Boat storage in Greece

Eidos getting hauled out on a trailer

View from Eidos

Strong supports mean peace of mind

Several people have asked me whether I'm bothered by or worried about earthquakes while in a boat yard in Greece. Many times (usually around the time of the full moon), I have experienced light tremors while on my boat. Most are minor and feel as if suddenly the wind came up and was causing the rigging to vibrate. Yet there is no wind. I was on board during the 6.3 quake in June, (centered near Patras) and that's all I felt. It actually reminds me that really, the earth is not solid - it's all molten lava inside with only a thin surface crust keeping us from disaster. That's kind of amazing, isn't it?

Anyway, the supports that keep Eidos upright are some of the best ones I've seen. They are specifically made to withstand earthquakes and they actually form a steel cradle - every piece is connected to every other piece with a frame on the ground. I have seen some flimsy ones in other places but not where Eidos is. I would definitely recommend Aktio Marine as an excellent place to leave your boat in Greece. Although, I wish Panos Taverna would stay open all year and that the ferry was still making runs to Preveza...

For more photos of Aktio Marine, click on the menu above.

Eidos' Route from Southern France to Greece

To those of you who are wondering about my route, I'll see if I can get a map posted here. For now, just a short note: We followed the southern coast of France to as far as San Remo, in Italy. Then we crossed over to La Spezia. We visited Cinque Terra villages (very beautiful) by train and then followed the coast to the river Arno from where we visited Pisa and Florence by train.

Next we crossed over to Elba and then to Corsica because I really wanted to see both islands. From Bonifacio (amazing) we sailed to Olbia on the east coast of Sardinia and then crossed back to the Italian mainland at Civitaveccia, just north of Rome (we wanted to get to Rome but the wind pushed us north).

Next we followed the coast as far as Naples (actually Del Greco - fantastic view of Vesuvius) at which point we crossed over to Capri. By then it was October and so we had to skip the Amalfi coast and sailed to Isola Ustica, which is just north of Palermo, Sicily. We stopped in Palermo and then followed the Sicilian coast west and south to cross to Tunisia for the winter.

The next spring we sailed back to Sicily stopping on the way at Pantelleria and then retraced our route back to Palermo followed by the Aolian Islands and Scilla at the entrance to the Strait of Messina. Reggio was our next stop and then Giardini just south of Taormina, Sicily. The view of Mt. Etna is the best from here. Next was the sole and heel of Italy and over to Corfu in Greece.

This is the short version. If I was doing it again I would take longer but marinas in France and Italy are expensive. We often paid between 30 and 50 Euros a night for a 10 meter boat.

I suppose if you were in a hurry, you could cross over to Corsica and then Sardinia, Sicily, through Messina Strait and over to Greece.