We had plans to leave Ogun's Place and head to Marti Marina, but lo and behold, Claudia and Bimmy, our new British friends from Symi, made a connection and said we could have more fun with them in Symi...so we had to go to Bozburun to check out of Turkey. It was raining cats and dogs – probably 2 inches and hour. It was blowing 25 knots with thunder, lighting and we were sandwiched in between two 120 foot Gulets that could crush us like an egg. We hunkered down and the kids did school and Matt went to check out. Unfortunately this means going through Customs in Turkey 45 minutes (another 30 Euros fee) and then upon re-entry into Greece, 2 hours of trekking from Port Police to Passport Control, to Customs, and back to Port Police (15 Euro EU Entry Fee, 12 Euro Port fee, 30 Euros Transit Log fee), then taking another couple of hours and the reverse of the fee schedule to get back into Turkey. The kids have been starved for company their own age and we figured “what the heck, we gotta do it!”.
As we left Bozburun we found a 25 knot breeze directly on the nose when we pointed to Symi (grrr) so we put out a double reefed main and rolled-up genoa and started sailing to Symi. As you may recall we didn’t get diesel in Bozburun so we were completely skosh fuel – so we couldn’t power into it and therefore needed to sail. We learned that we might as well close reach at 7.5 knots rather than go close-hauled at 5.5 knots … our VMG is better the faster we go, and we had a much more pleasant ride. Somehow our jib furler line jumped out of the drum and wrapped around the jib. We needed to fix it so Marina put a bathing suit on and went forward to unravel it. After being thoroughly drenched by going through some very big waves, she had it put right.
It took a couple of hours to make Symi – fortunately we were lifted on starboard tack so after half way we could make it without tacking. Approaching the city we saw the gas-dock was empty and pulled in. We took on 222 litres of fuel and our tank is 235 litres in size à not very much to spare that’s for sure! Now we can power wherever we want for the next few weeks. Woo hoo.
It took a couple of hours to make Symi – fortunately we were lifted on starboard tack so after half way we could make it without tacking. Approaching the city we saw the gas-dock was empty and pulled in. We took on 222 litres of fuel and our tank is 235 litres in size à not very much to spare that’s for sure! Now we can power wherever we want for the next few weeks. Woo hoo.
Anyway we put our anchor out, pulled into the quay and waiting for us were two very pretty 14 year old girls. We tied the boat up and the kids were off in a pack.
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