2-Week Greek Sailing Flotilla

To celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary (which was May 16), my husband planned for us to join a 2-week sailing flotilla in Greece. Specifically, the Saronic and Argolic Gulfs.

Our flotilla operator is a British company called Sailing Holidays. They offer 1- and 2-week flotillas during the summer, and the one we joined was the 2-week Saronic.

No sailing experience is required, however the Ionic routes are considered best for beginners.  We took a 2-day (classroom and on-water) beginner's sailing certification class in March of this year through the ASA, locally here on Lake Travis in Austin.  We have both been around boats all of our lives, and own a motorboat, so we know the basics.  We were relatively unfamiliar with actual sailing, but we did just fine.

The flotilla consisted of a lead boat and 11 other boats.  The lead boat had a crew of:
Harry - Skipper, from New Zealand (Kiwi)
Bobby - Engineer, from New Zealand also
Kate - Hostie (Hostess), from Australia

Each morning, we met for a briefing either on land or via VHF radio at 9:30am.  It was then that we were told how the weather and winds were expected to be, as well as where our next stop would be.  There are many stops on this route, and you never know where you'll go until the day of.  As the sailing saying goes, "we'll go where the wind takes us."  (Exciting, huh?)

As it turned out, this was our final itinerary:

Black is via coach (bus). Blue is sailing, or boating under motor power in our boat. Pink is via ferry.

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

In my next blog entry, I'll post some information about the boat.