Our
friends are a pretty divided bunch regarding what we have done with our lives over
the last six years or so. During this time we’ve turned our backs on the normal
world of the big house and working 9 to 5 (or a lot longer hours in our case), sailed
off to distant lands, immersed ourselves in different cultures in South East Asia, explored the Mediterranean’s
old world, snorkelled remote tropical islands in the Pacifc and generally lived life large. Perfect -
although we have seriously depleted our finances in the process. Half of the
people we know think we’re stark raving mad. The other half want to be us.
Obstacles
have been placed in our path at different times as we pursued our new life
afloat. Fortunately we have been able to make it over or find a way around each
and every one of them so far. Recently
we thought we would need to ‘swallow the
anchor’ for a while and return to full time jobs ashore to rebuild our bank
balance before we could cast off again. Then a new opportunity presented itself
allowing us to once again leap over the
hurdle blocking our path.
We
have found a way to keep sailing while actually earning some money instead of
just spending it. We’re currently preparing to fly to the Greek Isles where we
will be leading week and fortnight long flotilla charters around one of the
world’s most spectacular cruising areas for the summer season.
The Greek Island of Poros will be our base for the northern summer. |
Unless
something else unexpected fortuitously arises, we will probably still have to
bite the bullet and return to the shore based working world later but, in the
meantime, we are going to make the most of the sunshine and delights of sailing
Greece’s Saronic Gulf with the very professional company, Greek Sails, from their base on the island of Poros,
less than a hour’s travel from Athens. We
will be leading the Greek Sails flotilla group from mid-June for the remainder
of the northern summer. You could even come
too and sail your own chartered yacht in a small group lead by us.
Greek Sails have an outstanding reputation and a Five Star rating with TripAdvisor |
On a
flotilla holiday you sail separately in your own chartered yacht, but meet-up
with the other yachts in the flotilla each evening at an agreed location. You don’t
need to be a highly experienced world cruiser. You have the benefit of an
experienced crew on the flotilla lead boat who are there to help you throughout
your flotilla holiday; each skipper in the flotilla can benefit from their
local knowledge of weather and wind, harbours and eating places and should
there be any problems on passage, help is close at hand. This therefore
increases safety for all and bestows a feeling of security that makes a
flotilla holiday stress free and far more
relaxing, certainly for the skipper!
Flotilla
holidays are ideal for:
-
Those new to yacht chartering and skippering a
yacht, or those who simply appreciate having a flotilla lead crew available for
advice & assistance to allow a more relaxed sailing holiday.
-
Those who simply enjoy the social aspect of
being able to charter their own yacht, yet make and meet friends from the
flotilla each evening.
Sailing in company under the guidance of a Flotilla Leader provides a stress free holiday |
On
the Greek Sails flotilla charters we will be leading, skippers and crews will receive
a briefing each morning covering the day’s weather and sea conditions, route
and details of the evening’s port of call. We will organise all formalities
with the harbour authorities, be on hand to assist you to dock and provide
information about local highlights to see and things do.
Each
evening, all will be welcome to join us for dinner at an excellent range of
local tavernas to experience the best of authentic Greek cuisine in a highly
sociable atmosphere. Flotilla charters
are an outstanding way to meet people from all over the globe who share your
interest in sailing and travel.
A sailing holiday needs to be stress free and relaxing |
A
flotilla holiday must be exactly what it says on the brochure - a holiday! In
truth, if you just wish to sail all day, you would do better to select a
bareboat yacht charter where you can sail as much, or as little, as you wish
and enjoy the adventure. However, if you want a stress free holiday with relaxed
sailing in paradise and a great time with new friends without the hassles of
dealing with officialdom in a foreign land, a flotilla charter is for you and
Poros is THE place to do it.
Poros is located away from the hustle and busy shipping channels a quick ferry ride from Athens |
Rod Heikell’s West Aegean pilot guide
describes Poros by saying; “The approach to the town is one of the most
attractive in Greece...” and goes on, “...it has something else other
than the appearance of a little Greek Venice, it has a sensuality, a calm, and
what can only be described as a conviviality...”. But Rod Heikell is not alone, Lawrence Durrell, described it as “the happiest place I have ever
known” and in her “Greek Odyssey”
television series, Joanna Lumley
reveals how her love affair with Greece started with a chance visit to Poros; “It
was just enchanting...the best holiday ever”. What better place to
start and end your sailing holiday!
Spare
yourself the nightmare of starting your sailing holiday from one of Athens’
noisy coastal ports such as Kalamaki or Lavrio. Enjoy the beginning and end of
your sailing holiday by wandering the quayside restaurants & bars of Poros
or shopping in the winding streets. You even save yourself the long upwind beat
back north to an Athens base against the Meltemi. In Poros, your sailing holiday
starts the moment you step off the ferry.
For
a perfect flotilla holiday, Greek Sails has planned three sailing routes; one
north and two south of Poros, which combine all the elements of a fulfilling
flotilla holiday. Each route allows for daily lunchtime/mid-day swimming stops
and you can opt to combine routes if you wish to stay for more than a week (the
eastern Peloponnese route is already a two week route, but you could still
combine that with a week in the Saronic Gulf to make a three week flotilla
holiday if you wished!).
Each
route has been selected to keep the emphasis on fun and a relaxing sailing
holiday with daily sailing distances that are rarely more than fifteen miles.
Whichever
way you look at it, Poros is a great place to start and end your sailing. Greek
Sails are also the only yacht charter company in Poros, so if you are being
offered a flotilla sailing holiday with a “Saronic fleet” and from a Poros
base, it will be with us; there is no other yacht base here.
Greek
Sails is one of the longest-established sailing holiday businesses in Greece
being founded in 1983, the very early days of sailing charter holidays. It is a
family owned business with an unmatched reputation
They
don’t simply have over 30 years’ experience but their customers have awarded
the company ‘5 out of 5’ (excellent) on
TripAdvisor with the reviews of their Greek Sails charter holidays.
-“Sailing perfection”
-“Amazing company”
-“This would be difficult to beat”
-“Best Yacht charter in Greece...”, and
-“Greek Sails Are The Best Company We Have Sailed With” ...
These
are just some of the very positive comments. You can read the TripAdvisor reviews
in full ‘HERE’
Check
out the Greek Sails Website, get some friends together and join us sailing
the Greek Isles on the trip of a lifetime. When you book say you would like to
sail with Rob and Karen. We’d love to
have you aboard.
Join us for sundowners in the Greek Isles. |
________________________________________________________________________
We love to receive comments on our blog from readers. If you do leave a comment and you also have a blog, please leave a link as well. We'd like to click over for a visit and leave you a comment too.
Thank you to all who support us through watching our videos, reading our blogs or who step up and support us though Patreon and Ko-Fi. You inspire us everyday to be creative 🙌
You can help us out and support our creative work for FREE.
By watching, 👍, 🔔, Subscribing, Commenting and best of all Sharing this video or blog with your friends
If you would like to make a donation towards our creative work, you can by heading over to Ko-Fi they take no fees so the support goes directly into helping us buy and upgrade equipment
Do you want more?
Patreon gives you that … you get behind the scenes updates,
Patreon only photos and posts, you can watch our
episodes ad free and before they go public … you get it first!
Another way of support is through buying from our store.
Checkout the range of books we have available
We love to receive comments on our blog from readers. If you do leave a comment and you also have a blog, please leave a link as well. We'd like to click over for a visit and leave you a comment too.
To stay right up to date with what we’re up to and see lots more photos check out and 'like' our Dreamtime Sail Facebook page at DreamtimeSail
If you have only recently discovered our blog and would like to read how it all started, or work through our previous adventures, click the link to go back to our first blog entry. Stuff it. Let's just go sailing anyway.
No comments:
Post a Comment
We love to read your comments regarding our blog, what you enjoyed and what you might like to see more of. Please leave us your thoughts.