Tying up in Symi was a bit slicker than the previous occasion, despite dodging fishermen, ferries and boats from the cruise liner. Did not take long to organise our passports and agent, but the place was steamy, heaving with people – too much for us to cope with. So whilst I stayed on deck, the family got themselves fed (giros) and ice creamed before we beat a hasty exit.

Somewhere mid-ocean on the border between Greece and Turkey my wife decided she really needed a swim. So we stopped with 380m depth below us and the swimmers leapt in to tales of great white sharks, dolphins etc. Needless to say, they stayed really close to the boat!

Arrived at Dirsek, which is a large, deep and unpopulated inlet. Quite a few other boats around, many of which left later in the day. We anchored close to the rocks with a shore line to keep us from moving about (Astrid’s swim job again). Very laid back afternoon with everyone doing their own thing.

An impromptu court of justice ordered miscreants to walk the plank:

In order to burn up the younger crew energy, Astrid & I rowed to the head of the bay where there was a long established restaurant. We were ably assisted by Jared & Yana who practiced their rowing skills, meaning that our journey was a kind of spiral to the destination. The restaurant is old and nicely built from stone, with a concrete jetty since they are only accessible by sea, hence are very self sufficient. They also harvest wild sage and thyme which gets dried, bagged and sold in fairly large quantities.

At sundown we saw a barracuda chasing smaller fish around our boat. Hours later, this did not prevent Astrid from having a late night swim in the dark waters, although Anton, who has swim with sharks many times, refused to join her. Something about feeding time apparently.