Pedi and Panormitis Bay
17 October 2013 | Symi, Greece
Ros Brice
The following morning Brad, Heidi and Sally opted to take a few nights break at a family friendly hotel in Sími. We shared a coffee with them at the hotel in Pedi before the taxi arrived and agreed to keep in touch as to rendezvous arrangements.
Garth John and Ros had a quiet afternoon sheltering from the big blow and happily shut the hatches as it was very chilly. Next morning the wind had abated but not entirely. We swam off the boat, the water being considerably warmer than the air temperature and relaxed for several hours, reading our books. We set off late morning for a long slow climb from Pedi up into Horio where we had a delicious cafe lunch at The Olive Tree, run by English women.
We then descended the steps into Sími and had planned to catch the local bus or taxi back to Pedi but not before we bumped Brad and Heidi with Sally who had just returned a hire car after a trip to the Monastery of the Archangel Michael, at the SE tip of Sími. We briefly chatted with them and during a coffee stop, John said he thought the walk had helped his tendon stretch out, so we climbed the stairs again and walked back to Pedi in the beautiful sunshine and light breeze.
No sooner had we got on board Trilogy than the wind picked up again and blew its little heart out once more until we went to bed. When was this weather going to abate we kept asking ourselves? This wasn't on any of the weather charts we had consulted! Bunkered down once more, we settled for cooking Chilli Con Carne with plenty of heat to warm us up and while that was simmering to perfection we demolished a slab of Roquefort cheese we found in a Carrefors (French supermarket chain).....yummmm.
Next morning was like we were in a whole new world. The sun was brilliantly warm and the turquoise water glassy. We couldn't resist having a long swim before departing to motorsail to Panoramitis Bay on the SE corner of Sími. We hugged the cliffs all the way and relished the near windless conditions.
Finding Panoramitis Bay's entry was interesting, as from our approach it was not visible until about 200 metres away. A narrow and curved channel at the entry opens up into an almost perfect oval shaped bay. The large Monastery of Archangel Michael of Panormitis takes up a large chunk of the foreshore and is flanked on either side by olive groves and rocky low headlands that we noticed a herd of goats on to one side and small lighthouse on the other side. There were many yachts in this idyllic bay, along with several large fishing boats as well as regular visits from large passenger ferries.
Our first choice of anchorage position rendered Trilogy being honked at very loudly by the afternoon ferry, just as we were planning to depart by dinghy for the monastery. We needed to reset the anchor to allow swing room for the ferries and were kept entertained for some time watching other yachts do exactly what we had done. When the last ferry had departed we went ashore and enjoyed a wander through the monastery chapel and museum, but alas we did not meet, see or hear any monks or priests. However we did buy some bread from the monastery bakery and along with that came the chance to taste some delicious hot semidried fresh figs that had just been taken from the oven. The bells in the monastery bell tower chimed every quarter hour and John reported it was a 06:00 start for the chimes the following morning.
St Michael is the patron saint of Sími and protector of sailors, which pleased our hearts that we could pay our respects. The monastery was first built in the 5th or 6th century, but the current buildings are dated from the 18th century. As the sun set over the bay, we could easily see why the founding monks must have felt this bay was pretty close to heaven on earth.