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.
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.
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