by Pollychops » 03 Sep 2019, 03:19
Day three.
Following the early rise, viewing the sunrise over Pedi Bay and starting the post we had breakfast of yoghurt, mixed berries and honey with some fresh brewed coffee. Today we are out with Frank, Eva and their nephew Costas and Leeta on their boat. As with all things Symi, there is no rush in getting things done. It appears to be at a slower pace than what we are used to back home. Eventually by mid morning we are in the car and off to the harbour with Captain Frank preparing the boat ready to be launched on our day out. Once on board we are told we will be sailing to St George's bay for some swimming, then onto a secret inlet for some Sea Urchin diving and then onto Marathounda Beeach for lunch. All sounding fantastic with some reservations on the Sea Urchin diving, having done this many years ago around the Summer Isles off the NW Scottish coast I was slightly nervous. So off we go and sail through the calm waters to St George's bay, this is a small inlet with a terrific cliff face of several hundred feet, around two thirds of the way up there is a painting of the Greek flag which begs the question '"did the artist climb up or absail down to complete the work?" The water is crystal clear in this bay and we spent some time swimming in the warm water. Then it was onto a secret bay to go diving, at this point as Frank described the secrecy we thought we would have been blindfolded so not to let on to anyone else however, he trusted our loyalty in keeping it to ourselves so sorry we can't give you the location. the inlet was very narrow and Frank's skill in reversing his boat to approx 30 feet from the edge was extremely skillful, we dropped anchor then Costas and myself tied both sides to the very sharp rocks to keep it stable. We then got back on board with Frank nowhere to be seen, we were standing on the platform at the stern when he appeared from below deck. He was in his diving trunks, flippers, snorkel and mask and strapped to his leg was his dagger. The symi version of Jaque Cousteau all prepared to go sea urchin diving. I was handed a large plastic sack and off we went. What I witnessed over the next 45 minutes will remain with me forever. For those of you who don't know Frank, he is lovely Symi gentleman of small stature and is in his 73rd year. That didn't appear to hold him back one iota. I struggled to keep up with him and to see him dive to the bottom of the rocks and collect the sea urchins was incredible. Not only the danger of the sharp jagged rocks, the waves and current were also pushing us towards them however, this did not detract Frank from filling up the plastic sack I was in charge of. Once this was full we then headed back however, when turning back we were at least 200m from the boat. Normally not a problem but with the large sack full of urchins and seawater it became rather heavy so my one armed breaststroke dragging the sack took longer than normal. Once back Eva and Kim got to work on the urchins whilst Frank then went off for some more!! Frank had told me he has been diving for years and to witness him still doing it was terrific. We then headed back to Marathounda, we dropped anchor and swam ashore for lunch in the taverna. After a couple of hours of swimming we were famished, we had a splendid lunch of crisply fried calamari, ever so tender slow cooked goat, one in lemon sauce and one in a rich tomato sauce, courgette balls, wild rice, lovely crisp potatoes and terrific juicy Greek salad. This was witnessed by the incredibly inquisitive goats all vying for a position looking over the fence towards our table. After lunch we ( the boys ) swam back to the boat, raised anchor and reversed back to the jetty to collect the girls. We then headed back to port, docked and Frank would not accept our offer of cleaning the decks, he insisted we disembarked and go and enjoy ourselves as we are on holiday. We have truly had a wonderful experience and day with Frank and his family one never to forget. We headed back to Taxiarchis and chilled out on our terrace deciding what to do in the evening. After the large lunch we decided to not have dinner so we showered, changed and took the steps down to Yalios, on route there was a wedding party going on near the olive tree so we people watched for a while then continued our journey downstairs, had a wander round the shops and stopped at Elphidas for a couple of drinks and mezes of ham, cheese and tomatoes , this then gave us an appetite so we visited Merakilis and had some small plates of tzadiki, feta stuffed peppers, light and fluffy courgette balls with some grilled pitta bread. This was just enough to end the fantastic day we have had. We then caught the 10 o'clock bus and straight to bed. Another glorious day in Symi.