News and Blog

For the first time this year, the rain joined us as we left Athens for the final flotilla of the year. Naias and Kalliopi joined Margarita for this all-Canadian departure and in true Greek weather style, the rain only stayed with us for one day until the beautiful September sun came back. In Hydra, Tony from Kalliopi and Brian from Margarita thrilled us all with their excellent musical talents playing the restaurant’s guitar. Tony we thoroughly enjoyed the Beatles medley, thank you for providing such ‘on the spot’ entertainment. Leaving Hydra, the meltemi winds were kind to us and allowed us to have an overnight anchorage on the south western tip of Milos and a fantastic BBQ of lamb, chicken and pork under the stars. Ios and Paros followed where we said goodbye to the crew of Kalliopi at wonderful Apollon restaurant. Heading back to Athens, Friday turned out to be the best sailing day of the flotilla and Naias and Margarita enjoyed hour after hour of wonderful winds taking us into Alimos marina for a spectacular sunset arrival to end the 2012 Mediterranean season.  

Arriving back in Greece on 8 September, the intense summer heat had gone and we were treated to beautiful blue sky days and cooler evenings with our new friends a family from Brazil.  Margarita left Athens mid afternoon and set sail on a lovely downwind passage to Poros; it was dark by the time we arrived so we toasted a great first day with an excellent bottle of champagne. Thank you family Ellery, having a bottle of champagne every other night was a real treat! Hyda came next and then onto Kithnos where we had a fantastic night on anchor at Aghios Yiannis bay. That night while, enjoying music and wine on the beach, we cooked chicken, spicy sausage and beef burgers on the hickory charcoals. We then ate like kings enjoying the best view in the house…dining under a million twinkling stars above. The next morning we took a leisurely morning walk along the beach with the other two bay inhabitants…local donkeys and after swimming and kayaking we left our private paradise and headed for Kea our last island stop. Thank you family Ellery for being such wonderful people, it was a delight to have you on board and show you a little piece of Greece.  You can view all the pictures from this trip on facebook.

It’s been a hot, windy (and not so windy) fun start to the season and this year we decided to head to the UK for the summer break. With family and friends in England, it was a great opportunity to catch up with everyone and also to meet with our website partners Webfuel from Nottingham. We’re really pleased that this year we have greeted many more British sailors who wanted to experience a more challenging flotilla into the Cyclades and a ‘see it all’ flotilla in Croatia. We hope to be back in the UK at one of the boat or travel shows soon and we look forward to sailing with many more British sailors in 2013!  For now we hope that you enjoy looking through the 2012 pictures that we’ve uploaded onto the Poseidon Charters facebook page. We’d love to see more of your pictures if you’ve travelled with us this summer. We’ll be back with more Aegean Adventure stories from 15 September.

Bidding a sad farewell to Croatia for another year the Poseidon crew headed back to Greece for a late booking and an additional departure for us.  In Athens we greeted two families from the UK and the States. With us aboard Margarita, was Granddad Len who was treating his teenage grandchildren to a holiday of a lifetime sailing the Greek isles. Aboard Polykandros from London UK were Mum and Dad Thompson and their teenage children and friends. After spending a night in Poros, we arrived for the harbour fun of Hydra, circling like vulchers for a good 2 hours to get a secure spot for Margarita and Polykandros! Med mooring and rafting is really unique in small Hydra and Polykandros was joined by lines from 10 other yachts by sunset. That evening the flotilla enjoyed a great happy hour (or two) over a few glasses of Pimms prepared by the UK gang and a wonderful dinner at Kristina and Manolas taverna. We spent two nights in Hydra then the flotilla headed to Kithnos and Kea before returning to Athens. It was a fun but all too brief sail – one-week flotillas fly by quickly so we really hope to see both of our families from England and the States back for a longer trip to Greece or Croatia next time! You can view all the pictures from this trip on facebook.

Since the start of the season in Croatia the heat had been intense with every weather report promising a change that never appeared! The change did arrive today upon entering charming Sipan with the clouds becoming pretty ominous just before dinner. By the time we sat down at wonderful Kod Marka restaurant, the lightening had started and when drinks arrived so did the torrential downpour sending us all scurrying for cover from the bucket loads of water coming down from the darkened sky. After dinner the girls of the flotilla decided to have a girls night only cocktail evening – taking the dinghy back to the yacht in 25mph gusts of wind proved challenging but hilarious for those watching on shore and from the yachts! The Bora winds definitely kept us on our toes all night and the rain the next day gave us our first wet weather sailing day of the season. Arriving in Korcula, the rain stopped and the sun smiled down on us once again giving the crews the chance to enjoy a wonderful evening people watching, exploring and shopping Korcula’s beautiful back streets. You can view all the pictures from this trip on facebook. 

The past week had flown by so quickly with new friendships found however, it was time to bid a sad farewell to two of our yachts on flotilla. After docking in Hvar and the crews walking up to the citadel to view stunning Hvar town, a ‘Captain Morgan’ happy hour commenced followed by a night of dance moves in Carpe Diem bar. John and Troy aboard Marijana, your sailing skills and expert docking in windy Vrulje made med mooring look simple but it’s been your crew’s sense of fun that has made this trip great for everyone. Richard, Lulu and family aboard Desire, it was wonderful getting to know a little about your lives in Bermuda and watch the children having fun searching for shells in the harbours with family Benard’s children. We wish family Neames from Bermada and our new Aussie friends a safe trip home – we really hope you can all join us in Greece in the future. 

While getting ready to leave Skradin for the Kornati islands, the Australian crew aboard Marijana reported over the VHF…”we have a stowaway on board” It transpired that the stowaway was a very scared tabby cat newly named Cruso who had been hiding out on Marijana since Split and had taken a few days to appear. Dan couldn’t believe what he was seeing when first thing in the morning he saw Crusoe entering Troy’s cabin! Unable to catch Crusoe to take him for a dinghy ride to shore, the crew aboard Marijana had no choice but to leave Crusoe aboard to sail for the day – being healed over, Crusoe decided that the safest place to hide was behind the stove. Bites of tuna and ham didn’t tempt him out from behind the stove, but a bit of peace and quiet in Vrulje did and upon our return from a fantastic lamb and fish peka (casserole) dinner at Robinson’s restaurant Crusoe had left Marijana to start a new life in the Kornati islands. 

With a change of crew aboard Rhapsody, we left Split to rendezvous with our flotilla yachts in the turquoise waters of Primosten. We were delighted to have the Bernard family from France back with us on flotilla aboard Daniela, the Neames family from Bermuda aboard Desire and a great group of friends from Australia aboard Marijana. A marked change in the weather meant we could enjoy a fantastic first day sail, with the new Rhapsody crew from Australia, USA and Canada practicing their tacking skills every 5 mins up the Krka River. The heavy winds arrived that evening and kept us in Skradin for two nights, a harsh contrast to the lack of wind on our last trip! 

Leaving the island of Mljet we headed to ACI Marina Dubrovnik, the marina has a swimming pool, fantastic showers and Old Dubrovnik is only a short bus ride away. The wind by this point had pretty much vanished and with everyone feeling the intense heat a dip in the pool was a real delight. The next day, the crews took in the sites of Dubrovnik’s old town and the incredible view that a 2-hour walk around the walled city offers – since the war in the 1990’s, Dubrovnik has been in a constant state of repair and reminders of it’s recent turbulent history are evident making it a thought provoking excursion. Leaving Dubrovnik…Canadian Doctor Mitch now with the Stoll’s aboard Arkina for the day (Mitch we do like the fact you offer a ‘drop in’ surgery aboard all of the yachts!) we motored to Sipan. Little wind made it impossible to even get the flags to move on the shrouds so unfortunately there was no sailing but that evening we had a real treat at Konoba Kod Marka restaurant. Course after course of smoked tuna salad, octopus cakes and amber jack for those ordering fish – with the view of the yachts from the restaurant it made for a perfect evening. Approaching the end of this trip, we stopped in Korcula and Stari Grad, Hvar where we enjoyed a relaxing two nights in preparation for our return to Split. Covering over 400 miles and seeing the best of Croatia, we were thrilled we had such a great group of people with us on this very hot, light wind trip of 2012. It’s been a real pleasure getting to know the crew aboard Anambra and all aboard Rhapsody from Canada and USA – Paul, Ella, Helen and Mitch thank you for all your help in the galley. Howard and crew board Maya and family Stoll aboard Arkina, it has been a true delight having so many fun ‘Aussies’ with us. Una we are thrilled you can now swim!!