25th Sept - 3rd Oct 2021

- Water maker to preserve

- Ropes washed (they were full of dust and salt)

- Engine oil change

- Aft heads duck board to mend. In the process of repairing this, we noticed that the shower tray was cracked, one more job for the list.

- Start to service the rest of the winches

- Engine coolant change

- Foreword heads toilet output tubing to clean before it too got booked like the aft one did, the pictures of that one were too grim to put on the internet. In doing so we broke the sea water inlet to the toilet. 

- No.1 shower pump not working, we found that it was draining into the bilges and in turn we found the bilge pump was not working. One job off the list 3 to put on!

Once the boat is out of the water you have to surrender your boat papers to the Port Police so that you avoid paying the Greek sailing tax for the months that the boat is on dry land. Simple, take papers to the Port Police(PP) - job done. NO. We put on our smart clothes and went to the PP. A very stern police woman couldn’t understand at first what it was we were after despite Chris trying his very best to speak Greek. She wasn’t having any of it and told us to return at 1530 to see someone else. We duly turned up again at 1530, only to be told by another police officer that he didn’t deal with this as he was on another job today and to return on Friday (3 days time). Just as well we were not flying out any time soon.

We then decided to get our ferry tickets to Kos where we were getting the return flight to LGW. There is only one ferry per day from Leros to Kos and that leaves Ag Marina at 1050 daily. We got our tickets but were informed by the very nice lady behind the counter that if it is too windy the ferry will not run but we will only know this for certain at 10am the day of travel! We had a taxi booked for 10am to take us to Ag Marina and our flight left at 10pm that night! The wind at this point was still blowing a good force 6-7 daily but the lady could not tell us what strength of wind would constitute non sailing weather.

30/09/21

Lift out day. Very gusty but Chris managed to get Muskie out of her mooring slot and we made our way to the lift. The marina guys were very helpful and Muskie was soon in the strops and being lifted clear of the water. Our one coat of antifouling had all but worn off during the 3 months of sailing but there was no growth on the hull for the pressure washer to remove. Chris did a final scrub and inspected the hull, all was well. 

Just a few more days to go before we return home. Now out of the water we had no fridge, due to it being keel cooled, so the rest of the contents of the fridge had to be eaten in the next 2 days. I started to cook the evening meal that night only to find that we had run out of gas with only 4 days to go. Not a problem, we can get the small cylinders filled up at the garage the next day. So we went out for a meal that night confident that we could get gas. We hadn’t asked for shore power when we were lifted because we didn’t think we needed it.

Early in the morning Chris visited the garage over the road to be told they didn’t fill gas bottles. He was given directions to other garages that might be able to help. The marina, who, in our many emails to them over the winter before we arrived had assured us that re-filling the large gas cylinder would not be a problem, informed us that it was not a problem, but, it would take a month to get the cylinder re-filled, if that was a problem then we could always have shore power and eat out!!! Chris and I went all over Leros trying to find somewhere to re-fill the small cylinders with no success, so we asked for shore power and I was able to cook on a halogen hob ring.

- Polished topsides

- finished servicing the winches

- Removed some screws from the port side Genoa track to try to find a leak that was draining into the cupboards in the galley and replaced them once they were cleaned and re-sealed. Only time will tell if it has worked.

- Tried to find out why the bilge pump is not working.

- Ordered our PCR test for when we get home for day 2 compulsory testing (£68 each, ouch)

- Finally stowed all the equipment

Muskie was ready to be left for the winter.

Departure day arrived with light winds, the taxi driver assured us that the ferry was sailing, so we left Muskie in the hands of Leros Marina for the winter. 

Thank you to everyone who has been reading our blog and giving us such supportive feedback. The next one will start again in March/April 2022.

Chris trying to find out why the bilge pump is not working

Muskie in the stops ready to be lifted

Being taken to her slot on the hard

Lovely shiny topsides