Samos- we made it!

Well we made it Samos only to hear the terrible news about Paris. It was quite scary to find out that a number of the terrorists involved had worked their way through Leros where we had been only a few days ago, and it made us think about a group of guys we had been nervously watching on the waterfront! Looking at us and obviously discussing the boat!! Needless to say we didn't sleep well and left very early the following morning. It is a terrible situation for all at the moment but spare a thought for the Greek people who live and work on islands like Leros who are trying to keep the tourism industry going as well as themselves while dealing with a constant stream of refugees ( and others!) . A refugee camp has been set up at the back of the town hall now which wasn't there on our previous visit and the lovely lady we had met earlier in the summer who runs one of the harbour front cafes appeared to have aged ten years and was not the happy friendly person she was then. It appears there's going to be no stopping this migration of these young guys through Greece... Scary thoughts on where this will all end up in years to come! Like a cancer... There's going to be no way of stopping it now the gates are open and the ability of those attempting to police the thousands coming through these islands is obviously limited and as has been demonstrated by recent events in Paris failing terribly at times. Unfortunately now those who are truly in need of asylum will find the actions of others will make it even more difficult for them to get the help they need. 

Met a lovely family selling home made marmalade... The fig one is amazing! Yummy

J

Lol

Anyway on a brighter note, and after a 7 hour passage from Lipso, we made it to Samos our home port for the winter. We set off at 7 in the morning from Lipso and the forecast was meant to be reasonable. An hour in and in open water the wind-picked up and we were in a force 4 to 5! So un-predictable this Greek weather, luckily 'Christina's' bow is huge and the waves bounce off her. Smaller fibreglass yachts must get 'caught out' in some of these weird weather conditions out here. After a few hours bouncing off the waves, conditions calmed and we cruised steadily past the island of Agathonisi . We planned calling in here because it had great reviews in the Greek Water Pilot book, but forecasts were pretty bad and we wanted to get to Samos ASAP! More to follow in coming BLOGS and on settling in to Samos. All our thoughts to everyone involved in what happened in Paris. We still haven't had enough internet access to read the full story but it sounds horrific. Our thoughts our with all those affected by these events .