Greek Islands and Lycian Coast sailing holiday
How this holiday makes a difference
Environment
Our core business is sailing - as such we depend on the elements and rely on the environment (in particular the sea) for our tourist activities. Sailing is among the most environmentally friendly activities. We make no noise, create little exhaust fumes, use wind for power and solar and wind for electricity where possible. Our reputation is to sail rather than start the engines.
We have upgraded our boats to have both solar panels and wind generators and have recently installed LED lights to further reduce our impact. We educate all of our guests on the importance of conserving water. Plus we have a kayak on board for both water activities and because it makes no impact on the environment.
We belong to a marina where recycling is now a major activity, we always transport garbage to local collection points and participate in local clean up activities. We are mean in the use of water and place strict limits on our guests. This creates an awareness (as these are and the Greek islands and in general we have chronic shortages of fresh water). We are in the process of phasing out plastic bottles and plastic bags but this is a much bigger endeavour for our local island
The activities we provide on our trips have a passive impact eg snorkeling, diving, kite boarding etc and even our fishing activity is purely for consumption.
Community
Our business depends totally on the support and participation of our local community both skilled and unskilled personnel All employees and associates are local people.
We source the food for our BBQs for day trips from a local Kos restaurant, skippers we employ are Greek, hostess on longer trips Greek and our associates are local Kos and Cyclades hotels, travel agents, and tour operators. Our business depends on local support. Accounting, creative and PR, legal, engine and marine maintenance, sail making and anti-fouling are all provided by local Kos professionals. We are part of both Kos Info and Kos-Explorer (the local island marketing networks). The boats are moored in Kos Marina so all repair and maintenance is done locally.
We support local events on Kos Island (where we are based) and have built our business within the local community. On our charters we have established relationships with those who manage restaurants and support facilities on the small and large islands we visit. Our charters depend upon the harmonious relationships we have established with those on the local islands be it to buy water, dispose of garbage, use restaurants or engage in the local tour activities.
We make a major effort during the non-peak charter season to offer sailing trips for school kids and local sea scouts. We also spend time teaching them to sail and respect the ocean.
To complement the sailing we pursue activities such as rock climbing, kite boarding, wind surfing, scuba diving, hiking or more leisurely pursuits such as photography, Greek taverna cooking, cultural explorations. We involve our guests in the art of learning to sail or sailing (as much as they like) and we provide support activities such as sea kayaks, sea doos, snorkeling equipment etc for their pleasure.
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