EDITOR'S NOTE: Today, we offer Part Two of a seven-day series on boat-related vacations that leave the steering, cooking and maintenance to somebody else. For more about this series and why we did it, please see the Room 13 blog.
I'm talking to Pavlo the Sailor in a back-alley Piraeus café, where mustachioed old men come each morning to sip Greek coffee under bluing Titanic posters and generic wall murals of the Acropolis. It was two days before I was scheduled to sail the Greek islands, and this is my favorite way to pass time in Athens' old industrial port town. The harbor sits just three blocks away, and apart from the café, every shop in the alley sells buoys, lines and life preservers.
Though he tells me he has plenty of experience at sea, Pavlo doesn't look much like a sailor: no wool cap, no bristly beard, no faded tattoos. He looks more like a scientist: slight build, clean-shaven, graying hair and an intense gaze. When I tell him what I do for a living, he nods approvingly and lights a Marlboro. "If you're going to write an article about sailing in Greece," he says, "you must mention Odysseus."
"I don't want to write about myths," I tell him. "I want to see the Greek islands as they are today. Besides, Odysseus sailed to Ithaca. I'll be sailing in the Cyclades.
Pavlo puffs on his cigarette and thinks this over. "I have seen the Cyclades many times," he says. "Each visit to each island depends on when you go, who you go with, and how long you stay."
"Exactly," I say. "It's subjective. That's why Odysseus has nothing to do with me." Pavlo's eyes glitter at me through a cloud of smoke. "Ah, but you're wrong," he says. "That's why Odysseus has everything to do with you."
MYTHIC SEAS, REAL WAVES
There are many ways to get on the water, and not all of them involve sitting in the captain's chair. While we all love our boats, planning a vacation as a passenger this winter will allow you to travel to exotic waters while leaving the hassles to someone else. It's a strong antidote to the dreary, landlocked days some of us have in store.
To lend some inspiration to your planning, Mad Mariner is publishing a story every day this week that highlights vacations both exotic and aquatic - vacations to places like the Greek islands.
Three hours after my conversation with Pavlo, I find myself in eight-foot seas off the coast of Serifos Island, trying not to vomit as I wrap the mainsheet onto the winch of a 55-foot sailboat. The boat's skipper, an unflappable 33-year-old Californian named Max Fancher, comes over to assess my work. "You almost got it," he says diplomatically. "Only you should probably wrap it clockwise instead of counterclockwise, since the winch only goes in one direction."
Nodding at my own mistake (as all sailors know, this is a blatant flub, vaguely akin to putting on underwear over the outside of your pants) I unwrapped the winch and started over. In spite of my seasickness and nautical ineptitude, I'm happy to be sailing into the heart of the Cyclades–a stunningly beautiful archipelago of two-dozen major islands spread across 5,000 square miles of the Aegean, south and east of the Greek mainland. Indeed, when most people envision Greek islands, the Cyclades are what they see: dramatic cliffs and golden beaches; ridges crowned with blue-domed churches; harbors clustered with whitewashed cubist houses.
To glimpse these islands from the seat of a plane or the deck of a commercial ferry is no doubt a thrill, but I've resolved to explore them in the purest sense. Just as the Sahara is best seen by camel and Machu Picchu ideally approached by the Inca Trail, I was wagering the Cyclades are best experienced from the deck of a sailboat.
The only problem with this plan is that I know very little about sailing–and that's why I joined on with a six-boat flotilla organized by Berkeley-based OCSC Sailing. Our two-week goal was to island-hop through the Cyclades to the gorgeous volcanic crescent of Santorini, then loop our way back to Athens–a journey of nearly 300 nautical miles. Most of the 46 sailors in our flotilla are folks who have trained for months on San Francisco Bay specifically for this kind of experience; others, like Gar Dukes and Nicole Friend, who helm the Dafne, are sharpening their sailing skills in anticipation of buying their own boat and sailing it around the world.
Max FancherThe Cyclades are two dozen islands spread across 5,000 miles of sea. Among them are popular destinations like Santorini and Mykonos, and less-traveled areas like Serifos.
My boat, the Assos, consists of Captain Max, his wife Maggie Holmes, a first mate, a photographer, and five female novices ranging in age from 25 to 36. Like me, the other novices came here to mix a hands-on vacation in the Greek islands with informal sailing instruction. Unlike the sailing lessons OCSC offers on San Francisco Bay, this experience does not involve book study or comprehensive training. Rather, those who want to get a taste of sailing are invited to learn the lines by helping with the day-to-day operation of the boat.
