Off to Pythagorion – In Theory

Samos was our next stop, and once again took up Garry and Marti’s recommendation to stop at Pythagorion. So after summing up the square of the two shorter sides and finding that they equaled the sum of the longer side of the right triangle – as well as exhausting all the other bad jokes about Pythagoras – off we went to Samos, where the subject of my appalling sense of humour lived a long, long time ago.

Our somewhat cunning plan was to put La Mischief in a marina and catch a ferry across to Turkey so we could see Ephasus and Pamukkale. Great idea in theory but for the fact that the ferry wasn’t running on the day we needed it to run because of a lack of paying customers.

So time for Plan B, which was to enjoy Samos for a few days, get a new water pump and a float switch for the bilge pump (as my second electronic float switch had now stopped working – two years after the first had failed). I’m now very much a fan of the old fashioned Rule float switches.

But first, a drive around the island, checking out all the beaches and sites. After an early morning swim, we checked out Samos Town (Vathi) and picked up some boat parts and checked out the old town. Glad we chose Pythgorion over Samos Town.

The drive round Samos is 155km, so makes for a good day. We were recommended a great little village called Manodates (where cars don’t get a look in) up in the mountains for lunch. The road up passed through sub tropical rain forest and on certain sections we were glad we didn’t encounter any oncoming traffic. The lunch was really nice, the home made wine not so. After some more beaches and swimming, we pulled into see what was left of the ancient ruins of Ireon, and the Temple of Hera. Unfortunately there is only one column remaining – but still worth a look.

Next day it was boat repair day. Whilst the others went exploring/relaxing on hired beach chairs, Dee and I got to work. First step was to ride into town on the foldable bike and pick up a new Sureflow pump (less than half the price of my Jabsco) and a new bilge float switch. There was another Aussie boat on the same marina pier and Melinda kindly offered her husband Dave to come and help. The fittings for the Sureflow were quite different, so back on the bike and into town to see what I could do. Wasn’t all that lucky and tried to butcher something up but it didn’t work. So in with the old one with Plan #3 to get it fixed in Kusadasi.

After Mojito’s on La Mischief with Dave, Melinda and a young Pommie guy called Ash (sorry Ash if you read this – Dee deleted your friend request by mistake and can’t find it) who was crew on a Jenneau 57 and was turning 20 alone. After drinks on La Mischief we e walked the kilometre into town to celebrate Ash’s birthday and you guessed it – another round of Mojitos (and dinner).

We’d checked out of Greece the night before, so it was an early 6am start to sail to Kusadasi in Turkey.

For photos of Samos see https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10203935477420214.1073741967.1620379103&type=1&l=d20872d876