Want to explore the Mediterranean coastline and love boating but don’t want to break the bank? We spent 5 weeks helping an owner sail his Lagoon 440 Catamaran and it didn’t break the bank! In fact, it basically put our bank accounts on hold! In return for being keen and willing helping hands on board, Moss and I were provided with food and a bed on board during our 5 week Mediterranean adventure.
How we found a boat in the Mediterranean
A few months prior to departing New Zealand, I convinced my partner Moss, to sign up to a boat crew website I had found called findacrew. We were able to link our profiles (as a team) and just over a month before setting off on our travels, were contacted by a New Zealand boat owner who needed help sailing his Lagoon 440 Catamaran on a journey that would take five weeks in the Mediterranean!
So we flew to Athens, caught a bus to Preveza in Greece and spent the next five weeks learning on the go, while sailing to an island in Italy called Sardinia. Yes, believe it or not – I knew zip, zilch, nothing about sailing before reaching Athens.. I just knew an awful lot about powerboats and jet skis!!
Five weeks sailing from Greece to Sardinia
When we first arrived at Cleopatra Marina in Greece, the boat was out of the water and in need of preparation. So, thanks to John’s (the owner/skippers) knowledge and patience, he spent the first few days teaching us the basics of sheet, fenders, bow lines etc. It was incredible to watch the boat being transported into the water and our first destination was Paxos!
We woke early and began our journey from Greece to Italy at 6am, seeing the sunrise and then launching straight into 3 hour shifts of watch. The best way to describe the situation is that you switch into a different mode. It is almost like a long haul flight where you are conscious of grabbing sleep where possible, even though it may only be midday and you would normally still have a tonne of energy.
We managed to sail for a couple of hours but the wind was often from slightly the wrong angle or just not quite strong enough. However, by the time Moss and I took over watch at 3am the wind had picked up drastically and those waves were nerve racking! The combination of a pitch dark night, sailing along at 7 knots and seeing weird red lights flashing on the horizon certainly got my adrenaline pumping! There is also difference between actual wind and true wind. At some stages we were reaching an actual wind of 27 knots.. and for the sake of not terrifying mum, I’m not going to say what the true wind was and what the swell was like!
After crossing the time line, and about 28 hours later, we had travelled about 190 Nortial Miles and arrived in Roccella Ionica to find a Russian replica of a Viking boat that was being sailed around the world! From there, our journey continued and we even enjoyed a few days exploring Siracusa, Sicily.
We had already had a long day when we arrived in a harbour where we came across what appeared to be abandoned boats from Tunisia in Sicily. Our yachting book gave specific instructions of where we were allowed to anchor for free overnight so we settled in and put the tender in the water to get a closer look at the boats shown above. Seeing the half sunken boat should have rung the alarm bells of the corruption in this harbour! Within an hour we had survived a long argument with the local coastguard (we now call them the Mafia) in very broken English over them wanting to fine us 2000 euro for anchoring in their marina without paying first. Lets just say, we left as quick as we could, motored throughout the night and never paid the fine!
At 5am the following morning, we arrived in Favignana. By this stage we were all dying to step foot off the boat and relax for a day. So Moss went freediving, we explored the amazing little town and walked to the castle on top of the hill in time to see the sunset.
The next day it was time to do the final long haul journey, so we began the 23 hour flat calm cruise to Sardinia where the ocean was a surprising 5 degrees warmer! We spent a few days in Sardinia, and since we had reached our destination earlier than anticipated, John treated us with a visit to Bonifacio in Corsica, France.
Bonifacio in Corsica, France
An island near Sardinia
Cala Ganone, Sardinia
