written by Kerensa, on 25/02/2025 Ashore 0 comment(s)

Panormitis, Symi island.

We had a lovely stay in Symi, although it was very quiet with a distinct lack of tourists meaning most of the restaurants were shut. We did find a few open, including one high up the hill in the middle of the town away from the harbour. It's a lovely place and we enjoyed walking up the steps (500 of them!) to the castle and church.

Checking in was relatively smooth and friendly but Greek bureaucracy being what it is, we still couldn't get them to acknowledge the vat paid status on the boat, not being able to prove that the vat hadn't been reclaimed, how do you prove that? They can't answer, but the customs officers promised to raise that question to Athens..... Not having the correct paperwork means we have to check in with port police at every island we visit. 

We berthed alongside the harbour wall rather than stern to, Symi is very deep and in season a marinero would be around to help you tie up to a mooring bouy in the middle of the harbour which you then reverse against and then set stern lines. With no-one around to assist we felt going alongside would be fine since we were the only boat there. We didn't reckon on the swell that found its way into the harbour, despite what looks to be well protected from the strong NW winds. It was a bumpy and noisy three night there whilst we waited for a weather gap to move on. 

When that gap materialised we headed for Panormitis, a very enclosed bay (there were more gales coming) with all wind direction protection. It was still windy and we headed downwind at 6-8 knts under genoa alone as it was only an 8 miles trip. The wind rose as we turned to go around the bottom of Symi and caught us in 35knts with full genoa up. Still we only had 500m to go. Unfortunately the genoa sheet stripped from the rope core as we tried to furl it leading to an interesting excercise. Once in the bay we anchored in flat water but with some strong gusts which persisted for 2 days and night. This, coupled with a drop.in temperatures, although it was sunny, meant we stayed down below for 2 days. 

Once the winds dropped we launched the dinghy and headed ashore for a walk and to explore Panormitis monastery. What a lovely place, with the bonus of not having to suffer 30min queues to get into the chapel, which are common in the tourist season. Its a 15th century building dedicated to the archangel Michael whose icon inside is guilded in silver and gold and is deemed to be miraculous. With all the walls and ceilings painted with murals of saints, chandeliers and wooden seating along the wall, it really was a "wow" moment.

At the mouth of the bay there is a small windmill and a gun emplacement, with a complete field gun inside. It's very quiet here, just the noise of goats, chickens and the monastery bell occasionally ringing across the bay.

We are living on the resources we have on the boat as there's no shops, we have found a water point and there is a bakery in the monastery but doesn't seem to be operating at this time of yyearWe havevplanty to eat and drink so theres no pressure to leave at the moment.

One of the jobs we didn't get time to do before leaving Marmaris was to refit the radar that we had to take down to get the mast off. On a calm sunny morning we got down to it, being very careful not to drop any parts into the water. It all went well but when making the last bolted connection of course Nigel dropped a part into the water. Of course it didn't foat and of course it wasn't just a screw or nut that we had replacements for. A small nylon shoulder washer that is worth a few pennies but no doubt will be hard to find......  Still, a temporary fix will keep us going for now.

At the moment we have no plans to leave this quiet and protected place, but when we do we are planning head north, but that could change, such is the lifestyle.


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