Having said Goodbye to the Knight family we were then thrilled to greet some very unexpected guests that same evening! Back in our previous land based life, Jacques had for many years been part of a Jazz Piano skills group which included face to face and virtual lessons. As a spin off from this, Jacques’ piano teacher, Shan Verma, organised Jazz workshops in London and as a spin off from this, the guys and gals who lived locally would get together and have a day of playing, singing and discussing the finer points of a diminished chord at one of the musician’s homes. It was at these sessions that Jacques and I met Alan.

I remember Jacques swapping Turkey holiday stories with Alan, us sailing there for many years and Alan having a holiday home in Kalkan. Turns out that Alan now lives almost permanently in Kalkan with his wife Yvonne but sadly when we were in Kalkan a few weeks back, they were in the UK!

We had one window of opportunity on the day we dropped off the Knights in Fethiye, so as the Knights left, Alan and Yvonne arrived at the Yacht Classic Hotel Marina and we passed an afternoon and evening catching up on the last seven years! Such a happy coincidence!

We split the ten hour journey into a couple of stages including another overnight stay in Buzukale complete with the donkeys and goats!!

Exiting Turkey was pretty straightforward with the help of an Agent in Bozburun. Gurkan was efficient and took all the worry out of the process. I was especially concerned about any checks the authorities might make on our holding tanks (basically the tanks that hold sewage!) as due to the structure of Neel 51s we were unable to comply with the requirements re pumping out the tanks! Could have attracted a huge fine!! I was also worried that the ‘clock’ would properly stop on our time in Turkey so that we had enough of our allotted 90 days left to have a week back here with my sister and cousin in September!

During the trip from Bozburun for Symi, all of sixteen miles, we had the regulation lowering of the Turkish flag and the raising of the Greek one!

Accompanied by my version of the National Anthem!

A few days spent in Symi town finding a few places we had not visited before including this cocktail bar with a splendid hand drawn menu!

and getting dressed up for dinner..!!

and a couple of beautiful, remote bays. Love, love, love Symi!!

So happy to be re-united with Lily in Rhodes and we moved as quickly as the weather would allow to Halki, another beautiful and relaxed island.

As we moored up in Halki, another re-union which was totally unexpected, took place! Our ‘usual’ place on the floating quay in Halki is at the end moored up alongside rather than stern to. We had just finished the manoeuvre in a moderate wind when a small monohull came up behind us also alongside. A man was bringing the boat in and as he did so, came very close to their anchor, which was dangling at the front, hitting the back of Mossy Joe. I was trying to catch the eye of the skipper to give him my evil look when I saw Jacques jump on to the quay and head towards the incoming boat. ‘Good’ I thought ‘Jacques is going to help stop this idiot banging into us’ and I expected to see him taking lines and adjusting the position of the boat whilst the skipper steered it into place. I was somewhat surprised then when Jacques jumped on the other boat – a complete ‘no, no’ in boating etiquette to just leap on someone else’s boat and then even more surprised to see the two men hugging each other!!!

Turns out the ‘idiot’ bringing in the boat was Bruno, Jacques’ old school friend who he had not seen for over thirty years!!!

A fine celebration between the two men then took place involving a great deal of Ricard whilst Lily, Sophie (Bruno’s friend) and I watched on in amazement! There was so much celebration that the planned dinner together that evening did not go ahead. We did manage dinner together the following evening after a day exploring new aspects of Halki not visited on previous trips!

Knowing that we would be back in Halki the following week with Jeanne we set off the next day to yet another favourite, Tilos. Such a sweet, unhurried place.

Moored behind us in the harbour was a small vessel which clearly was in need of some maintenance. How many sailors does it take to re-inflate a dinghy!!? Every one of the seven men in attendance had a theory!

Winding our way back to Rhodes to await the arrival of Jeanne, we had a couple of nights in Symi, this time just anchoring in the bays.

This was a perfect spot for Mermaid Lily to practice her diving!

Lily cooked us her famous Chicken Pesto Pasta and a very relaxed time was had. That was, until the afternoon of the second day when the anchor slipped and after five attempts to reset it we gave up and sailed to Panormitis at the southern tip of the island. The bay there is large and well protected but the one hour trip was not the most pleasant, a strong wind was blowing directly at us and the rolly waves made conditions very uncomfortable. We were all pleased when the anchor happily set in our new location!

Early next morning we set course back to Rhodes and the beautiful setting of Mandraki Harbour.

A little stroll around the medieval town before Jeanne’s arrival! End of August and still very busy!

That evening, now complete with both daughters, we set out for dinner finding the perfect hostelry for one of the family on our search for a restaurant!!

Lovely dinner with our beautiful daughters on a roof top restaurant with views over the town, mosque and church!

After a big shop the next day for essentials like chocolate, wine and avocados we started on our return trip to Halki!

Everyone quickly found their happy place on Mossy Joe!

There appears (or not!!) to be an invisible woman drinking rosé in the photo below!! Definitely one of my happy places!

The water in Halki is so very clear which is not always the case in Greek harbours. Our Mermaids soon took advantage of the beautiful conditions after the long hot sail! You can spot, if you look closely, that the holiday villas have their own steps down to access the water. Almost as perfect as stepping in off of a boat!

Whilst the girls were swimming Jacques and I had a wander and took some creative photos of Mossy Joe!! And of each other!

Stuffed tomatoes and peppers were requested by the guests so Jacques worked his Greek magic and eh voila!!

Time flies so quickly and the general vote was that we spend our last few days together in a bay, swimming, relaxing and larking about! Back to the superb spots in Symi! Once again we had an anchor slip but this time we just moved from one beautiful bay to the next one, a full ten minutes away!

Back to Symi Town for our last night together ……

And sad goodbyes seeing them off on the morning ferry back to Rhodes…..

After waving the girls off, we had 36 hours to get back to Turkey to meet Charlie and his friends!! More on that next time!

A little PS re Lily and Chicken Gyros Pittas! These (and the pork version) are everyone’s favourite ‘fast food’ and ubiquitous throughout the Greek islands. Long term followers will have seen many photos of the joy on faces of various friends and family eating these and Lily in particular loves them.

Promised on her first night with us in Rhodes, we went to a great place where Gyros Pittas are the staple offering only to find out they had run out of chicken so Lily just had falafel and pitta.

Second night in Halki, we assured Lily that the little place at the end of the quay had supplied us last October with one of the best Gyros Pitta ever and she would be bowled over! Seems that in the height of August they do not offer the fast food version just a plate – not the same at all!

Third chance was our night in Tilos. We had eaten there many times last year and the Grill House would not let us down – this was getting silly and upsetting Lily!! So very, very close!! They had Gyros Pitta on the menu and indeed the chicken version – however, they apologised it would be with chunks of chicken not the traditional shavings!

Although this was an improvement on previous offering, we could not believe that Lily had been with us for four days and still not had the real thing!

The following evening in Tilos, optimistically Lily went back to the Grill House and ordered a take away – new day, new supply of Chicken shavings??

No!!

Back to Rhodes and I was certain that we would have a multitude of options given the many restaurants near the castle. We stopped at place we had been to on our last visit, ordered drinks and of course a Chicken Gyros Pitta for Lily!! Hooray!! This would be it at last!

Except it was not! Everything that was in it was perfect, chicken shavings, tomatoes, tzatziki and onions but NO CHIPS!!!! I really believed then that we were cursed and never to have a real Chicken Gyros Pitta!!!

Next stop was Symi – Jacques and I had eaten many, many Gyros Pittas in the Souvlaki restaurant on the corner of the harbour!! It was an absolute certainty that here at last Lily would get her treat!!

Hey guess what!! They had run out of chicken!! We went for a pizza instead!!!!!

Lily had started to joke after the first week that her best hope would be at Rhodes airport on the way home….

And guess what…..

Thank you for reading, sail safe and be kind.

Tracey

xx