Well earlier this month Lynne and I chartered a 39 ft Bavarian sailboat out of Athens and sailed the Saronic Gulf for a week. It is a trip I highly recommend, but for Americans I suggest either
hiring a local captain the first time you sail in Greece or bring someone else along
that has sailed there before. The reason I recommend this is not because the sailing is difficult or the people are difficult to deal with, neither is farther from the truth, but because the sailing customs in Greece are different than in the US.
These differences include significant issues (buoy colors are reversed, green buoys are on the right when returning to port) and other issues like Med tieing to dock at night. So for those that are unsure of sailing in a foreign country, it might be good to do it first with someone experienced.
But for those that are adventurous, the differences can be overcome with just some hutsba. For example, if you pull into many harbors in the Greek Isles late in the afternoon the quay may be full. In the US that would mean that you would either anchor out (which is not an option at many small Greek harbors) or head to the next harbor. But in Greece, if the Quay is full, then it is common to simply drop anchor and med tie to the boats that are tied to the quay. In Hydra the boats were rafted up in this fashion 4 deep. In Aegena we were rafted up 3 deep. We followed the lead of other boats, in other words, when in Greece do as the Greeks do. But we noticed a number of less experience sailors come into the harbor, look for an open spot on the quay, and when the did not find one, head back out. No experienced Greek captain would leave a harbor where you still have enough room to drop anchor.
The other thing I noticed was that some of the best experiences result from making friends with the folks on the boats around you. Not only can you get some intel on the places you are considering sailing to and restaurant recommendations, but you can have fascinating conversations with people from around the world and trade sailing stories.
Anyway, we sailed for 7 days in Greece. We sailed out of Athens, on Sunday with myself as skipper and Lynne, Andrew, Michelle, Jean Michelle and Emanuelle as crew.
Mid day on Sunday we stopped at a cove on the SE corner of Aegena for a swim and lunch. After lunch we headed over to Poros and med tied at the North side of the Port next to an 85 ft power yacht, M T Time. MT Time was for sale and waiting at Poros until the boat show at Athens the following week. The sales exec was from Germany, the captain from Egypt and crew from Turkey. We made immediate friends with them all.
On Monday the captain on the boat next door told us that the weather report was for high winds and seas. While most of the boats in the Harbor took sail, we decided to stay put for a day. That night a
number of the boats returned. I talked to one of the skippers and he said he returned to Hydra because the high winds and seas made it very uncomfortable to sail. I was good that we stayed an extra day.
On Tuesday we took off for Hydra. Winds were still pretty high, about 20-25 knots, not too bad for a sailor out of San Francisco. The start of the sail went well. We motored out along the south side of Poros (very shallow waters) and once we got to the bay on the east side of Poros we put up the sails. We sailed east until it was time to gybe towards Hydra. but with winds that high it was hard to center the sails, so I decided to do a chicken gybe (tack). Unfortunately my instructions to the crew were not as clear as they should be, and long story short, we ended up blowing out the jib. After securing our torn sail we motored over to a lee cove and in the calm waters took down the damaged jib and stored it below. I then called the charter company. The company rep, Apostolos, who told me to put the jib in a sail bag and return it to Athens on the next ferry where he would get it repaired and sent back the same day. So we headed back to Poros, yet again, for another night. That night our sail was put on the ferry.
On Wednesday we headed to Hydra with just the main sail. We had a great sail and got there mid day. When we pulled in the harbor was full, but we noticed a number of boats were simply dropping anchoring and pulling back to the boats on the quay. They then threw lines to the boats on the quay, and they secured the new boat to their bow cleats.
So I simple did the same.
We ended up tieing up to a boat with two couples from the US, with a Greek captain. To get off the boat we had to climb over all of the boats between us and the quay. But then everyone else was doing the exact same thing.
We took some great hikes, had drinks at a great bar to view the sunset, and had a great dinner at a traverna.
On Thursday we headed out to Aegna. We had lunch at a cove on the Pellopanese. Andrew went for a swim over to a nearby island and we had a nice lunch. We then sailed to the Port of Aegena. The weather was mixed for the sail, but it was dry when we got to port. Once again the port's quay was full, but we were able to raft up to a boat with a crew from Norway. We had another great dinner at a seafood restaurant near the fish market.
Friday we sailed back to Athens. It was another rainy day and the winds were blowing a steady 20-25 knots with higher gusts. Fortunately we were able to head back to Athens on a close reach and did not need to do much taking. We got back safely. It was a very enjoyable vacation.
