Advice on Bareboat Companies in Greece

[capnmatt]

Hello all,

We chartered for three weeks in Croatia last summer and had a great timr.
We are now considering checking out Greece next year - probably the Saronic Gulf and/or the Cycladic islands. Thinking mid-September for 2-3 weeks would be a good plan as the Meltemi should be fading by then as well the crowds, but the water should still be fairly warm and most places still open. Anyone see any issues with that timeline?

Also, anyone care to recommend a reputable charter company? We'd be looking for a newer well-outfitted cat in the ~45-50' range. Preference would be for either a Fountaine Pajot, Nautitech, or we might be interested in trying an Excess. Want to avoid Bali and not really a fan of Lagoons - though I seem to end up on them more often than not anyway.

Just doing some rough planning at the moment but value any input you guys can offer.

Thanks!

[JPK]

Not sure how helpful this will be, but we chartered in the Ionian a couple of years ago and had a good experience with Dream Yacht Charter. We chartered a monohull (Bene 51.1), and it was a brand-new boat and reasonably well-outfitted. I see they have mostly Lagoons for cats, though, so that may be a deal breaker for you. early/mid-Sep should be a great time to visit Greece. Still plenty warm but far less crowded than Jun-Aug. Most smaller islands will still be catering to tourists through mid/end-October and the larger islands like Santorini are pretty much year-round nowadays.

[capnmatt]

Thanks for the reply. I have checked into the DYC bases and they could be an option. However, I just wrapped up a completely atrocious charter with one of their Caribbean bases which is leaving me a bit leery at the moment to use the company again. I know that the bases are independently operated and a bad experience at one base doesn't mean the next will be the same so I won't completely take the DYC Europe bases off the table. I have had several other successful charters with both DYC as well as many other companies so perhaps it was just an isolated event.

As far as Lagoons, I've sailed some iteration of most of their recent models and there are some that I would charter and some that I would prefer not to. I've just had a more consistently satisfying experience with other manufacturers. I should add that I've never been on a Leopard so perhaps Moorings or Sunsail are options as well.

Thanks again!

[dhenline]

of the Large Charter companies I think it is hard to beat Moorings/sunsail. maybe not what they used to be but still the most consistent.

[DEAN2140]

I also had an atrocious experience with DYC in St. Thomas but no problems with them in Greece. Nevertheless, I will never charter with them again. I have seen a lot of online ads from Kerioculus (spelling?) in the Med; they tout a wide range of late model boats.