How to sail the Greek islands July 29, 2006
Posted by grhomeboy in Greece Islands Aegean.trackback
To sail the Greek islands, you don’t need to charter an entire boat and hustle 10 friends to fill it. You don’t even need to know how to sail.
There’s nothing quite like the feeling of holding the wheel on a 49-foot cruising yacht, watching the gentle roll of the waves below and peering across the horizon to the hazy silhouette of a distant Greek island.
I’d always wondered what it would be like to sail the Greek islands. Yacht buddies speak of sparkling islands that shimmer among the blue waters, easy passage from port-to-port and tempting culinary offerings at every taverna. Every word was true.
The only challenge with this style of holiday is finding the yacht. Marinas at Kos or Santorini, for example, cater for hundreds of vessels, so knowing the name of your boat before arrival can be useful.
Once on board, you have a maximum of eight passengers plus an experienced skipper who also acts as your guide.
A cruising yacht is more than just transportation for it doubles as accommodation. Below deck, the living quarters are cosy yet comfortable, but step up to the cockpit and you have the entire Mediterranean to play in.
Making passage from island to island is a relaxing affair. For those who wish to get more involved, however, this is a golden opportunity. Steering a modern yacht is easy, and with a skipper aboard to trim the sails and navigate you are always in good hands.
Pulling into the small harbour of Vathi, on Kalymnos, you are greeted with three tavernas, a handful of fishing boats and a pair of white-domed churches that sit high above the cliffs. Next to the boat-builder’s yard, patrons are treated to the kind of home-cooking you could never replicate.
The menu on any given day is determined by Yannis and his mother, who cook according to what they had yesterday and what remains in the vegetable garden. When you’ve had enough to eat and drink, or possibly too much, it’s a short walk back to the boat. Ios earned a less-than-salubrious reputation for drunken youths in the ’90s, but on the far side of the island lies a sheltered cove with two tavernas, one beach, and no pier to speak of.
It’s a simple matter to throw out the anchor and take a rubber dinghy to the beach but, if you’re in a hurry, then just jump in and swim.
The gentle pace of the islands is what gives them character. It seems that the further you sail from Athens, the more pleasant the locals are, and the less attention anyone pays to their watch.
Luckily, many Greek islands are not filled with tourists because they can’t get there in a hurry. Those lucky few who own a yacht, or were smart enough to buy a week on one, have it all to themselves.
At the end of my cruising adventure I caught the next ferry back to Athens. Shuffling along with hundreds of backpackers I could hardly be further removed from the intimate luxury of the sailing boat.
Now, when I hear someone drifting back to their days of sailing the Greek islands, I simply smile and drift with them.
grhomeboy
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