This first entry to our blog has been a long time coming, but I have put it off until now when we are closer to taking delivery of our 6th yacht in Greece. It will be our 2nd catamaran and we look forward to safe and happy travels on board. We have done this trip before, when in 2008 we purchased a Bavaria 49 monohull in Croatia and sailed it back to Australia. Making the decision to do the trip again had us drooling and dribbling over boat books and hours on the internet. We had a year of delay with Gary having a cornea transplant but we used the time to research the extras needed to cross 2 oceans safely. Of course by the time the eye was given the all clear, we had an enormous list of wants and needs. The falling Australian dollar didn’t seem to deter our list building. We used our experience to decide on which items were non negotiable and which ones were moved to the bottom of the list. Now came the serious part and that was a choice of a vessel. We decided on a catamaran this time and had one all but signed up when the seller hung out for more money. Then we found “Panormitis, a Lagoon 410S2, which we thought we could make our home for the 19 months or so to sail back to Australia. At first we had ideas of changing the name but we found the name comes from a Greek guardian of sailors who is celebrated on the island of Symi at the Panormitis monastery. Taking that into account we have decided to leave it be.
Dealing with the Croatian authorities was stressful but our experience with the Greeks is time consuming and drawn out. We are still waiting, now over a month, for the de-registration of the yacht in Greece before we can reregister it as an Australian vessel. We had thought we would have everything sorted with Canberra before leaving but right now that doesn’t appear to be happening. I must however give huge thanks to our brokers here in Australia, Rod Waterhouse and David Renouf, who have kept on top of the toing and froing between here and Greece.
We leave here on 17th March arriving in Athens about 2pm on 18th. We have arranged a hire car for a few days to get the lay of the land before moving on board. “Panormitis” is currently out of the water having her bottom cleaned and anti-fouled at Lavrion port, where we will take delivery of her. We have 364 kgs of stuff being sent over so the first week or so will be taken up with fitting and storing and generally getting to know our new home.