Shamballa Cruising Yacht Club: Goodbye Turkey, Hello Greece

After four days at anchor in a quiet private cove off Bozburun harbour where we made sure all systems were working, took walks, had a swim in the wetsuit I bought in Morocco (it is still too cold to swim in bathers only), met new friends and caught up with some old ones and had several meals at Osman’s the yachties’ hangout, it was time to leave Turkey.

Bob overlooking Songster in her private anchorage

We did the checkout formalities on Wednesday afternoon and were allowed to then anchor in the bay overnight so we could leave early the next morning. It had rained overnight and was quite misty and wet at daybreak. We readied the boat, weighed anchor and motored out of Bozburun bay saying goodbye to Turkey after almost two years since first arriving from Iran in 2014.

Leaving Bozburun on a misty morning

We were headed for the Greek island of Symi, only a few nautical miles from Turkey, Here we planned to check us and Songster into Greece to sail north then west around the Aegean islands, then over to the Ionian over the next six months or so. We had never checked into a new country with the boat and were not sure what to expect. The whole process would have been quite quick and easy except for a sad incident that happened just before we arrived. A visiting yachty was walking along the waterfront, collapsed and died. The immigration policeman was busy dealing with this tragedy and we had to wait three hours before he was free to stamp our passports. We were not allowed to leave the caged area of the dock until our passports were cleared so we spent the time chatting with the harbour guards, having cups of tea and admiring the pretty harbour of Symi.

Symi Town Harbour

Pretty pastel painted buildings

Once the immigration policeman arrived the procedure took less than 5 minutes to clear us in. Next we had to clear Songster in by getting the DEKPA (travel log) stamped. This is done by the harbour police on the other side of the harbour. We were hoping we could leave the boat at the immigration dock and just walk around to the harbour police but we were told we would have to go to the other side of the tiny harbour, anchor and go stern-to onto the wharf. We were a bit nervous about this as we had not done this before and Songster, typical of English built boats does not go in reverse in a straight line. Fortunately there was plenty of room on the wharf and we managed to moor up easily – a red letter day as we had been anxious about this Med mooring in Greek harbours for months. Ten minutes later Bob was back with the DEKPA form stamped and we were ready to head for Panormitis, our night’s destination, a quiet sheltered bay on the south of the island. The wind had picked up so we unfurled the genoa and sailed out of the bay looking back towards Turkey.

Leaving Symi Town with Turkey in the distance

As we rounded the headland and headed south we had another close encounter with a NATO warship.

Close encounter with a NATO warship

We put up the main sail and had a blustery sail along the coast with the katabatic winds coming off the hillsides keeping us on our toes. Then a rain shower came getting us rather wet and chilly. As we rounded the southern tip of the island and entered the channel between Seskli and Symi we were hit with 20 knot head winds and heavy seas. The sails came down and the iron spinnaker turned on as we bashed along the last few miles.

A bouncy trip south

Panormitis anchorage was a quiet oasis. A windmill marks the entrance and the shoreline is dominated by a very large monastery which looks more like a central post office. We anchored, sorted out the boat and then had a well deserved sundowner in the cockpit while watching the sun set over the hills.