Week 20, Simi, Greece

Dear Ethel, Family and Friends,

Well it’s been a bit more exciting this week, still started the week helping out on Terry’s. It’s a bit like a lifestyle TV program where we wonder if Terry will have the boat ready by Friday when his first guests arrive. We were still painting on Tuesday and had to do a sea trial run in the boat before the end of the week. Wednesday we packed an overnight bag and went down to the marina with our passports.

We still had some jobs to finish on the boat before we left Turkey but did get under way about 2pm. We had a great cheer from the spectators in the marina as we left as they have been watching the slow restoration of the boat. It’s only a twelve nautical mile journey and as the wind was against us, motored all the way, and taking 2 and a half hours or so.

Simi is the closest Greek Island to Turkey and has a couple of different ports to arrive in. A lot of the big Gullet boats and flotilla cruises call into the main port of Simi. We chose to anchor in Pedi Bay, which is only a short bus ride away over the hill to Simi town and is also free mooring and no visa or passport checks. This is our first illegal border crossing. It seems an accepted practice with all tour operators in the region, as going through the formal procedures of border crossings is time consuming and costly and not worth the effort or expense for a day trip or overnight stay.

It was nice to be back in Greece again if only for the night. The architecture, scenery is so different and being so close to Turkey. We moored in Pedi Bay in the afternoon swam and had drinks on the foredeck and watched the traffic coming and going until after sunset. We motored ashore in the dinghy at a respectable 9pm for dinner at one of the many restaurants surrounding the bay. We slept on deck that night. The following morning we caught the bus into Simi town to do some shopping and sightseeing. On the journey back to Orhaniye that afternoon we unfurled the big genoa and sailed back into port. Terry’s boat is a big 70 foot wooden boat, it is not fast at all but built for comfort. It has 2 large cabins and a smaller one but all 3 have ensuites, It has a full galley, a comfortable saloon with seating for 8 people, plus the very roomy fore and aft decks. All in all, we had a very pleasant trip to Sumi and we stayed onboard again that night in the marina.

Friday morning I received an email from the Setsail crew, saying they would be back in Orhaniye this weekend and asked if we would be interested in a boat delivery back to Marmaris. It seems we can take the boat on Monday morning and deliver it back to Marmaris on the Tuesday evening, so we can do an overnight stay somewhere on the way. We look forward to telling you about that next week.

For the record, Terry's boat was finished on time and left today with his guests.

All the best for now

Ric & Louise