Greek Islands - Part 3 - A Week of Sailing on Christianna VII - Days 1-3

We are now up to Saturday, June 1st on our Greek Island Adventure.  We have departed Syros via Ferry and are on our way to Piraeus (The Port of Athens) and are making our way to the Marina to meet up with the crew we will be sailing with for the next week!  

When we were planning this trip, I knew I wanted to sail if possible, so I did a ton of research on cabin charters.  This is when you reserve a cabin on a sailing yacht.  I found 7-8 charter companies that offered cabin charters (not all do).  I made a spreadsheet with all the companies and began to call & write them for details.  After several weeks of gathering & comparing information, I found that ‘Poseidon Charters’ had the best sailing plan, a skipper that had 27 years experience sailing the Greek Islands and their pricing included everything but the dinners & gratuity.  If you are thinking of doing a cabin charter, I highly recommend ‘Poseidon Charters’ https://www.poseidoncharters.com

The Greek Islands are made up of 5 Archipelagos.   With Poseidon we were going to sail the Cyclades.  Here is a little blurb from their website describing the Cyclades: The Cyclades is the largest cruising area in Greece and is made up of 220 islands. Home to sacred historic sites, cosmopolitan towns, miles of beaches and the clearest waters on earth; this volcanic archipelago is truly the pride of Greece. Islands include: Amorgos, Delos, Ios, Kea, Kythnos, Mykonos, Milos, Naxos, Paros, Syros and Santorini.

Captain Steve

Christianna VII

We made it!  

Upon arriving in Piraeus, we jumped in a taxi and made our way to the Marina.  We met our fellow sailors, had a light snack and got our first briefing from Captain Steve.  There were two yachts, Christianna & Santorini.  CS & I were with Captain Steve, 3 other sailors for a total of 5 on our yacht.  Christianna can sleep 10 passengers but this was the first sail of the season and neither vessel was full.  After our briefing we all went to Eden Restaurant for dinner.  Not great food, but close and convenient and a beautiful sunset!

our companions for the next week

blazing red sky after the sun set

Just before the sun slid behind the horizon 

up the hill we go 

Woke up Sunday morning ready to push off and sail to Aegina & Poros, our first stops on the sailing adventure! After sailing for a little over two hours we arrived at Aghia Marina Bay, Aegena.  The mail reason for stopping here was to hike up to the Temple of Aphaia (490 BC).  It was a bit of a climb, but you'll find that everywhere you go in Greece, you climb up to everything!  There is a 6 Euro entrance fee to walk around the grounds.  A little high as fees go, but we paid it as it was our first stop and we were all excited to be in Greece! lol

At the half-way point

View from the top

shenanigans at Aphaia 

A few pictures of the Temple of Aphaia

After taking some photos, walking around the ruins and goofing a bit - we headed back down to the port for a short sail and some swimming.  Here are a few photos from the rest of our day

Dave & Steve working the main 

letting out the Genoa sail 

Francesca & I working hard

Time for a swim!

Port of Poros 

Great First day of sailing!  All of our new travel buddies are wonderful, friendly people.  With Poseidon you can sail & work the boat with Steve if you want.  Dave is an experienced sailor and was a huge help.  I learned things from him as well as Steve.  I was hoping to learn more about sailing on this trip and I certainly had the opportunity to do so.   Everyone pitches in as we come in to dock.  They do Mediterranean style mooring in Greece, so we needed two on anchor, one at the wheel, and one to throw lines.  Everyone else pitched in throwing the boat bumpers over the side.  I have to say that Captain Steve is quite the expert at this style of mooring.

Santorini, our sister ship 

We ended our day of sailing at Poros, where we were to spend the night.  Captain Steve took us to a fantastic garden restaurant at the top of a hill - stairs to climb!

Dave & Francesca work the anchor 

our Garden Hilltop restaurant 

L to R: CS, Captain Steve, Me, Lucille 

Monday, June 3 - Early start to the day - Breakfast while we sailed !  Our final destination for this day was Hydra (pronounced E-dra). Hydra is a beautiful port village.  The small boat filled harbor is ringed with cafes, restaurants & shops.  The village flows up the hills from the port.  There are no cars on Hydra.  You either walk or take a donkey!  It is very easy to walk around, there are only 3 main streets which you can walk up in to the village from the waterfront.  Interesting tidbit - they love Leonard Cohen here, as he spent time on this island writing songs.

Francesca & Dave coffee to go

Happy to be Sailing!!

pulling in to Hydra 

Once we got docked - a bit of a challenge in this busy port town, it was off the ship for a little exploration.  We had about an hour before lunch was due to be served, so everyone scattered in different directions.

After lunch we all took off for more wandering around.  Some of our group took a hike up to a monastery.  CS & I went for a swim.  After, we walked up to a bar for a drink and a killer view!

sunning on the rocks after a nice swim

Beverages with a view 

Bottle of rum?  nope, wine

When we got back to where the boats were moored - we were shocked to find that the Pirate Flag had been hoisted!  Pirate Night was upon us!

Our Pirate Captain 

Dave & Atkus 

Argh!

a Motley crew!

Captain Steve had a bag of pirate gear, so everyone got in to the spirit of things

Avast ye matey ! 







Realizing that this entry is getting a little long - I am going to break the sailing post in to 2 sections.  If you've read this far, I hope you will come back to read about the rest of our sailing trip with Captain Steve & Poseidon Charters!
#poseidoncharters