Our stay  in Kos having drawn to a close we left the harbour very early as we had a long day’s sail to reach Symi.  We managed to motor sail a little during the day and were lucky in that the sea was fairly calm. However we were very surprised by the number of sailing boats we saw on the water. By far the most since we had left Lefkada in May.

We reached Symi in the early afternoon and anchored on the second attempt in Pedi Bay.  Our friends Per and Elly on Sybaris had also arrived so we had a big reunion as we had not seen each other for 2 years despite the fact that they had very kindly lent us their house in Rhodes whilst they were out sailing last year when we had lost C’est la Vie.

Elly and Caryn took the opportunity to window shop in Symi town whilst Svein altered the anchor chain uptake. He also took the time to clean the well and to paint it with anti-rust.

We had a lazy few days swimming and eating out at restaurants that we  did not know as well as catching up on news and meeting acquaintances.

It was again time to move on so we weighed the anchor and left the bay to head for Rhodes. it was also the final leg of the Rhodes Regatta which we “joined” from the time we left the bay right up to their arrival in Rhodes.

We had had a fairly bumpy ride but had managed to hoist both the genoa and main sail for most of the trip, We first attempted to anchor outside Nereus shipyard which was fine until the new Dodecanese ferry arrived  and needed the whole bay to manoeuvre to come to quay. We rapidly hoisted the anchor and continued round to Efyros bay where we anchored in much calmer water.

Sybaris arrived the next day and after a lunch on board we all went ashore to visit the house and the new hotel. After a quick meal in the evening Svein and Caryn returned to the boat on the scooter that they had kindly lent us whilst we are in Rhodes.  Strong winds were again forecast for several days so we used the time to shop and do some small jobs on the boat. Svein also renewed the batteries as those on board were giving us problems when we wanted to stay at anchor. We also enjoyed the nearby beach and the warm water.  Per and Elly lent us either the scooter or the car which was greatly appreciated.

With an improving forecast we finally left Rhodes (not without having a final dinner with Per and Elly) and left for Panoramitti Bay (Symi) so that we could then make our way to Nisyros.

After a night in Panoramitti we had a very early start (7am) and made our way to Nisyros. We had a very pleasant trip with calm seas and a slight head wind. We reached Nisyros at lunch time and once moored outside Aphrodite (in our usual place) we were able to greet all our friends that we had not seen for a year.

After Nisyros we will make our way to Kalymnos where Svein’s youngest brother and family are taking a short holiday. From there we will make our way to Kefalos to pick up the American contingent.