3
Cycladic circumnavigation in two weeks in october
Sergey
Oct 2019
Automatically translated.
View original
Before this cruise, I had never been to Greece, but I had been eyeing it for a long time. This year (autumn 2019) everything came together. The crew consisted of 6 people: two couples plus two girls. Everyone had sailed many times before, not beginners, but we didn't want any extreme experiences. The potential cruising area was outlined around the islands of the Saronic Gulf and the Cyclades, depending on the weather forecast at the time of the trip. The Cyclades were prioritized. The travel time was from October 5 to 19, 2019; we really wanted to extend the short Siberian summer. The boat was a Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 45 from 2007. The boat was not new, but in decent condition. Pros included fresh sails from 2019, a large fresh water tank that allowed us not to worry about saving on comfort, and a spacious salon. The boat had a bow thruster, which is relevant for tight Greek marinas. Formally, the boat has four double cabins, but in the bow, it would be cramped for two people unless they are dwarfs or skinny teenagers. Since there were six of us, there was enough space for everyone to be comfortable, with one person in the bow cabins. The cons included a non-working bilge pump, and the shower pump pumped half of the contents not overboard, but under the floorboards into the bilge. After showering, we had to manually dry the bilge since, I repeat, the bilge pump was not working. It was not a major inconvenience, but it would have been better if it hadn't happened. Another downside was that the boat had no black water tank, not at all. We discovered that in Greek marinas, there are usually no toilets and showers, so "waste products" are sent overboard and float next to the boat, which is not good. Otherwise, the boat performed well, was quite fast, and very well balanced under sail, economical under diesel. The route taken was Athens (Delta Marina) - Kythnos - Syros - Mykonos - Naxos - Paros - Milos - Hydra - Poros - Aegina - Athens. The impressions of the Cyclades are very positive, and this is undoubtedly the main result of the trip. Charming villages (Chora on Kythnos and others), swimming in hot springs (again Kythnos), cozy towns (Ermoupolis on Syros, Paros), the noise and fun of popular resorts (Mykonos), breathtaking views of the beaches of Milos, ancient ruins (Milos, Aegina). Everyone was delighted. We were lucky with the weather. In two weeks, there was only one cloudy day with a little rain. The other days were sunny and windy, sometimes very windy. We swam every day, with water temperatures around 22-23°C. The air was about the same, but it felt hotter. For us, Siberians, it was quite a real summer. We love you, Greece!