We had chosen Lakki Marina in the island of Leros as the place to take Mossy Joe for its annual bottom scrub, repair and general renovation! We discovered last year that Lakki is the only marina in this area that has lift out equipment wide enough for our boat.

It really is the most enormous place, with hundreds of boats either here for the winter or like us about to be put in or taken out of the water.

After two days in the marina, the weather was declared calm enough to haul Mossy Joe out of the water and onto the dry dock where the mammoth task of cleaning her would begin!

It is quite a heart stopping moment to see your 15 ton boat/home being lifted up in the air, controlled by a man with a small joy stick that resembles Charlie’s X Box controller, and with nothing more than a couple of straps to support it!!

Part of the service of the haul out is the provision of a pressure washer hose down to the get the first level of scum and barnacles off of the boat. This is such a fun thing to do and so rewarding but local laws dictate that only the marina staff get to do this – shame!

We left the marina at this point, nerves and hunger getting the better of us! The staff had said that it would be at least two hours before the boat would be put on its stilts and ready to inhabit. We headed off for, you guessed it, a souvlaki!

When we returned, Mossy Joe was safely installed in a plot of its own, complete with a dodgy ladder and luckily for us, as using on boat facilities whilst in dry dock is not possible, not too far from the communal toilets and showers.

The first part of the cleaning process was sanding off all of the very stuck on yuck! This was predominately Charlie’s job – could you guess??

Whilst Charlie was sanding, Jacques examined the boat to see which areas needed ‘touching up’ having received a few knocks and bumps during difficult moorings! Once identified these are ‘made good’ by a marvellous yet horrendously difficult to work with product called Gelcoat. It puts me in mind of a combination of Tippex and that nasty glue we had at school that took weeks to wash off your hands!

To overcome the disappointment of not getting to use the mega pressure washer on the boat’s bottom, we took some time to hose off and scrub the fenders using our own (slightly less industrial) pressure washer. Charlie and I had great fun, like a grown-ups water fight and after the first couple we had a pretty good system going of hosing, scrubbing and hanging them up to dry!

Some of the fenders were very disgusting having spent the winter dangling in the detritus of in the Kos Marina. Horrid!

In amongst all of this our friends from Let Go, Let’s Go arrived and we were so happy to see them. We allowed ourselves a traditional workman’s Friday early knock off and went to meet them at the beach. The boys have grown so much in the last six months and they were happy to find a new friend to play with in Charlie! And perhaps an old friend to play with too!!

We had a couple of lovely evenings out in Pantelli and got introduced to anther South African family who have spent the last eleven summers holidaying in Leros and had now bought a boat here! That is a whole other story!

That weekend, after the sanding and more cleaning, the polishing was able to commence. Jacques and Charlie spent many (happy?) hours doing this, it was really hard work but the end result was stunning!

As an aside to the main purpose of us being in Leros I was startled and then curious about the fact that Leros has a controlled asylum seekers facility. We had spotted a large building complex on our arrival and wondered what it was. After a week or so, seeing people who were obviously not Greek out shopping or walking, coupled with the evening view from Lakki town with the ‘camp’ lit up it became obvious.

Many of the Greek islands are the first port of call for those seeking refuge via Turkey or the north African coast. Leros is one of five Greek islands with designated asylum facilities.

I tried to find an article on the background to the camp, why here? how many refugees? etc. and this was the most interesting. It tells of the background to the buildings, although this was written three years ago and it appears that there have been improvements in the accommodation. It also tells of the positive attitude the islanders have towards the camp and the refugees.

https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2021/05/21/leros-new-migrant-detention-centre-brings-back-old-ugly-memories

The symbolism of millions of pounds worth of yachts alongside a refugee centre in the distance was not lost on me.

Since Charlie left earlier this week, the last few days have been devoted to coating the boat with antifoul paint – which is an ironic name for it because it is really foul!! It sticks to your skin like tar!

My special project was the propeller! Very proud of my priming capabilities and the choice of colour – ha ha!

After the joys of antifouling, we decided to treat ourselves to a meal out at a tiny Italian restaurant we had been recommended. You might roll your eyes and say ‘you’re in Greece – eat Greek food’ and normally I would be rolling and tutting with you BUT 1) we have been eating Greek food for over ten months and 2) this part of Greece was once ruled by Italy so there are very strong Italian influences. The food and wine were superb. Gabriella, from the Pugla region of Southern Italy, runs the place and in fact she cooks everything, serves everything and then cleans everything! Incredible lady!

This weekend in Greece marks Orthodox Easter, so to accompany our meal we had what appeared to be the entire population of the Island in a procession to the Church (right next to the restaurant) carrying the symbolic tomb of Christ. It was quite a sight as well as a fully immersive experience with two hours of broadcast on the Church’s loudspeaker system of chanting of scriptures only drowned out by the sounds of rapid explosions of firecrackers all around us in the roads and streets!! Now we understood why the other patrons at the restaurant were sitting inside!!

With our time in Lakki Marina nearly over, I am not sure I will miss the challenge of the ladder and the layer of soot and dust everywhere inside and outside the boat but it has been an adventure. Overall it has taken two weeks, Jacques working every day, Charlie here for one week and me helping at weekends, to get the boat ready. It has really been an extraordinary feat!

This is our ‘OMG the second coat of antifoul is done and so are we’ photo shoot today!

There will be photos of the finished and clean boat in all its glory once it is back in the water. Whilst the boat may be sparkling, photos of Jacques and me might still feature Gelcoat and Antifoul.

I am looking forward to being able to use my own toilet in the middle of the night and to heading off to new places but right now mostly I am looking forward to the arrival of darling friends next week in the knowledge that they will not have to climb the ladder (only to get into the sea!) and they will be welcomed on to a boat that is clean in and out, top and bottom!! Hooray!

Sail safe, be kind.