Writing this whilst the wind is howling outside and has been for several days now. The temperature has dropped and we are really looking forward to escaping to Thailand for one month in January.

Anyway back to the recap of the month of December in Kos.

The first week saw the cockpit cover delivered and installed.

          

It really has made a big difference as we now have a windbreaker and can use the cockpit as an extra room. Although we would have liked larger windows we are very happy with the result.

           

The next step will be to make something for the summer to act as a sun shield.

Svein continued with the renovations in the salon and has now created an interior to house our coffee cups and saucers and mugs. He has also checked and organised all the drawers in the navigation table so that we, at last, know exactly what we have on board.

             

Next it was time for a BBQ so we all took advantage of the sunny and warm weather and met at the usual spot to grill and chat.

              

Unfortunately this year Svein is the only instrument player but that did not stop him from rounding off the afternoon with some music.

Caryn has been busy knitting and whilst waiting for the arrival of a new stock of wool has been making hats from the wool left over from the different sweaters as well as starting on a warm jacket for the winter.

         

The next big project that Svein undertook this month is the renovation of the kitchen so that it was more practical and user friendly. He has done a fantastic job and the only item missing now is the extractor fan.

           

            

           

He certainly has made use of every space and has filled it full of useful ideas. It will now be a pleasure cooking this summer.

Once this project was over it was time to hang up the tools until our return from Thailand and enjoy the Christmas festivities.

The marina laid on a lunch for staff and liveaboards and we all ate whilst listening to music. A very good time was had by all.

            

            

Svein had managed to find a butcher who could sell us a piece of pork with the skin so we were able to cook a typical Norwegian dinner on Christmas Eve which we enjoyed thoroughly together with a friend from Turkey.

         

Christmas day saw us taking a walk round a very quiet but sunny and warm Kos.

Then it was time to leave for Kalamata where we had planned to spend the New Year with our French friends.

We flew to Athens and then hired a car to drive to Kalamata.  On the way we stopped at Ikea to stock up on a few items we were missing or had to replace and then it was straight to Kalamata on the super motorway.

        

Whilst there we stayed in a yurt in the hills which was great fun (apart from the toilet/shower being outside). We were unlucky in that the weather turned very cold whilst we were there but we were warm and cosy in the yurt.

The New Year was seen in with lots of French food (oysters, foie gras, salmon and a goose) in good company.

         

Although not everyone managed to stay awake to see the New Year in,

         

After a very relaxed day recovering from the festivities we left Kalamata a day early to enable us to stop off in Glyfada for the day and see Mike and Marilyn before returning to Kos. We were rather uncertain about  leaving journey to Athens to the last minute as the motorway had been closed because of the snow.

       

Safely installed in our hotel we met up with Mike and Marilyn and were invited to a party that same evening. It was fun to participate a private Greek party and a good time was had by all.

        

As all the shops were closed on 2nd January we made an early start on 3rd and visited a few shops before driving to the airport for the flight back to Kos. Mike also travelled with us as he had to attend a funeral in Kos before travelling to Nisyros.

The arrival at the boat was a little bit of a shock. The bad weather and strong winds has caused one of the mooring ropes to break and the gangplank was inaccessible from the quay. Fortunately the dinghy was on the pontoon so after launching it Svein was able to climb aboard and organise things so that we could get onto Escapade. We were soon tucked up on board in the warmth.

Since our return the wind has been blowing very strongly from the North and is due to continue until the end of the week when it will switch to the South. Svein has reinforced our moorings by adding two lines complete with chains. We now have 3 lines on each side and 3 in the front!

The temperatures have plummeted and we are really glad for the insulation on the boat. It was so cold that we did not venture out to see the 6th January event when the locals jump in the sea to retrieve a cross.

Caryn is still going to the gym daily and will continue to do so up until the departure for Thailand on 18th January.

A very Happy New Year to all our friends and followers wishing you good health and prosperity in 2015.

The next update will probably come from Thailand.