14-Day Greek Flotilla - Saronic and Argolic Gulf

[swwake]

We just returned from a 14-day flotilla in the Saronic Islands and Argolic Gulf of Greece. I am happy to share tips and other information about our experience.

 

We had no prior sailing experience, except for a 2-day classroom and on-water certification class for beginner sailors. For this flotilla, no experience is required. We were assigned our own 34-foot boat (for my husband and myself). We maneuvered the boat ourselves and slept on it every night. We shopped for food in port, generally anchored and had lunch in a pretty bay each day, and had dinner at a taverna wherever we stopped. Some ports we moored (docked), Mediterranean style (stern-to), and other ports we free swung on anchor. Communication between boats was via VHF radio. We never lost sight of land and rarely lost cell phone/data access.

 

I am not sure if I can say the name of the company, but I guess it would be similar to stating the name of any cruise line, so if the moderators could let me know, I'll list it.

 

The unique thing about this trip is that we were able to visit ports/towns/islands that are too small for traditional cruise ships to visit.

 

Because we were coming from Texas, we elected to arrive in Athens a day early. We flew British Airways through Dallas and Heathrow to Athens.

 

Here was our schedule:

6/8 - Fly to Athens

6/9 - dinner in Athens

6/10 - Athens bus tour, meet coach for flotilla, to Epidavros

6/11 - Epidavros to Vathi

6/12 - Vathi to Nea Epidavros

6/13 - Nea Epidavros to Angistri

6/14 - Angistri to Poros

6/15 - Stayed in Poros, day trip to Hydra

6/16 - Poros to Russian Bay

6/17 - Russian Bay to Ermioni

6/18 - Ermioni to Porto Kheli

6/19 - Stayed in Porto Kheli, day trip to Spetsai

6/20 - Porto Kheli to Koilahdia

6/21 - Koilahdia to Astrous

6/22 - "free sail" (we chose our destination without the flotilla) Astrous to Tiros

6/23 - Tiros to Navplion

6/24 - coach from Navplion to Athens, afternoon and evening in Athens

6/25 - fly home through Heathrow

 

It was an amazing trip of a lifetime. I will try to post some photos from home.

 

If you'd like to see some of these places without the sailing, you can get to most of them by land (renting a car). You would have to water taxi to Angistri. You can take a 1-day cruise out of Athens for $99 Euro to Aegina, Poros, and Hydra (about 1 hour at each stop). These are all islands, so you can't reach them by land (unless you used a car ferry, but no cars allowed on Hydra or Spetsai).

 

Let me know if you have any questions!

[swwake]

Here is a map of our journey. Black is by coach (bus). Blue is by sailboat. Pink is by public ferry.

[Cruisin Oma]

Sounds amazing. More info about the boat itself. Do the have "cabins" or some kind of separate sleeping quarters so two or more couple could do this together? Or we each couple have to be on their own boat?

 

I certainly don't see why you couldn't list the name. People list your companies and cruise companies all the time. You just can't list the TA you used to book it.

[swwake]

Sounds amazing. More info about the boat itself. Do the have "cabins" or some kind of separate sleeping quarters so two or more couple could do this together? Or we each couple have to be on their own boat?

 

I certainly don't see why you couldn't list the name. People list your companies and cruise companies all the time. You just can't list the TA you used to book it.

It was indeed amazing!

 

Here is a graphic of the layout of the interior of the sailboat. It was a Beneteau 331.

 

And here is a short video of the interior. Very true to reality.

 

The boat sleeps 6 but is comfortable for 4. Two couples could share, but it is tight quarters. There are three "berths". We used the starboard side aft for the first week, as it has a high enough ceiling that you can sit up in the bed. But we switched to the forward berth for the second week, as it provided more room at the head of the bed. Contrary to this photo, there are cabinets and shelves at the head of the aft berths that limit the space. I kept rolling over to face a cabinet. We decided that having our toes together in the forward birth wasn't so bad.

 

There were two boats on our flotilla comprised of two couples who were friends. Each couple had their own boat. It does add a little to the privacy :)

 

We would take this same trip again and bring my daughter and a guest if she wanted to bring one. So we think 4 would be tight, but do-able. You definitely want to know the other couple pretty well.

 

The company name is Sailing Holidays, Ltd. They are a British company, and 9 of our 12 boats were British. 1 was South African. 1 was the lead boat, consisting of Skipper and Engineer, both Kiwi (NZ) and the "Hostie" (Hostess) who is Australian. The final boat was ourselves - the lone Americans.

 

The company has a good website and an awesome YouTube channel. They were great to work with. Prices are reasonable (consistent with a balcony cabin on a budget cruise line), but they are in Pounds Sterling, so the exchange rate hurt us. The big expense is international airfare!

 

The "head" is also the shower. You use the shower fixture at the sink as your portable shower head. You're using fresh water from the boat's water tanks. There is also a fresh water shower on the back of the boat, and I used that to bathe one day when we were stopped in a cove for lunch. But most of the ports had showers available at the tavernas ranging from $0 to $5 Euro per person.

[mrsfecura]

Wow this sounds so cool! How did you first hear about it?

[swwake]

Wow this sounds so cool! How did you first hear about it?

My husband owns his own business and distributes for a British company. The owner of that company has done this for several years and recommended it.

[Eng23]

All right!!!! Next time I am stowing away and going. I'll even sleep out on the deck if I have too!!! :D

[swwake]

Here we are on heel one of our sailing days.

[Gordo]

Thank you for sharing your experience. We have done this in the Caribbean and would love to do this in Greece. Did you spend any time swimming/snorkeling?

[swwake]

Thank you for sharing your experience. We have done this in the Caribbean and would love to do this in Greece. Did you spend any time swimming/snorkeling?

We stopped and anchored in a cove two of the days and swam near our boat. The water is beautiful, and there are cliffs and caves to explore. We did not snorkel, but our friends on a different boat did.

 

We did not spend much time swimming for two reasons:

1 - we have a pool at home, so we chose to spend that time exploring the various towns instead

2 - the water was cooollld and I'm a weenie! :)

[swwake]

All right!!!! Next time I am stowing away and going. I'll even sleep out on the deck if I have too!!! :D

haha! It would be hard to go unnoticed, but you could try!

[swwake]

A link to my travel blog is now in my signature, for anyone who is interested. I am slow, but will post info and photos about our flotilla...