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Old 12-10-2018, 07:13   #1
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Sailing from Greece to Israel/Egypt

Hi there,

Firstly I apologise as I'm sure this probably isn't the right place to post this but I have no idea where to go and google hasn't really given me the answers, so I'm hoping someone here might be able to point me in the right direction.

I'm partway through a 100,000km round-the-world bicycle expedition for charity and am currently in the Balkans on my way south to cycle the length of Africa. My difficulty is that I'm attempting to make it around the world without flying, and I'm having a very hard time getting to Egypt. The only ferry over the Mediterranean has an enormous pricetag attached, and I can't go overland west or east because of Libya and Syria/Iraq respectively. I was hoping to go via Cyprus, but I've emailed a few people and been told that due to the refugee crisis that route is effectively closed.

My only hope now is to try to find a private boat or yacht that is going in that direction and willing to take me on. I'm obviously very willing to work and/or pay, but I have no idea where to look for such a boat and honestly I have no idea as to whether this kind of thing is realistically possible. I'm on my way down to Greece as I'm assuming that would be my best bet, though even that is very much an uneducated guess.

If anyone has any suggestions as to where to look, or advice on how to proceed I'd be very grateful. I know flying will be vastly easier, but as the ride is for charity I'm determined to at least exhaust all options before resorting to a plane.

Thanks very much,

Tristan
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Old 12-10-2018, 17:11   #2
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Re: Sailing from Greece to Israel/Egypt

Hi Tristan,

Sounds like an adventurous trip!

TBH, I think you will have a hard time finding a hard time finding a ride on a private yacht to either of those destinations.

According to noonsite.org Egypt is difficult and expensive to clear into paperwork-wise. The main port of arrival would be Port Said. There is a yacht club, Port Fouad Yacht Club, there that you could contact and see if there are any locals making the trip from Europe back to Greece. This is a super long shot, though. Israel is not much better to sail to.

Even if there is a yacht making this passage, chances are they would not want to take an inexperienced person along for the ride because that person get seasick or cause other problems for the skipper. It's just not worth it, unless you bring something great to the table like being a fabulous cook while leaning 20 degrees in a cramped galley while sailing through waves.

And private yachts can't take paying passengers because they would need to be licensed for charters, although sharing the cost of provisions is okay. Also, charters usually cannot pick up a person in one country and drop them in another. A skipper who would be will to transport you for a fee is pretty sketchy and I would beware of putting my life in the hands of someone like that.

However, if you want to look for a ride you could also try looking on findacrew.net.

Another option might be to look for a cargo ship that accepts passengers. There are various booking agencies that can help you with this. But this option may be more expensive than a flight. Another option would be a ferry to Morocco from Italy or Spain. You could get a ferry from Greece to Italy and then another to Morocco and travel down the west coast of Africa. Check out RometoRio.com for travel options.

Finally, when are you hoping to go? Right now we are headed into winter and that means more storms, so it is not safe for small vessels and even ferries will cancel trips for bad weather.

I'm not trying to rain on your parade and I hope you figure something out, I just wanted to give you a realistic picture of the challenges with this idea. Good luck!
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Old 28-10-2018, 12:55   #3
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Re: Sailing from Greece to Israel/Egypt

Quote:
Originally Posted by BlueSlue View Post
Hi Tristan,

Sounds like an adventurous trip!

TBH, I think you will have a hard time finding a hard time finding a ride on a private yacht to either of those destinations.

According to noonsite.org Egypt is difficult and expensive to clear into paperwork-wise. The main port of arrival would be Port Said. There is a yacht club, Port Fouad Yacht Club, there that you could contact and see if there are any locals making the trip from Europe back to Greece. This is a super long shot, though. Israel is not much better to sail to.

Even if there is a yacht making this passage, chances are they would not want to take an inexperienced person along for the ride because that person get seasick or cause other problems for the skipper. It's just not worth it, unless you bring something great to the table like being a fabulous cook while leaning 20 degrees in a cramped galley while sailing through waves.

And private yachts can't take paying passengers because they would need to be licensed for charters, although sharing the cost of provisions is okay. Also, charters usually cannot pick up a person in one country and drop them in another. A skipper who would be will to transport you for a fee is pretty sketchy and I would beware of putting my life in the hands of someone like that.

However, if you want to look for a ride you could also try looking on findacrew.net.

Another option might be to look for a cargo ship that accepts passengers. There are various booking agencies that can help you with this. But this option may be more expensive than a flight. Another option would be a ferry to Morocco from Italy or Spain. You could get a ferry from Greece to Italy and then another to Morocco and travel down the west coast of Africa. Check out RometoRio.com for travel options.

Finally, when are you hoping to go? Right now we are headed into winter and that means more storms, so it is not safe for small vessels and even ferries will cancel trips for bad weather.

I'm not trying to rain on your parade and I hope you figure something out, I just wanted to give you a realistic picture of the challenges with this idea. Good luck!
Thanks very much for the reply, it looks like I'm probably out of luck then. I'd be looking at heading over some time this month or early December at the latest, so the seasons are against me. A flight is going to be much easier and cheaper, but I didn't want to take one until I'd exhausted other avenues. Oh well. Thanks again for taking the time to answer!
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Old 28-10-2018, 13:12   #4
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Re: Sailing from Greece to Israel/Egypt

You should consider the consequences of having an Israeli stamp on your passport
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Old 10-02-2019, 04:03   #5
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Location: Egypt
Posts: 4
Re: Sailing from Greece to Israel/Egypt

Hi Tristan,


I am interesting to know which option you finally found...???


We are traveling around the world only by hitchhiking.
We hitchhike a ferry from Turkey to Cyprus (well, we explained the project and the company gave us us free tickets in exchange of photographies).
We are now in Cyprus looking for a boat to Israel or Egypt.
Apparently there are many sailboats but only from the Spring...
And also a cruise ferry only from June til October...


To answer the other comments :

No problem with the Israeli stamp, as they stamp on separate paper.
No problem with sailing without experience, as we all did for the first time !
And specially because sailing from Cyprus to Israel just takes 26-30 hours... it is not a big deal and it should be easy to find (in spring and summer)
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