AEGEAN : ODYSSEY : One family’s leisurely, seven-day voyage through the Greek islands aboard a chartered yacht

Instead of sailing among the islands of Greece aboard a cruise ship last summer, our family--my wife Sue, our 19-year-old son Steve and I--decided to charter a yacht. For seven glorious days our home was a 40-foot sailboat called the Electra.

We’d chartered in Greece before, and earlier in the British Virgin Islands, but this trip was special.

On our first night out we tied up at the island of Poros, where we drank wine, enjoyed a good pate with our Greek captain, Mario Kypriotis, listened to music and watched the parade of passers-by on the quay.

Poros offers no organized shore tours, but one can rent motor scooters or horse-drawn carriages. We strolled to a fragrant citrus grove and on to a distant promontory to watch the sunset. Later, near midnight, we climbed a winding road uphill to a little church to look down at the lights of the harbor.

During our seven-day idyll, we found quiet coves where we anchored and swam and snorkeled in the clear, warm Aegean.

Chartering has drawbacks, of course. It’s not for everyone. While it is possible to charter spacious boats with luxurious quarters, a 40-foot boat is crowded. Sleeping quarters are cramped, sometimes uncomfortably hot.

After experiencing several charters and some houseboat trips, we’ve concluded that one must automatically discount whatever is said to be a boat’s space for pleasure. The Electra is supposed to sleep 11. We consider it adequate for a family of five.

All the same, the Electra is particularly well-outfitted and maintained. It has excellent electronic gear, a good galley and all of the extra toys a boat owner accumulates.

Still, the refrigerator did not work well, and ice was difficult to find ashore at some stops. Yet when these amenities appear readily one day in the Greek isles, sailing for us will have lost a certain appeal.

We chartered through Valef Yachts in Piraeus, which claims to own or manage the largest fleet of rental yachts in Greece, and to do about 70% of the U.S. business in boats of up to 100 feet. They charter no flotillas or boats under 30 feet, and about half of their customers come from California.

Valef, which is run by Bill Lefakinis, a leader in developing Greek yacht chartering, has been in the business since 1969. Three hours after we dropped by his office he had a boat available to inspect, a captain ready to sail, a contract to sign and our $2,450 in traveler’s checks in hand. The charter totaled $1,960 and the captain’s services were $70 a day.

Next morning we bought provisions for breakfasts and lunches, planning to tie up at a different island or harbor each afternoon, dine ashore and sail mid-morning the next day.

Buying food on a vacation, particularly in a foreign country, is a pleasant experience. In a little store in Piraeus, with guidance from the proprietor, we bought cheeses, smoked salmon, sardines, salami, Greek olives, pate, fruit juice, coffee, fresh peaches, nectarines, melons and oranges, cookies, a case of beer, a case of soft drinks, a bottle of Metaxa and a few bottles of a dry white wine we’d discovered in Athens. About $75 worth in all.

Once underway we discovered how fortunate we were to be sailing with Kypriotis, who owns the Electra. He was born on the island of Spetsai and educated by English teachers at a school styled after Eton. Later, he studied economics and lived in London, Saudi Arabia and Nigeria, where he met his English wife, Christine.

The couple live in a condominium overlooking the harbor of Piraeus. A fine seaman, companion and guide, he greatly enhanced our cruise with his intelligence and sense of humor. It was odd, though, to hear a Greek season his conversation with words such as “bloke” and “jolly well.” When I offered him a Dunhill cigar, he pronounced it “lovely.”

Zorba didn’t talk like that.

Our first stop en route to Poros was in a cove off Aiyina (Aegina), where we dropped anchor to swim in the turquoise water near the rocky shore.

We were less than half a day into our cruise, only a few days since we had left San Francisco, but already the stress was beginning to melt away.

Over the next seven days we stopped overnight at Poros, at Ermioni on the Peloponnesus (a large leaf-like peninsula comprising southern Greece), at Spetsai and Idhra (Hydra). One night we tied up at Vathy, a small fishing village on a peninsula called Methana, and the final night we berthed at the town of Aiyina on the island of that name.

Altogether, we covered 147 miles. Our longest sail was 4 1/2 hours, and each of our stops was different.

Poros is extensively wooded, with olive and citrus groves, while Idhra is almost devoid of vegetation. Slow-growth ordinances are not needed on Idhra, the only motorized vehicles permitted being two garbage trucks. All building materials must be carried up the cobbled streets of its steep hills by donkey power.

About 80% of Spetsai is preserved in trust, thanks to a wealthy Greek who bought up land whenever it became available. Another benefactor has preserved a good part of Spetsopoula, an island near Spetsai.

As we sailed past one small island, Mario Kypriotis told us of a very old man who, if you stop, will prepare a meal for his visitors.

In Aiyina the skipper directed us to a restaurant near the fish market that he described as “cheap, fresh, dirty and delicious.” He was right on all counts. For four of us and a guest, the meal of barbecued octopus, shrimp, marinated peppers, cold cucumbers and a tiny fresh-caught fish called therina cost 1,700 drachma (about $12 U.S.), including several small carafes of chilled white retsina wine.

Still, Fodor’s guidebook on Greece may be near the mark when it describes Greek food as “never good enough to travel for and not bad enough to keep anyone away.” The same dishes appear over and over again.

On Idhra, however, we found surprise relief from stuffed leaves, moussaka, salade Greque , calamari and brochettes at a fine French restaurant called La Granouille. Dinner was served in a courtyard framed with brilliant red bougainvillea and fragrant honeysuckle.

A cruise, of course, can be combined with visits to other, more distant islands. When ours was over, we flew to Crete and also traveled by fast ferry to Thira (Santorin), where we spent two days.

Our artfully designed room in Thira’s Kavalari Hotel (rate: about $125 double a night) was built into a cliff overlooking the sea. At the Scirocco restaurant a few steps away, we sat in the early evening watching the fiery sunset and listening to classical music.

Everywhere we went we were welcomed warmly, but nowhere so much as on Crete.

On the Fourth of July we visited an American, Dorothy Andrews, an artist who has lived on Crete for 30 years. Her home overlooks the old harbor at Khania. Now an energetic, upbeat 70, she delivered us over a rocky road to a monastery built in 1540, high above Khania.

That night, back at the Knossos Beach Hotel (rates: $100 double, $80 single), the Fourth of July was celebrated with a display of fireworks from the nearby U.S. air base.

Then came our desserts. Each was decorated with an American flag and topped with a lighted sparkler. Could there be a better reminder that it was time to return home?

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For the 1990 season, May through September, Valef offers a seven-day charter yacht cruise for $2,450. Captain’s services are $80 a day. Contact Valef Yachts, 7254 Fir Road, Ambler, Pa. 19002, toll-free (800) 223-3845 or (215) 641-1624. In Greece it’s Valef Yachts, 22 Akti Themistokleous, Gr 185 36, Piraeus, Greece.

Other charter yacht companies offering similar packages in Greece include: Padomar Yachts, 150-15 23rd Ave., Whitestone, N.Y. 11357, (718) 539-2126, and Privar Yachts, 1424-A Larimer St., Suite 201, Denver, Colo. 80202, (303) 825-2956.

For more information on yacht chartering in Greece, including a list of charter companies, contact the Greek National Tourist Organization, 611 West 6th St., Suite 1998, Los Angeles 90017, (213) 626-6696.