Symi Town, Nisos Symi
27 July 2022
Dierk Meyerheinrich | Hot
Symi Town, Nisos Symi
Finally after leaving Ag Marina, we made our way into Symi, the main drag of Symi Island. Symi Island itself is around 67 km2 and covered by rocks, prickly pears, olive trees and vineyards. Symi was once famous for shipbuilding and sponge diving. Simiot shipwrights built many of the fast galleys for the Knights of St John and later for their Turkish masters.
It is a harsh place and is one of the lesser known Greek Islands and is therefore worth a visit. We had to go to Symi because we had to check out of Greece so we could enter Turkey. This is always a bit arduous, but the Border Police and Coast Guard were extremely helpful.
As we entered the harbour, we were approached by a tender despatched by the port authority. He explained the mooring process. It involved passing him a mooring line which he tied to a large orange buoy. Then you were instructed to reverse back (pulling the buoy underwater out of sight) to the quay were both stern lines were secured to the bollards. After a small adjustment, the boat was snug and well docked. It is in fact a good method because no anchors are deployed saving the seabed from significant damage.
So, against the quay we were, alongside a very busy roadway. Cars, tourists, motorbikes and the occasional donkey scooted past. Worst of all the was no breeze. At one stage down below it reached 38C (100F in the old language). Normally at anchor, we have a cool breeze and you can jump off for a swim. Not here though. Swimming is forbidden due to the copious boat traffic. In any event, we needed to fill up with water and get supplies, given we had been at anchor for about a week.