I had never been on a sailing holiday but recently separated I searched the internet to find a holiday that didn’t mean me looking pathetic all alone in a hotel bar or restaurant, I also wanted a bit of an adventure. My friend who has sailed quite a lot recommended I consider a sailing holiday. I wanted to go somewhere hot, have good food and meet new people, it seemed perfect.
I found lots of sailing holidays but only found one that catered for people in age groups i.e. over 50s and I didn’t want to be on a yacht with married couples.
After much searching I booked with a sailing company that caters for different age groups and I chose to go around the Greek Islands, flying to Athens. I was full of trepidation, I didn’t know what the other ‘crew’ would be like, would I be sea sick? Would I actually even like sailing?
I can honestly say the whole experience was amazing. I loved the others on my yacht, 3 other girls, similar age, all over 50, the skipper was funny and fascinating. The trip took us to 7 different islands on a 7 day trip, we ate breakfast and lunch on board, buying fresh bread olives cheeses etc as we sailed, we moored in beautiful bays for lunch swam relaxed had a drink or two! Each afternoon we would go into harbour and take a walk around the island swim or simply people watch from our lovely yacht feeling very special! Each night tavernas are booked for everyone so there is no worrying about eating alone, it’s a lovely experience. You can share a cabin, as I did, (I shared twice with girls I had never met before and they were both wonderful) or have your own berth (more expensive) if you are a couple you can also sail, in fact I loved it so much I also went sailing in to Croatia with the same company, there were 3 yachts in the flotilla, one over 50s married couples one over 50s singles yacht and another couples yacht with 8 Norwegians on board (brilliant people) the tavernas / konobas are all booked in advance and the food on both trips were both lovely and reasonable. You can also mix up the ages on these trips as they have family flotillas. The company is a small one but established since around 2003 and the owner of the company is a guy who loves putting the trips together and is a real foodie, often ordering for the whole party at dinner to be sure everyone tries new dishes, especially in Greece when ordering meze.
You don’t need to be fit, you can join in the sailing activities if you want or simply lie on deck. I checked my travel insurance as sailing is deemed an activity holiday but because the boats don’t sail more than 3 miles from the coastline there are no addition costs but you should just check that. You can use mobiles etc on board and we would use the cafe/restaurants to charge up, they never mind.
The reason I’m writing this review is because I haven’t seen any sailing holidays on silver travel, only cruises and sailing is such a fabulous holiday at any age, one of my sailing buddies was 84 and put me to shame jumping into the water! Everyone mixes, there are people from all over the world and you can also learn to sail as well (you don’t get any qualifications on these trips though) I can thoroughly recommend the company, it’s “Getaway Sailing”:http://www.getawaysailing.co.uk. I keep looking at other holidays on this site and on the internet but I think it has to be more sailing this year!
