 380 VAC 3 phase plug for metered shore power the SE side of the harbor. Come with these adaptors or be prepared to either go without electricity or pay a huge premium to get them made on the spot. 
The SW side is a pre-pay as you go system. Mr Stelios can sell you the tokens. These outlets are 220 VAC, standard 16 and 32 amp outlets.
Do not moor in front of Goody's Hamburgers no mater what the Port Authority says. That berth is for a Greek Coast Guard patrol craft and they will make you move if they return and you are in it.
The port makes no effort to remove the trash from the water. 
When there is a sustained North wind, the SE and SW side of the port is rolly and uncomfortable, with white caps within the harbor a possibility.
When the Blue Star ferry comes in, it comes in at great speed causing all of the boats to "rock and roll" quite uncomfortably. Efforts to get that ferry to slow down have been in vain per Mr. Stelios and the Port Authority.
Nearly all other ferries come in a dead slow, or near to dead slow speed.
"Municipal Marina" daily fee this year for a boat up to 15 meters is 170 € /yr times length + Vat all divided by 365 days
"Municipal Marina" daily fee this year for a boat up to 16 meters is 200 € /yr times length + Vat all divided by 365 days
Cats pay more. 
Electricity is 0.30 cents per Kw and 3 € per ton, VAT included.

I will blog about Samos in the next edition, but as many of you know, there was an attempted coup in Turkey in the early morning hours of 16 July. It failed. There are some reports that suggest that maybe even the government "staged" it for their own political agenda but that could just be conjecture. The Turks wrote the book on how to stage a military coup and this one was so poorly planned and executed that it had NO chance of succeeding. (My opinion, not worth the paper it is written on.) Zehra's entire family is safe, and so are her friends. We both thank all of those who wrote in and were concerned about us and her family.

That concludes this entry.

If you have any questions, please ask.

Lee and Zehra

MV LeeZe

https://whereisleeze.blogspot.com

Convention transoms in a following sea

Begin forwarded message:

Last month we had to cross the mouth of the Canakkale Straits and due to storms in the Black sea, the seas were CONFUSED, meters tall with winds racing down the Straits at 50+ knots.

There were time when beams were on our beam as I had to turn and due to the seas, the 200 kg tender on the boat deck was bounced out of its cradle and settled on the starboard side, which I did not know until much later! Therefore turns to starboard had more of a list than turns to port.

For much of the time (3+ hours) we were in a 2-3 meter following sea which dumped a lot of water on out aft deck. I could tell a big wave was coming as the stern would rise a little but not much, and definitely not enough to plunge the bow into the water. I did end up putting about 100 liters+ into the Lazarette's bilge which was no big deal. I had FAILED to dog the hatch and water seeped in around the hatch's combing.

I was steering manually as the auto pilot just appeared to be working way too hard.

Steering manually within 5-10 degrees of my chosen course was NOT a problem.

Timing turns was a big issue, and I did not get them all correct as the waves were just soooooooo confused.

We probably took at least one to two 30+ degree roll and plenty of 20's.

After 3 hours, the wind and seas died down and we completed out transit south.

No internet weather forecast site predicted this, BUT had I looked at the GRIB data for the Black Sea the day before our intended passage, I would have seen gale+winds and heavy rains forecasted.

I SHOULD have known that this would translate into a very rough crossing.

And by the way, the commercial ships in the traffic separation scheme were bitching to their chanderlies ashore about the wind, waves, and the beating they were taking. Only one ship had a problem and the Turkish Pilot, Rescue and Tow tugs ( there were 6 just "hanging out") were there to offer assistance.

It is interesting to note that in this area, an authorized anchorage for these commercial ships include some "shallow bays" near to the mouth, but most are 20-50 nm North or South of the entrance.

Once in the Straits, there are a very few places to anchor and even fewer mooring boys but most are encouraged to make it to the Sea of Marmara where there exist many mooring buoys.

Lee
LeeZe is a steel, 44 GT RPH trawler built on a George Buehler 49'+ hull with a square stern with a 1 meter extended swim platform and a 3 meter passarella hanging off the stern of the boat, not the swim platform.

On 2015-11-16, at 1702, Mary via Trawlers-and-Trawlering <trawlers@lists.trawlering.com> wrote:

We sailed our Defever 41 from San Francisco to Panama. We had no problems with the following sea. In fact our Com Nav pilot steered virtually the entire time..