Sími

Leaving Kos

We left Kos relatively early on Saturday 29 August with a good 15kt northwesterly wind to speed us on our way to Sími. As we headed east along the coast we had a great view of the Knights’ castle. Towards the eastern tip of Kos we were passed by a Coastguard vessel going in the opposite direction. On board were some of the night’s migrant/refugee flow – about 30 people, some wearing lifejackets, sitting quietly on deck, destined, presumably, to join the throng outside the police station in Kos town. Their original means of transport for crossing the Aegean had also been picked up: a large, black flat-bottomed inflatable with far too small an outboard was in tow; the other, much smaller and now clearly deflating, was on the transom platform – had the second been in tow by the former? If so, it’s no surprise that the crossing was not completed successfully under cover of darkness. Or perhaps, by being picked up by the authorities, the crossing was successfully completed?

Once around the eastern tip of Kos we had an awesomely fast beam reach south along the southern east coast but then, just off the southest corner of the island, the wind died and only returned fitfully within a couple of miles of our destination.

Nísos Nimos to our left and Sími to the right. Ahead about 4m depth – a great shortcut! 

Between Sími and Nísos Nimos to the north is a narrow, shallow passage which is a great shortcut, taking about 4nm off the route around the north the smaller island. We came through this passage in this direction about this time last year and also, going in the opposite direction, in April this year. Thus, by crossing our earlier outbound track we completed a circumnavigation of the Aegean, though we would be the first to admit that we have only just scratched the surface of what this ancient sea has to offer.

Safely through the passage, the anchorage of Órmos Emborios opened up, filled with motoryachts, their crews ‘doing’ lunch.

Refugees/Migrants’ discarded lifejackets

A little further round the corner, past the entrance to Sími harbour and just outside the entrance to Pethi where we were intending to anchor, we saw more evidence of the nightly refugee/migrant flow.

Entering Pethi

Pethi is quite a deep inlet and the bottom is sand and weed which our pilot book says is poor holding. We dropped in about 12m to the north of the quay and it took some time for our anchor to dig in but it eventually held well. Nicky swam to check it visually but the water is not terribly clear here and she could not see it. As the afternoon wore on more and more yachts joined the anchorage, including this German yacht pictured on the right. [Ed: even Reg agrees that maybe this chap is hoarding a little too much ‘potentially useful’ stuff on board!].

Morning swim at Pethi

The following morning we inflated the dinghy and headed ashore for the pilot book’s ‘long hike’ across the ridge to Sími town.

It was a good uphill walk and it took us about half an hour to get to the town but it was worth it for the view.

We really like Sími town: with all the houses clustered around the harbour and up the steep sides of the inlet it is really quite beautiful. However, we much less like the fact that the inlet is very deep and narrow and the wind frequently blows strongly down from the head of the harbour. Consequently, crossed anchor chains are almost inevitable and we have witnessed, and been on the receiving end of, some fairly ‘interesting’ mooring manoeuvres here. Surprisingly, though, despite our having arrived at 10am, the harbour was very empty. When we have been here previously, the morning fun and games of uncrossing anchor chains was only just beginning at 10am. Perhaps it was because it was a Sunday. Charter yacht changeover day is usually at the weekend so maybe all the charter yachts were back at base.

One of the  advantages of walking over the ridge to Sími was that we saw that the Secret Garden taverna was holding a Greek music night that evening. So at 8pm, just before sunset we walked back up the hill (not all the way to Sími) to the taverna. Unsurprisingly we were far too early but the mezzes were excellent and when the musicians arrived so were they.

Oude/lyre(?), guitar and voice. Excellent traditional Greek music – and all the locals sang along too    

We had an excellent evening, humming along with the rest of the singing audience. We were the only foreign visitors there, everyone else was local or, perhaps, a Greek holidaymaker. We left reluctantly at midnight though it rather seemed that the evening was only just getting going at that point.

‘…..but a coaster is reported to use the quay regularly.’ (Heikell, Greek Waters Pilot Ed 11). Bet the owner motoryacht anchored ahead of us wished he had anchored a little further from the quay

Early the following morning we were somewhat surprised to hear a coaster sound its horn several times before gingerly threading its way through the throng of anchored yachts and mooring alongside the quay. Amazingly, the yacht that was moored stern-to the end of the quay remained there right up until the coaster was alongside the quay and probably only moved then because the coaster’s stern line needed to run directly over where the yacht had been sitting.

Refugees’ inflatables

On 1 September we walked back over the ridge to Sími so that we could complete the paperwork to clear out of Greece. We duly reported to Customs, Immigration Police and Port Police. All were very efficient and were were at each for less than 5 minutes getting the necessary stamps. However, it was clear that the priority of both the Immigration Police and the Port Police was processing refugees/migrants. We saw piles of Syrian and some Iraqi passports being worked through and both offices were surrounded by refugees/migrants waiting to be moved on to the next stage of their journey. Moored beside the Port Police office were several of the refugees’ inflatable dinghies as well as a couple that had clearly once belonged to sailing yachts. We will certianly be keeping our dinghy locked up whilst we are in Turkey lest it also becomes a refugee mode of transport.

With the clearance paperwork completed, a couple of packets of herbs purchased plus an addition for the cocktail cabinet, it was time to make our way back to BV. We’d spend the rest of the day making the short 10 mile passage across to Bozburun in Turkey where we would purchase a Transit Log and work through the formalities for checking into Turkey.

Sími, Greece