Culture and Leasure Cruise round Paros

My sister Gabriela and her partner Herbert arrived with my friends Martina, Steffi, Wilhelm and Wolfgang on different flights in Paros delayed by the preceding storms on Saturday, 17th May afternoon. In the meantime Afros Yacht Services did some more repairs to make our boat Maritina, a nice Bali 4.4 catamaran fully fit for our next cruise. In record time we took all necessary provisions on board and enjoyed a welcome dinner at Levantis Restaurant. 

Early on Sunday morning we motored north to Delos, checked the surroundings and set anchor in Ormos Proteos south of Rinea. After a first swim we had a sumptuous dinner with beef and pasta. Next morning Herbert prepared our dinghy and skippered our crew to Delos landing for a visit of the holy site. After noon the crew returned and we motored west to Ermoupouli harbor in Syros. After a stroll through the city and a visit to the Apollon Theater we had an exceptional fish dinner at Seariani Fish & More Restaurant and finally a quiet night on board.

Tuesday morning we explored the sites of Ermoupouli and bought some provisions. At noon we set sail east to the small island of Donoussa with nice northerly winds of 4bft enough to set sail. In the evening we anchored in Ormos Kalotaritissa and Wilhelm prepared some devilfish with rice and salads.

After a nice breakfast and a morning swim we set sail again southwest. We sailed along the southern coast of Ano and Kato Koufonisi and anchored finally in the quiet Almyros Bay east of Schoinousa. We enjoyed dinner with sausages from Syros with rice and salads.

Thursday with nearly no wind we motored further west into the large

Despotico Bay south of Antiparos. Friday morning our crew visited the new excavations on Despotico island and enjoyed a nice swim in turquoise waters before we started our last leg north through Stenon Antiparou with minimum depths of 3.2m. We reached Paroikia harbor at 15:30 and completed the technical checkout routine for our boat. We had a typical Greek dinner at Souvlaki Pepe and slept our last night on board.

 

Early Saturday we left the boat and settled in Aratos Hotel. We visited the Holy Shrine of the Virgin Mary Ekatontapyliani and the Archeological Museum. At noon we took a bus to Lefkes to visit the Church of the Holy Trinity and splendid hospitality in near Cafe Marigo. In the evening we celebrated our cruise in Mario's Restaurant with an excellent dinner. Very early on Sunday our flight left Paros for Athens and further home to Vienna.

We sailed 32 hours and logged 160sm in 6 days.
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Stormy Catamaran Sailing round Paros

With my Brother Andreas I met our crew in Mario's Restaurant in Paroikia Port on Paros in the center of the Cyclades on Friday, 9th May at 8pm. We enjoyed the delicious food and made plans for our cruise.

Next morning after a hearty breakfast at Ragoussis Bakery we checked our boat Maritina, a nice Bali 4.4 catamaran built by the famous Catana shipyard. We found some problems which were partially repaired by Afros Yacht Services. After bunkering (without any acceptable meat or fish!) we had a nice dinner at Mira Restaurant and went to sleep on board.

Early on Sunday 11th we set sail west to Sifnos in nice northerly winds at 5bft. We had first to repair some entangled reefing lines and lazy jacks, but then sailed nicely up to 8kn speed. In the afternoon the wind stopped, we trained some MOB maneuvres and finally anchored alone in Ormos Fykadia in the southwestern end of Sifnos.

 

At 9:00 next morning we started with no wind and motored east to Tsigouri Bay in the Small Cyclades to the west of Schoinousa.  On Tuesday we continued with a nice Meltemi further east to Amorgos. According to the reefing table we had to reduce sail to the 2nd reef at 6Bft. After some tacking we slipped into the secure bay of Nikouria on the northwestern coast of Amorgos. Our crew checked the surroundings with our dinghy. After a nice dinner we spent a windy night at anchor which we had to set anew early next morning.
 

Sailing again with 2nd reef and nice speed we passed Keros and Kato Koufonisi next day and anchored finally with land lines in the small Rinha Bay besides the famous cave at the southern coast of Naxos. We had a wonderful swim and explored the cave. Our charterbase sent us an SMS with severe storm warnings for Friday. So we enjoyed Rinha Bay until Thursday noon and then set sail north through Stenon Antiparou to reach Parikia port just in time for the storm. Sadly our last day had to be in port with severe storms up to 52kts or 10bft. In the evening we celebrated our cruise with a nice dinner in Restaurant Dionysos.

Early on Saturday 17th my old crew left and I awaited the new crew for our next cruise.      
We sailed 38 hours and logged 165sm in 6 days.
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Rainy Sailing September in Croatia

Austrian weather forecast warned us about flash floods in Lower Austria. The Marine Meteorological Center Split published warnings about many thunderstorms and heavy rain. So my Austrian crew Biggy, Evi and Ilse put a lot of rain jackets and warm clothes in our car and started our road trip to Trogir on September 11th, 2024. On the way we visited the nice Slovenian city of Ptuj, took a rather wet hike round the beautiful Nacionalni Park Plitvička Jezera with a lot of spectacular waterfalls, and admired the old harbor city of Sibenik.

Saturday 14th in ACI Marina Trogir we met our German crew members Evelyn and Jutta, bought a lot of food and beverages, and boarded our nice catamaran "Sailing Point", a Lagoon 40 from Waypoint Charter in the afternoon. We spent a nice evening with a splendid dinner in Trogir at Restaurant Il Ponte.
Sunday morning after some rain we began our cruise rounding Rt Okrug west of Ciovo island, visiting Blue Lagoon and Maslinica harbor
. 

 

 

 

 

With westerly winds we sailed east along the south coast of Solta to Uvala Jorjy, where we took a buoy and enjoyed very good fish at Restaurant Lero. 

 

 

Early next morning we set sail again with nice westerly winds pushing us along the south coast of Brac. We passed golden Zlatni Rat, Bol, and finally anchored lonely at the eastern tip of Brac island in Uvala Jezero with a spectacular view of the Velebit mountains and the port of Makarska. My crew prepared nice Fussli con Verdura and we enjoyed the evening with nice Austrian wines.  

 

 

On Tuesday 17th morning we took a swim below a wonderful rainbow and sailed southeast to Rt Sucuraj, the eastern tip of Hvar island and then southwest to Uvala Cesminova / Elwac west of peninsula Peljesac, where we anchored alone in this beautiful bay, had Spaghetti con Tonno, and drank some more wine. Next morning after a rainy swim we crossed Korculanski Kanal to the west of Scedro island, where we anchored in Uvala Tufera, again alone in beautiful surroundings and sunny weather. We enjoyed the afternoon swimming and sunbathing. With the help of my ambitious crew I prepared a risotto with cucumbers, lemons, and dill weed. The night we spent rather restless at anchor with intense thunderstorms.

 

With heavy rain and no wind we motored west early in the morning, visited beautiful Hvar harbor, rounded Rt Pelegrin and continued through stormy seas north to Rt Razani, motored through the canal between Solta and Brac and finally reached a nice anchor place in sheltered Uvala Stiniva on the west coast of Brac. We spent a nice evening with a superb dinner with potato casserole and tomato mozzarella and good wines.
 

 

Friday morning we enjoyed the sun again and took a swim in the now crowded bay. After noon we motored northwest through Splitski Kanal, then turned northeast in Trogirski Zaljev and reached our mooring place in ACI Marina Trogir. We celebrated our rainy, but also cozy cruise with a splendid Croatian dinner at Konoba Štorija in ancient Trogir.
Saturday, 20th we left our nice catamaran, our two German ladies reached their flight back home and the rest of us drove back to Austria in some eight pleasant hours.

I enjoyed this cruise very much with this wonderful and self-organized women crew on a nice catamaran in beautiful Croatian waters.
We sailed 30 hours and logged 150 sm in 6 days.
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Cyclades Spring Sail

On Saturday, May 25th 2024 my brother Andreas and I met our crew in Lavrio harbor north of Cape Sounion for our Cyclades cruise. In the spacious myMarket we bought a lot of provisions to be delivered to our boat. Then we went to Olympic Marine 3km south of Lavrio port to deal with the check-in procedures at Hermes Yachting. 

About 14:00 we boarded our catamaran Zoe, a Lagoon 42, and checked her condition. Besides some small items, which were repaired instantly, everything was in good working order. My crew moved into the 4 double cabins and started to prepare our first dinner on board: 

 

 

 

From left to right:
chief technician Felix Huegli,
chief cook Michael Marx,
first helmsman Alois Doerlemann,
fitness specialist Shirani Ediriweera,
assistant cook Andreas Nagler,
skipper Rupert Nagler,
co-skipper Kurt Drexler.

 

 

 

In a 6 bft rather strong Meltemi we left Olympic Marine next morning, rounded the south of Makronisos and set sail with 1st reef to the northern cape of Kea island. As the northerly wind intensified, we reduced sail again to 2nd reef and sailed south east to Fikiadas Bay on the west coast of Kithnos, where we anchored with 25 kn wind in the crowded bay and the crew started preparing dinner. Later we moved to a much more quiet anchor place in Apokrousi Bay and spent a silent night tranquillized by some gin tonics prepared by our barman Felix.

Next morning we started north, rounded the lighthouse Akra Kefalos at the northern tip of Kithnos and continued east with 2nd reef in a strong Meltemi. When the wind grew stronger up to 8 bft we reduced sail again and headed for Delfini Bay on the west coast of Syros, where we anchored in strong gusty winds. During our careful anchoring maneuver the gearbox of the anchor winch broke with a loud bang, but our anchor held tight secured by the strong bridle. We reported the event to the Hermes charter base and arranged for a repair for the next day in near Finikas port. We had a nice dinner: a warm vegetable soup and Thai style red lentils exceptionally prepared by our chefs. Strong gusts swung our catamaran, but the anchor held on during the night.

 

 

 

Tuesday 28th morning we enjoyed a healthy "geriatric porridge" with fruits and honey prepared by our fitness expert Shirani and after a refreshing swim we raised the anchor carefully by hand and motored with nearly no wind to the port of Finikas, where the friendly harbormaster Nikos (Tel: +30 693 714 7248) assigned a practical mooring place at the head of the harbor wall. Soon a skillful technician arrived and mounted a new gearbox for our anchor winch and we were astonished to hear that the same gearbox was repaired only a month ago. Our crew explored the small village, bought some supplies and bread at Ntanos bakery  and visited the Kafenion. We had a rather negligible dinner at ORA Baresto and spent a quiet night in harbor.

 

 

Next morning our chefs bought fresh fish from the local fishermen and then we continued with weak south easterly winds to the famous Kastro Bay on the east coast of Sifnos island. We anchored peacefully in clear turquoise waters, admired the view to Sifnos Kastro and the fresh fish prepared by our ingenious chefs.

 
 

 

 

 

 

Having slept through a quiet night we explored the Castle, the Church of the Seven Martyrs and the nice village with lots of bars. Before noon we lifted the anchor and set sail northwest to the east coast of Kithnos, where we dropped the anchor in quiet Levadakia Bay and enjoyed the evening swimming, dinner and drinks.

 

After an energy generating QiGong training directed by Shirani and a refreshing swim we rounded the northern tip of Kithnos again and sailed in 3-4 bft southerly winds passing to starboard Akra Tamelos - the southern tip of Kea - and finally south Makronisos. At 16:00 we moored at our starting place in Olympic Marine, where we refueled by a tanker crew and the boat was checked by the ambitious crew of Hermes Yachting.

 

 

 

We spent the last night on board and left the boat on Saturday morning, 1st of June 2024. 

For me it was a very pleasant cruise with a most ambitious crew on a sturdy catamaran in beautiful Greek waters.

We sailed 36 hours and logged 180 sm in 6 days.
You may download our track in gpx-format
or view it directly on GoogleMaps.