Sími Pethi

We had a much better passage sailing from Nísiros to Sími on Saturday 13 August, than we had had getting to Nísiros the previous day. The forecast showed a 10-15 knot northwesterly flow and, despite Splendido reporting on the MedNet that they didn’t have enough wind to sail, by the time we left the harbour the wind had built. With full sail and the genoa poled out we pottered along the north coast of Nísiros and then fairly rushed away from the island as we hit an acceleration zone at the northeast tip. On AIS we could see that Splendido, about 8nm ahead of us, was similarly revelling in the conditions [Ed: AIS = advanced stalking for sailors!].

As we made our way along the south of the Datça peninsula, the wind increased to about 25kts so we put a couple of reefs into the mainsail…… and then shook them out again 40mins later when we had sailed out of the downdrafting air! So, it was great sailing for about half the passage but then the wind totally ran out and we ended up motoring.

The clear, turquoise waters of Stenon Nimos   

At the northern tip of Sími, between Sími itself and Nísos Nimos, the island just to its north, is a narrow, shallow passage that cuts a significant amount of time off a journey around the north of Sími. We have used this passage several times but still delight in going through it. Here the sea is beautifully clear and turquoise because the  water is just 4m deep over a lovely sandy bottom. However, with underwater rocks to either side of the passage, we go through fairly slowly, just in case, and it gives more time to enjoy the feeling of cruising in the Bahamas.

Once through the Stenon Nimos we could see Sími town and harbour off to our right. However, our plan was to head further around the island and anchor in Pethi.

Motoring into Pethi   

The wind picked up again for the final couple of miles and we had a roaring run across to, and an ‘interesting’ gybe at, the northeast tip of Sími. Timing the mainsail drop just outside the entrance to Pethi was also a bit of a challenge, with the strongly downdrafting wind coming from almost every direction. But we got the sail down and secured without too much wildly flapping sailcloth.

Italian crewed gulet, at this point quite a long way clear of BV   

Pethi is a large bay but it is mostly very deep. There is a ‘new’ ‘marina’ (glorified small town quay type affair built about 20 years ago) on which yachts can moor on the outside and an older quay at the head of the bay to which yachts can also moor though a coaster uses the northern side irregularly but frequently. So, the available anchoring areas are further reduced by the need to keep a clear(ish) route through to the quay for the coaster and a number of private moorings in the south of the bay. Holding is also said to be suspect in places. Splendido had found a good place in quite shallow water (6.5m or, because Splendido is American, about 20 feet) near the beach on the south of the bay. There was no space close by so we anchored the other side of the quay (and well clear of it) in 10m with 50m of chain out as the wind was gusting strongly and we were veering around somewhat. Despite there being a reasonable amount of space where we were, a traditional-style small gulet crewed by an Italian family anchored close to us. Rather too close. In fact we could virtually reach out and touch their bowsprit as we swung. We told the skipper that we thought he was too close but he just let out a smidgeon more chain and seemed to think that that was acceptable. And, he also got very irate at us for suggesting that he had not anchored well. Another yacht (also Italian) arrived and dropped his hook quite a long way ahead of the gulet. The skipper of the gulet took out some of his bad temper on the incoming skipper, shouting at him in Italian. Eventually, he took his dinghy over, gave the crew of the new yacht another piece of his mind and went snorkelling. It seems that the second yacht had fouled the anchor of the first. Fortunately for us, in sorting out the tangle the stroppy Italian’s anchor dragged and their gulet drifted a boat length away from us before the anchor reset, solving our problem with swinging room.

It was just as well too, as with the gusts sweping into Pethi that afternoon and evening the anchored yachts swung around all over the place. Had the Italian gulet’s anchor stayed put in its original location we would have to have moved or risk a collision. Instead, we had a very pleasant late afternoon hosting ‘Team Splendido’ (Michael, Daniel and Jeremy) on board for drinks [Ed: having hijacked their invitation over to Splendido for sundowners!].

Pethi   

It was surely only the news of yet more gold medals in Rio for Team GB that pushed the headline “Greek Coastguard breaks up international cocktail party before it even begins!” off the front pages. Splendido’s crew had invited us for cocktails at 5pm on 14 August. However, with about 30 minutes to go a Greek Coastguard launch came into the bay and started checking the ship’s papers of some of the yachts. They went alongside Splendido and told them that they, and another couple of yachts nearby, were anchored too close to the beach and had to re-position. By this time, Pethi was really quite full so when Splendido started to look for another spot in which to anchor they couldn’t find one in shallow enough water. They eventually moved to another bay a few miles away, the cocktail party postponed. Irritatingly, almost as soon as the Coastguard launch left the bay another 3 yachts arrived and anchored in exactly the space that Splendido had just vacated.

Sími town by night   

All in all we spent 3 nights in Pethi. After the Coastguard’s visit we walked up over the hill to visit Sími town. Part of the reason was to check if the shops would be open the next morning because that day is a Greek bank holiday to celebrate the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. It was successful trip ashore; we confirmed that the shops we needed would be open in the morning and we also had a lovely meal of excellent pizzas cooked in a wood fired oven.

When I grow up I want to be a superyacht!
We came back from the evening ashore and found this anchored ahead of us    

So, with the shops open, that meant another walk over the hill first thing on Monday 15 August to buy some food and to visit Georgina’s to get some beer and wine. The walk justified an icecream each from a shop which makes its own on site; absolutely delicious! Georgina was pleased to see us but said that business has been very poor this year; with everything going on in Turkey there just haven’t been the usual number of visitors to Sími. We commiserated and wished her well and walked back over the hill to Pethi. Our beer and wine was delivered to the quay (by overloaded scooter?!) half an hour later; a great service.

The rest of the day was lost to jobs on board in preparation for the next day’s passage – re-reeving the second reefing line which keeps kinking, transferring fuel from the jerrycans to the main tanks etc. It certainly kept us busy.

On Tuesday 16 August we woke to a completely still morning and we wondered whether or not we should trust the forecast (for the wind to build) for our passage to Rhodes. But we were keen to move on and with about 40 mile to go to Lindos, our planned destination, we decided to give it a go. In the worst case, we now had sufficient fuel in the tanks to motor all the way there and back! [Ed: we’ve never run the fuel tanks down so we are deliberatey doing that at the moment so that we can check the fuel guage readings before we use the rest of the jerry can fuel].

Sími  Pethi, Greece