Round Symi Cruise

Su was awake with the sunrise yesterday morning (see her blog, "All About Me" for a picture) and we were up and out just after 9 o'clock to catch the bus down to Yialos. While we waited, this was our view towards the Castro.

While we waited a bit longer, this was the view over towards the windmills.

We waited a bit longer, looking down the road hopefully for signs of a yellow Mercedes bus…

Then we realised that it was Sunday and that the bus might be on a different schedule because of churchgoing etc. So we set off on foot down through the Chorio, passing this new bit of wall decoration on the way.

Again went past the sundial - it was just after 9.30 by this time and it was still in shadow, so not an ideally positioned timepiece!

We got down to Yialos about 10 o'clock and got onto the Poseidon for the beginning of our "Symi Sizzler" trip. Looking back at Yialos harbour front.

On the way out of the harbour, saw some modern boats.

Also saw this big ferry all the way from Cyprus.

Out on the open sea.

Our first stop round on the western side of the island was this cave, which we swam into and enjoyed exploring. The captain said, "No swim, no ouzo!", whereupon all the passengers jumped into the sea:-)!

Our next stop for a swim was St Emilianos.

Then we pulled into Sesklia (a smaller island off the south of Symi) for a longer stay - swimming followed by a lovely lunch of delicious barbecued chicken, a large array of tasty salads, vegetables and wine. Eaten on the beach looking out at the bay in a lovely breeze which helped to take the sting out of the roasting temperatures.

This was the view looking out to sea from the boat.

After a few hours there, we weighed anchor (getting all nautical by this stage of the day!) and sailed round the eastern side of the island past Marathounda and Nanou bays, pulling into the very steep-sided St George's Bay, used in one of the key scenes of "The Guns of Navarone" and which hosted the Pro BASE Jumping World Championships last year. This time the captain's pronouncement was, "No swim, no coffee!" - again nobody needed much persuasion to jump in! The coffee was served up with sugar in this Southwold mug!

We chatted to lots of people on the boat, one of whom was Cobi Sanders, an artist from the Neterlands who has lived on Symi for the last 15 years. We also met her brother, Wout, who is a painter too.

All in all, this was absolutely the best way to spend our day in 40º+ temperatures - more to come today and tomorrow…

This day a year ago, we were doing things on our newly acquired allotment (more of which continued until October 2011…) and I'd spotted this rather obvious Health & Safety signage on a trip to Bristol.