Sun 28th April

We are now anchored off the south coast of Thira, better known as Santorini having had a lively crossing from Astiphasaia. The wind  forced us to accept the southern access route and while we continue to make westerly progress, some north will be required to get up to Poros.

The blog has suffered from the combined time pressures of  engine issues and working on a few office jobs.  For once I am taking a break from both.

Thira looks a whole different kettle of tourism to the previous few islands visited. Our anchorage has a steady turnover of tour catamarans stopping for an hour or 2 before moving on to the next stop on the itinery.  The east & south sides are extensively developed with the compulsory white boxes and, according to google, Martin Lewis has been warning people off Santorini for lesser known islands.

Since I last reported we stopped  for another week at anchor off Paphos (Cyprus) in order to get the fuel injection pump serviced. The pump was the final piece of hardware that could have been leaking fuel into the engine oil but as it was also the most expensive to fix and difficult to get out I had prevaricated over getting it done.

Fiona again came to our rescue and  after I had managed to get the pump’s impossible to reach holding nuts off  by filing down a spanner and straightening an allen key, I took the suspect by bus to Limasol where Fiona was having a meeting and she took it on to her pump man in Larnaca. It was confirmed that the seals were leaking like a sieve and a couple of days later following another bus journey, this time to Larnaka, a fully serviced pump was delivered into my grateful hands.

With the pump re-fitted the fuel leak does appear to be sorted. At least the oil in the dipstick is staying oily and the level isn’t increasing. A fresh cooling water leak has however supplanted the fuel and that remains an issue. I also bent the throttle cable while working on the pump and have only just managed to straighten it.  

I also appear to have disturbed the alternator exciting wire and that remains an issue.

We finally set off from Paphos at 17.15 on the 18^th April, the westerly wind giving a NW tack across to the Turkish coast. Seeing a nice looking sheltered bay we took advantage for a nights rest and anchored in Adrasan bay. The wind had picked up overnight and we decided to wait out the heavy weather for the next day as well. Unfortunately the anchor then dragged taking us out of the bay and in the struggle to fight our way back in against wind and waves a particularly big tilt resulted in several items flying overboard from the cockpit. We then spent to rest of that day re-setting the anchor 6 times, each time dragging across  the bay. Eventually the wind dropped in the evening and we were able to spend a relatively quiet night without further incident.

Spent the next morning re-adjusting the fuel pump position to align the timing marks have forgotten to set it correctly 2 days previously.   

In short the intervening time has seen us stop in:

22^nd April. Kastelleorizo (registered with Police, Immigration & customs- (2 months Tepai Bought). Day against a concrete pier, night at anchor.

Heading past Rhodes we caught a ?lobster pot? Off Tilos and were stuck in horrid lumpy seas for 4-5 hrs before being miraculously released.

Exhausted we ran to the next island downwind -Nisos Nisyros and moored in the harbour alongside a rough concrete wall.

25th April Full day exploring on Nisyros with hire car. Volcano craters churches and monasteries.

26^th April Sail to Astiphalaia. 27^th walking tour. Village & Fort.