Sailing

For sailors planning cruises, whether chartering or living aboard. Compares many cruising areas of Europe, giving opinions about highlights and challenges.
 

Messinia

A tourist guide to Messinia, in the SW Peloponese (our summer home). How to get there; things to see and do; every harbour and anchorage,  accommodation in Finikounda, our house and houses for sale.

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Copyright Jim Baerselman.
Updated regularly
Last update - 18 Nov 09

In preparing the Sailing  site I've had great help from the Cruising Association - whose library is a world class resource.

Please email us with any corrections and comments

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Navigating This Site

The Sailing content of this site is being extended, with far more detail added, then being published on the Cruising Association (CA) member's web site. This is possible due to major contributions from CA members. The CA website now has a very detailed Mediterranean Cruising Guide, and a detailed section on 'Going Foreign' (the legal and administrative aspects of going cruising). Tidal Europe will be added later, then the Baltic.

This site will remain available to all sailors, with wider coverage of the Mediterranean due in March 2011 (Adriatic, Turkey and the Levant). The detail won't increase. I'll leave that to the CA, they're good at it.

     1. What the site offers

     2. About Us: If you really want to know . . . here

     3. Site Index: Links to take you straight there

     4. News: What's changed and when    

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What the Site Offers:

Sailing

"Information to help skippers plan cruises in Europe."

 Our 'Sailing' pages compare most of the best cruising areas from N Scotland to Turkey. We give opinions highlighting the challenges, the delights and the differences to make your choice of sailing area and destinations easier.

From the main Sailing page you reach detail pages covering N Spain, the Balearics, Sicily & Malta, Sardinia & Corsica, and Greece (which is yet further subdivided into East, West and North.) Turkey and the Adriatic will be added next.

Messinia

"Information for visitors to Messinia".

Messinia, in the SW Peloponese, is an area easily explored from Finikounda, our summer home. Our guide includes places to see, things to do, travel advice, bus time tables, accommodation links, information about some houses for sale, and how to buy them. The travel bit is useful for yachts wintering in Kalamata.

Navigating

Many links open new windows - so you can refer to a map or table while reading the text. Keep both windows minimum size to make this easy. I haven't yet learnt how to make the new windows pop up at the best size . . .

Telling People

If you find the site useful, please tell your friends. It's easy to find - Google 'jimb', 'jimb sail' or 'jimb greece'. And if you find mistakes, have differences of opinion, or wish to add anything - please email us.

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Who we Are

We're Jim and Caroline Baerselman, a name of Dutch origin, pronounced 'Barzulman'.  After a 15 year second career as a tour operator (offering sail and windsurf holidays in the Mediterranean) I sold up and bought a boat for me to use . . .

From 1996 to 2006 we sailed the coastlines of Europe - from Scotland to Turkey - living aboard Rapaz, our 40ft yacht. The areas we visited are compared in the Sailing part of this website. We give opinions, not to create a pilot guide (lots of people do that better), but to highlight the 'must sees' and 'don't bothers' we discovered.

We still sail a few weeks each year, but our last long live-aboard cruise was in 2006, after which we bought a summer house in our favourite spot, Finikounda, in the SW Peloponese. The rest of this site is a tourist guide to our area, Messinia, with full information on how to get here from UK, places to see and local rental possibilities.  We've also built a couple of small houses next door - they're for sale.

If you're passing by, txt us on +44 7802 853564, and we'll pop down to the quay to have a beer - and quiz you for opinions and updates.

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Site Contents, or Index:

(click on the underlined headings to go there)

2.  Sailing   Broad brush comparisons of the sailing areas of Europe, with more detail on the following separate pages:

2.1    N Spain  Detail
2.2    Balearics  Detail
2.3    Corsica & Sardinia  Detail
2.4    Sicily & Malta  Detail
2.5    Greece  Compares the Greek cruising areas

2.5.1   W Greece, Ionian  Detail

          2.5.1.1   Messinia  Even more detail! Including tourist guide and travel

2.5.2   E Greece, S Aegean  Detail

2.5.3   E Greece, Evia & N Aegean  Detail

2.5.4   Port Police Procedure  How the inconsistent Greek paperwork rules are applied

          2.6    Annexes (appear in separate windows)
                   2.6.1    Our Prejudices  So you can put our judgements into perspective . . .
                   2.6.2    Going Foreign  (in draft - not yet available) paperwork for yacht  & Crew
                   2.6.3    Yacht Equipment (in draft - not yet available)
                              2.6.3.1   For the Med  (in draft - not yet available)   
                              2.6.3.2   For the Baltic (in draft - not yet available)            

3.  Messinia  A tourist guide to SW Peloponese from Pylos to the Mani peninsula, including how to get there, accommodation, all the places to visit and all the anchorages we know . . .

3.1   Travel to Messinia

          3.1.1    Flight schedules and links

3.1.2    From Athens by Car

                  Car kilometres

3.1.3    From Athens by Bus

                  Bus Time Tables

3.2  Finikounda Accommodation  A good centre to explore Messinia from. Links to local accommodation sites, descriptions of Dion Zois Villas and our house.

3.3 Houses for Sale
          3.3.1  New Villa a new single storey 2 bed, 2 bathroom house 
          3.3.2  Big House a three level 4 bed, 2 bathroom house
          3.3.3  How to Buy a House in Greece

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Site News:

25 Nov 2009; Mediterranean material considerably expanded and published on Cruising Association member's web site

Update History

10 Aug 09.  Detail corrections to Greece, Balearics and Sicily.

09 Jun 09  Travel schedules updated to summer frequencies

09 Apr 09  Flight schedules and links added, bus timetables updated.

28 Oct 08  Site split into two main areas; 'Sailing', and 'Messinia' to simplify navigation. Houses for sale added

20 Jun 08  Finikounda accommodation added to Messinia section, travel updated.

10 Jun 08  Some missing links repaired on the Greece section, improving access to the detail pages.

9 Jun 08   Tourist guide to Messinia (bus time tables, taxi fares, flight links, car hire)  updated and expanded.

15 Apr 08  Added N Greece, More Greece maps. Split Greece into three sections.

15 Jan 08  Added Corsica & Sardinia.

16 Dec 07  Added S Spain, Portugal detail (Ria Guadinia).

9 Oct 07   Greece - Refined port police procedure, added considerable Ionian detail.

1 Sep 07   Sicily. More detail added.

19 Jul 07   Greece, added wintering options around Athens.

06 Jul 07   Additions to N Spain and S Spain.

1 May 07   Balearics detail pages added, plus Atlantic S Iberia edits and more maps.

8 Feb 07   Added Sicily, Aeolian Islands and Malta.

20 Jan 07  Added Baltic with links, extended Portugal coverage, edited maps.

Oooops!   . . .