We have spent the last three nights anchored in Panormittis Bay on the southwest coast of Symi Island It is a lovely spot and well protected from wind and seas from any direction. We knew that there was a bit of a storm coming, so we decided this was the place to ride it out. It blew through Wednesday night and Thursday bringing moderately strong winds from the south and the first heavy rain we had seen since April. The skies began to clear yesterday evening the wind dropped to less than 10 knots but, just as we were finishing supper, it suddenly came up 35+ knots from the north without any warning. Two boats dragged anchor instantly and three more within the next 10 minutes. They all had trouble resetting their anchors, dragging repeatedly, and one just put to sea rather than risk grounding ashore. What looked like a lazy evening turned into a two hour sh*t show. Fortunately, Sabbatical III held firm, as did the two boats directly in front of her, and our friends on Sassoon.
On Wednesday, we took the local bus from in front of the monastery here to Symi town It was a 45 minute ride on a spectacular road winding around the mountains overlooking the sea. We had a good look at the harbor in Symi town and from what we saw, we would never go in there with our boat. It was a mess of tangled anchors, frayed tempers, and roll. I cannot imagine what it was like when the 35+ knots came through the next evening. Apart from that, Symi town is the cutest Greek town that we have seen, and the island is the prettiest. We had Constantino the taxi cab driver take us back to Panormittis with our bags full of groceries.
Tomorrow, we split away from Sassoon and head to Rhodes and then to our Turkish marina at Kas. It has been great to travel with David and Melinda and since they will end their season at Kas as well, we will certainly get to see them again.
M.
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