There’s no marina in Symi, you simply stern tie your boat to the harbour wall and someone comes around to sort out your electricity and water.

Well, maybe “simply” isn’t the way to describe it. When you’re stern tying here you have to drop your anchor way out across the narrow harbour and then reverse into the wall while paying out scope on your anchor. Then when you arrive at the wall you hope someone is there to catch your stern lines, thread them through the rings on the wall, and throw them back so you can cleat them. This is slightly easier for boats without a dinghy on the davits which prevents you from just jumping ashore from the stern as you get close.

In this spot it’s also a common occurrence that boats foul each others anchors when leaving because it’s so easy for chains to lay over top of one another. It’s a bit annoying when someone pulls up their hook to depart and inadvertently pulls up two other hooks of boats that were peacefully and securely tied up just minutes ago, and suddenly leaves them with nothing holding their stern from bashing into the wall.

Despite all of this, Symi was one of my favourite stops in Greece. This photo was taken from the bow of Brava in the early morning light before the sun fully hit the harbour and the streets filled with people.