Sími (Part 2)

One of the advantages of our anchoring ‘fun’ in Sími harbour was that we’d met lots of people on the quay and swapped ideas on good places to visit. We left Sími on the morning of 11 September and motored just 4 miles along the island coast to a bay we’d been told about. Hidden behind a small island with a chapel on it was this beautiful little natural harbour. We dropped our anchor in the middle of the bay and then reversed BV towards the island so that we could run lines to the shore to hold her secure. Despite the meltemi blowing it was a very sheltered spot with high cliffs above the small beach.

 

The sandy bottom and clear turquoise water were fabulous. We instantly clicked into lazing around mode clearing a few bits of admin in between refreshing swims. We snorkelled along the rocky shore of the island and saw lots of colourful fish as well as climbing up to the top of the island and visiting the small chapel. The only downside to the place was the periodic arrival of tripper boats delivering and picking people up from the beach; a slow arrival is not in the Greek tripper boat driver’s dictionary so the anchored yachts were all thrown around by the large wash the tripper boats kicked up with their speedy approaches into the bay to stop at the jetty.

Ormiskos Pethi

We had intended to also anchor in the next bay along, Ormiskos Pethi, but we enjoyed it so much in our turquoise bay that we stayed there 2 nights. When we did leave on 13 September, we went into Ormiskos Pethi and took a look. Above the bay we could see the back of Sími town; probably a half-hour walk up and over the ridgeline to get there. There were a lot of yachts moored and anchored in the bay and suspect that it is a better spot to leave your boat if you want to drive around and explore the island because your anchor is very unlikely to be disturbed there. We’ll remember that for next year.

We had intended to sail on to Rhodes for our next stop where we had expected to formally clear out of Greece with the various authorities there. However, another of the gems of information we had picked up from our quayside chums is that Rhodes is a difficult and expensive place to clear from. The authorities are a long way apart and the harbour isn’t really set up for yachts like ours; the yacht harbour with no facilities would, apparently, charge us around €100 for one night. We therefore changed our plan and returned to Sími to see if we could complete the formalities there.

We had a painless arrival into Sími and were securely moored up by 11am. We spent part of the afternoon doing the arrivals procedures with the Port Police and asked about clearing out from Greece on Monday morning. The various authorities we needed to visit are all close around the harbour so it would be just a short walk to clear immigration at the Police station and then drop off the Transit Log with the Coastguard/Port Police. With that knowledge we were able to relax and enjoy Sími whilst also making a few preparations for our transit to Cyprus.

Later in the afternoon, when it was cooler, we climbed up the hill behind the quay and were rewarded with some beautiful evening views over the harbour and across to the nearby islands.

Once the sun had set the town came alive again with the usual evening buzz of activity. As well as walking around the town, we also explored the various mini supermarkets and shops so that we could get the fresh food we would need for our 3-day trip to Cyprus. Because the wind was initially forecast to be relatively strong we also cooked up some stews which would be easy to reheat for our evening meals during the passage.

Nicky and I are suckers for thin and crispy pizzas cooked in a wood-fired oven. On Sunday afternoon, as we had wandered the back streets in Sími, we had spotted this very colourful restaurant. A plan for an early evening pre-dinner beer with a few slices of pizza was instantly hatched. Of course, once we’d tasted how good they were we stayed much longer and ordered some more for dinner. The chef was very chatty and we enjoyed watching him spin the pizza bases in the air to stretch the dough out. It was a nice way to spend our last evening in Sími and in Greece.

During our stay we’d had ringside seats on BV for the daily ‘hooking up someone-else’s anchor’ dramas as people arrived at and departed from their berths. After being the entertainment during our last visit it was nice to not be the centre of attention and to be able to just sit back and watch. However, there was also the possibility that our anchor might be disturbed so we made sure that we were on board during the times when most people seemed to arrive or depart.

The evenings particularly were always busy with lots of yachts and gulets arriving at once, circling in the harbour and jostling for positions on the quay. It was normal for some yachts to need 3 or 4 goes at mooring before they were secure and in the tight confines of the harbour you could sense the tension in the crews. It doesn’t help that mooring is a yachtie spectator sport and with everyone watching the poor helm is put under even more pressure if things don’t go well.

The yacht next door to us had dropped his anchor over ours when he had arrived so we knew that we’d need to sort that out when we left on the 15^th but, apart from that minor problem, we were all set to leave Greece and head off for Cyprus – just the final bits of paperwork to complete with the authorities first thing in the morning.

Sími