Living off the Land

It is a bright sunny day on Symi. Only a few ragged clouds linger and the Poseidon’s last round the island trip of the year should be a good one, even if the breeze is a bit on the chilly side. The long range forecast is clear and mild with predominantly northerly winds so it will be quite cool in the shade and in the evenings with heavy dew. Symi received about 65 mm of rain over a period of about 10 days so the summer drought has well and truly broken. Little whiskers of green grass are appearing along the verges and on the terraces and the first lupin seeds are punching their way through the clay. In the evenings ghostly figures armed with torches and plastic bags flit across the moonlit hillsides, gathering snails. The season for living off the land has begun.

The first ferns reappearing after the rain.

Down in the harbour there are not many people about. With few visitors staying on the island and very limited numbers of day trippers coming over from Rhodes the island is slowing down. The significant drop off in the number of boats serving the island has also had an impact on late season tourism. The Proteus is no longer running because it failed to have its government subsidy renewed and without financial assistance ANES cannot afford to run the boat. The Symi II is doing scheduled runs at weekends which appear on the website, as do the trips over the Panormitis festival period. The Symi II has been over a couple of times this week doing excursions from Rhodes but as these are not scheduled trips and are dependent on there being enough people to justify the journey this cannot be counted upon as a means of getting on and off the island. Dodecanese Seaways have put up their schedule as far as 15 November but at time of writing there is still a lot of uncertainty concerning the island’s ferry connections for this winter.

I shall be away on leave until 10 November but will endeavour to post a blog from Rhodes on Monday. There may, however, be a guest appearance or two so don’t go away.



Regards,

Adriana