WHERE ARE WE ANNE?: September 2015

PLUMPED IN PEDI

ANNE WALKING IN PEDI BAY. TURKEY IN THE BACKGROUND

12 DAYS OF PEDI CURE

25August 2015

Once the Meltemi threat had passed we motored around to Pedi, just around the corner from Symi harbour to take our chances anchoring in the bay notorious for bad holding. On arrival, we found the centre jetty completely empty and took up alongside knowing we'd be weatherproof against any gusts. It was just dumb luck that we chose the southern side of the jetty. It turns out the yachts tied up on the northern side have to vacate at short notice anytime a cargo ship or oil tanker comes in. We were alongside for 12 nights and had four ships come in during that time. Man, I'm glad I chose the south side!

During our twelve days on the jetty in Pedi we said goodbye to Pip, took many swims and exploratory walks, picked ripe figs, caught up on innumerable boat jobs, took many other boat's lines as they docked and welcomed my brother David and his wife Jane on board. We got into the rhythm of things as we took the Pedi Cure. We got to know George the water taxi man with his sizable wake, the local tavernas, where the best grog shop was, who had the best wifi, what the local shipping timetable was and we took many walks in the cool of the morning over the hill to Symi port to buy fresh Spanokopita. The village on the saddle between Pedi bay and Symi seems to avoid the tourist throng and is very authentic, run down, rambling and grows on you despite a large Brit expat clique.

We had one particularly gusty bout of weather. I noticed an unattended boat dragging it's anchor through the anchorage with no one else nearby seeming to realise. I dinghied over and got on board to do something about it but the other boats thought I was the owner and had it sorted. Little did they realise in my haste I only had my sunnies on and in the failing light and no reading glasses I couldn't work out how to start the keyless ignition. As I dragged past fending off one boat they asked do I need a hand? I said yes and it dawned on them that it wasn't my boat. With three others on board I learnt how to start the keyless ignition and we re anchored the boat with a lot more than the twenty metres of chain he had out.

While most Syrian refugees arrive in Symi port, there were six men that arrived in Pedi bay near us. They had a brand new reliable little dinghy and motor. They were clearly asking a fisherman where Symi port was as he pointed to the walk over the hill. In the meantime the Greek port police swooped in a joint effort Austrian loaned boat with machine guns drawn and ordered them into their boat. This six had at least made it safely to Greece.

PEDI BAY WALK

I LIKE A GOOD RODUCT FOR WIMMING N THE SEA BUT THE ATTENTION TO DETAIL WAS EXCEPTIONAL

SUNSET SWIM OFF 4D

4D WITH TENT AND OUR FIRST FUEL OIL SHIP

AND OUR SECOND

AND OUR THIRD

FULL MOON RISE FROM THE TAVERNA TABLE

GLAMOUROUS DECKIE WITH PRODUCT PLACEMENT

PETER FENDS OFF WHITE BOAT WHILE ORANGE BOAT DRAGS BY

SYMI STONEWORK. WHILE MUCH IS DERELICT, MUCH LASTS

FULL MOON RISE FROM 4D

TAVERNA CHAIR MINDING SERVICE

DAVID AND JANE ARRIVE AT SYMI PORT AFTER A MONSTER SCHLEP

SIX SYRIANS PICKED UP IN PEDI BAY ON ARRIVAL IN NEW DINGHY

MORE SYMI STONEWORK ON MORNING WALK

THE MANY STEPS FROM PEDI TO SYMI PORT

SYMI, HOME OF THE CROSSED ANCHOR

Nysiros to Symi Port to Pedi, Symi

GIALOS, THE PORT OF SYMI

21^st August 2015

From Nysiros we sailed with Pip on board to Symi port where we holed up for a few days of gusty weather. Symi port is the most picturesque deep natural harbour surrounded by steep hills and rocky crags. Plastered across this, Italianate, neo classical dolls houses are jammed in at different angles. It's just stunning gazing at the quirky layout of houses over the centuries. With a historic preservation order on it, much of the houses are crumbling and derelict.

The downside is it was high summer. It was hot and Symi is the victim of it's own charming popularity. There were simply too many boats for the harbour. A stone's throw from Turkey, overrun with refugees, way overcrowded with very big ferries, gulets, megayachts, cargo ships, tripper boats, yachts and fishing boats all at once! It's also a wankers paradise and a mooring nightmare. Symi is the home of the crossed anchor. At days end enormous megayachts congregate in a display of mega vanity. Ok for the owners maybe but hard work for the crew. They aren't exempt from the crossed anchor dramas or bad holding either. From about 5.00pm everyday the megayachts swarm in, creating a ferocious wash that richochets through the yacht moorings sending masts lurching like a trade show for metronomes.

So why did we spend four nights in Symi Harbour? We were sheltering from the predicted Meltemi gusts although they didn't really crank up til the third night. Med mooring in Symi hasn't been our most relaxing time, in fact it was a bit of a nightmare. We've never been so tested. Heat stress, anchoring stress, we weren't alone. There were several re anchorings due to crossed chains on the south side of the harbour. Everyone on the other side pointing to their chains trying to ward off a crossed anchor. When the boat mooring next to us paid out all their chain and were down to a very small rope that was never meant to be tested, they blew on to us pushing our stern into the wall. It was about this point I said to Anne “we're getting the flock out of here!” We cast off, upped anchor again and headed on to the other side. Things improved slightly on the northern side of Symi harbour but we still had the Meltemi gusts to contend with. The gloss on the carefree sailing life was all but gone according to Anne.

When the big gust came, I was on the bow marvelling at how much windier it was on the south side and hoping our anchor had enough scope out when right on time at 9.00pm an enormous gust around the peak 40kts forecast hit us beam on. It was short but intense. All boats leaned, whistled and righted but not before Pip got a feeling for how much we depend on a good anchor. Pip asked the question, “is anchoring hit and miss?” I replied that was an encyclopaedic question, books have been written on it. The upshot was our anchor 'sort of' held. Our stern was closer to the wall and the anchor probably moved in the mud but I wasn't going to touch it unless I really had to. Things settled down ok but I slept in the cockpit overnight just in case.

A LOVELY DOG, PERMANENTLY CHAINED, DESPERATE FOR A SMOOCH. NYSIROS

PIP CAN HARDLY CONTAIN HER ENTHUSIASM ON HER FIRST SAIL ON 4D!

MOORING MAYHEM IN SYMI. THE BLUE BOAT IS STUCK, THE OTHERS ARE MANOEUVERING

TWO CREWS TOOK TWO HOURS TO UNTANGLE THIS CROSSED ANCHOR CHAIN SPAGHETTI ON 'MU MU'

PRETTY SYMI HARBOUR

TENSE MOMENT CONFIRMING BEER LEVELS ADEQUATE

MU MU STILL IN THE DOO DOO AS FERRIES DOCK STERN TO NEXT TO IT.

GREAT VIEWS NO WHEELCHAIR ACCESS. SYMI PORT HARBOUR

DIVING TO RELEASE A CROSSED ANCHOR! WELL DONE, IT WORKED.

ANNE CLEANS UP SOME OF THE PLASTIC FLOATING BY IN SYMI HARBOUR

SYMI NIGHTLIFE

SYMI HARBOUR DINING IN WITH TOP TABLE STAFF

JENNY AND JEANNIE JOIN IN. PIP POPS UP PRESENTLY.

12^th August.

Leros, Kalymnos and Nysiros.

JENNY THE WHISTLING CAT WHISPERER, JEANNIE AND ANNE. MANDRAKI, NYSIROS

From Levitha, Anne and I sailed back again to Xerocampos on Leros only this time in company with Aussie boat Macnoon. We said goodbye to Macnoon the next day, they headed west while we headed one island south, down to Emborios, Kalymnos where we met our next guests intake, Jenny and Jeannie from England. Jenny and Jeannie are old friends of Anne and rock climbing fanatics, so Emborios was chosen to scope out a future climbing trip.

Turns out Jeannie is a very graceful diver off the boat with minimal splash. The water temp was a very nice 26 point something so I was inspired to put in some time improving my rather untidy diving style while Anne accompanied Jenny and Jeannie on a very hot, rather mad idea, to walk then climb possible climbing routes in the searing midday sun. Mad dogs and English women. We moored on an Artistico Taverna buoy so that's where we had dinner with George the host getting out his guitar after dinner to lead a sing along. I can't sing but George is 100% sincere and a very warm host.

Jenny is an avid cat fancier. With Jenny in town, no Greek cat was safe from a kind word, some strange noises, a pat or a cuddle or a tasty morsel of left over sashimi. With the pressing numbers of cats on hand Jenny was well occupied.

From Emborios we dropped in to Pothia, the main port of Kalymnos. With Syrian refugee numbers swelling by the day the reality was very apparent where we moored at the southern end of the bay with hundreds of them sleeping and waiting for processing. A German TV crew arrived that morning to cover the issue.

From Kalymnos we sailed 30 miles south around Kos to Nysiros. Calm at first then a decent breeze to fly Big Purple. We even caught a small tuna on the way.

Eschewing scoooters and quad bikes, gravel rash in mind, we hired a car at inflated tourist prices and headed for the volcano caldera. We got there with the caldera in afternoon shadow and thus the perfect time for exploration out of the hot sun.

Jenny and Jeanie left us on Nysiros swapping places with Pippa who came on board a day before they left, swelling our numbers to five, the most we've had on board. Pippa is Garry's daughter, a Brisbane sailing friend and neighbour. She was travelling Europe before taking up study at Manchester uni in the U.K.