So the day begins…. which bandana shall I wear today?

Water, check, towel, check, book and money, check and off I go in search of a frappe while I wait for the 11am (a bit later than planned) boat to Nanou beach.

The boat trip was quieter for some reason and so after the drop off to St Marina beach I was the only one left on the boat – my own personal water taxi!

After lunch – which is epic at Nanou Maria taverna….. the goats appeared – once again! This is GOAT IN A BOAT! I love it! This is what makes a vacation!

When I first came to Symi I met some lovely people – one of which is Vasilis (above) who is now married to Frances and this is their beautiful daughter Christina and later you will see their son Yanis.

19 years ago I also met Michele… I have some stories to tell! What a wonderful woman – every time we meet I am left with a huge smile on my face… she does that – don’t talk about the X factor – she is the Michele Factor! Kaladoukas holidays are very blessed to have Frances and Michele work for them over here on Symi – the most helpful kind people you would want to meet to be your travel reps!

This is Michele and her daughter Lena – her son Marcus wasn’t with us that day. (shells arranged by Lena btw)

I was away with a friend of mine in 1992 and we met at Jean’s bar (a whole trip and photography session will be dedicated to Jean another time as she is a LEGEND!!) at the village at the top of the hill. The two weeks came and went and my friend and I went home and Michele stayed… it was just meant to be for the summer but she met Michelis and the rest is history. They married and had Marcus and Lena and moved to Rhodes for a number of years and then came back to Symi.

19 years ago this week I returned just for a week and had to make a decision… do I stay in Symi? I didn’t – and came home and started a new life. I became “Annie” as previously everyone knew me as “Anne Carolyne”. Seems strange looking back how my life has unfolded and now how photography is so much part of my life! I am sure if I had stayed here photography would have found me eventually!

It was such a special time with these families… True friendship goes through years, distance and ups and downs and I know I couldn’t have come here on my own not knowing that I didn’t have friends like these here for me if I had a problem…I am very grateful!