Celestyal Nefeli 12th May 2017, Part 1

Friday 12th May 2017
I flew out of London Gatwick Airport on an easyJet Airbus 319/320 at 05.45 in the morning. It was daylight but with heavy cloud and I could see nothing of the English countryside as we headed east. We flew towards Amsterdam and the Low Countries and then headed south towards Greece and my destination of Athens Airport, with a flight time of 3 hours and 20 minutes. I will have to advance my watch 2 hours when I arrive.

We arrived 10 minutes earlier than expected and I had my first glimpse of the mountains and sea as we made our final approach into Athens. I was soon off the aircraft and into the terminal building, before walking outside to enjoy feeling the warmth of the Greek sunshine. It's been a long and grey winter in the south of England. My travelling companion soon arrived and we arranged to get one of the airport buses to our embarkation port of Lavrion, to sail on CELESTYAL NEFELI.

The bus dropped us off in the main square and we decided to walk to the port, which we could see through the trees. A large and dirty stray dog decided to adopt us, at a distance, and acted as an escort as we walked. We noticed he had a used cardboard coffee beaker in his mouth, which we thought might be his own version of a food begging bowl...

We passed the white bench that two other ferry friends thought had been in use on AGIOS GEORGIOS (ex-HENGIST); the ship had been in lay-up here at Lavrion some years ago. The dog kept looking back at us to check on our progress and once we all reached the port gates he left us to our own devices and collapsed slowly in the shade of a snack bar. We thought he was probably known there.

Disreputable escort dog

Taxiarchis laid up


We passed the laid-up TAXIARCHIS, and then went into the Cruise Terminal building to check in for CELESTYAL NEFELI which we could see her at a nearby quayside. We were offered a ride in the shuttle bus to the ship, but it took us only 5 minutes to walk the distance, along the side of the inevitable metal fencing. Before we got there however we could see something interesting, tied up at another quay. It was NEARCHOS, of Creta Cargo Lines, looking empty and rather forlorn. As we walked towards the stern ramp we could see an overalled man walking towards us from the deck and he said he was the Chief Engineer and invited us on board. We stood at the top of the ramp and I noticed that this little ship had once been a train ferry, as I could see 3 sets of train lines that were now covered up. The Engineer said she was built in 1968, is 4,163 gross tons, and he was obviously really proud of his little vessel and engines (IMO: 6727193). Another man soon appeared and made us feel unwelcome so we all walked back down the ramp; the Engineer explained that it was the owner. We thanked him for letting us see the car deck and telling us about his ship and the removal of much of the stern hull/superstructure, and then walked a few yards to board CELESTYAL NEFELI.

Creta Cargo Lines Nearchos

Invited to see the railway lines

Olive trees to welcome us on board

Celestyal logo on the funnel

My cabin 2007


It was a great relief to walk on board and locate my inside cabin on Deck 2. The last forty-eight hours have been rather unexpected and it was good to have a few minutes to get things in perspective again. The plan to sail on CELESTYAL NEFELI for 3 nights on 12th May from Lavrion was made recently, and plans were also made to add some ferry trips after the short cruise. Arrangements were made and all was well until 48 hours ago when one of the ferry companies notified my travelling companion of 3 days of strikes by Greek seamen on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday this week. Naturally this meant we could not sail on anything later in the week after disembarking from CELESTYAL NEFELI. Things were cancelled or abandoned but it was decided to continue with the short cruise and then enjoy a full day in Piraeus port before flying home to the UK on Monday evening. I changed the date of my flight home, removed unneeded items from my rucksack, let my family know of my changed plans, and set off for Gatwick airport on Thursday evening. My son was due to fly into Gatwick from a business trip that evening so we met there for a short while, before he headed home. Nine hours later I flew out to Athens.

Now here I was on this little cruise ship, looking forward to a good time on board but without the planned ferry trips after that. CELESTYAL NEFELI was built in 1992 for the Effjohn Group at 19,090 gross tons as CROWN JEWEL, then became CUNARD CROWN JEWEL, went to Star Cruises as SUPERSTAR GEMINI, VISION STAR, MV GEMINI, before being chartered by Celestyal Cruises (the new name for Louis Cruises). I have enjoyed several trips with Louis Cruises over the years.

Lunch was being served up on Venus Deck 6 in the Leda Casual Dining room and outside deck so we enjoyed that and had a giggle at the thought of this being named 'A Euphoric Cruise'. We sail this evening about 9 p.m., arriving tomorrow morning in Santorini for the day, then sailing on to Izmir in Turkey for Sunday. After a day there we sail back to Greece and the port of Nafplion and that could be the end of my Euphoria.

Nearchos from Nefeli

Boat Deck

Reception

Theatre

Always the glorious blue

Selene Lounge

Marmari Express

Macedon

Inside buffet lounge

Good enough to eat


Boat drill was held at 6 p.m. and we discovered there were one or two different styles of life jackets on board. The top of the life jackets fitted as expected but men wearing shorts or trousers fitted the extra, unfamiliar, strap fairly easily between their legs, with some adjustment back and front; those of us wearing a skirt or dress became aware that wearing this unfamiliar extra strap would cause what I shall call unexpected limb exposure. Hmm, I made a mental note to exchange my life jacket when I could.

We had spent time in the afternoon enjoying the sun in the aft Thalassa Bar with its delightful tiered curved decks around us, but after Lifeboat Drill it was time to change and enjoy pre-dinner drinks and music in the Deck 4 Eros Lounge Bar. Dinner is served from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. in the Aegean Restaurant, which covers the full deck width of the ship, with excellent views of the sea from every table. The observant Head Waiter ensured that all passengers were made welcome; the menu offered a good selection of dishes which were professionally served by his staff. The cruise package price includes almost all alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, plus excursions, and we found that the bar staff were also most attentive to passengers' needs, whether in the Aegean Restaurant or in the many Bars.

The evening's entertainment at 9.45 p.m. was a Mythology Show - a trip around the Greek Olympus and the Greek Gods. I enjoyed most of this, but extreme tiredness suddenly overtook me and I had to return to my cabin. It had been a long and busy day, but I was at sea again and happy to be there, as we sail 108 nautical miles overnight.

Ships seen at Lavrion, Greece
Taxiarchis
Nearchos
Marmari Express
Macedon
Celestyal Nefeli


To be continued...

Greece 2012 Part 9

Greece Part 9
Lavrio & 'Taxiarchis'

Wednesday 5th September 2012
This morning I woke up at sea, on the AQUA MARIA, under bedding that included an authentic Japanese blanket – unexpected proof of the Japanese origins of this ship. Last night we left Mesta port in darkness, which wasn’t helped by the clouds of black smoke coming out of the funnels, but the engines sounded all right, and we will soon be arriving at the Greek mainland port of Lavrio, which is about 55 kms south-east of Athens. The sun still hadn’t risen when we docked at 6.15 a.m. but we could see that this small port was very quiet. Ferries could berth in one part of the harbour, and private yachts and fishing craft were in the other parts, with the town behind. Apparently the population is only about 5,000 people.

Welcome to Lavrio

Macedon of Goutos Lines

There was no port bus for the half dozen of us ‘footies’ so we all had to shoulder our luggage and walk towards the port gates and then the town. Everything seemed very quiet, with the occasional dog walker (dog on a lead) and the more frequent unsavoury-looking dogs lying around the paths and quayside, and still asleep.

I think many of us have read over the last few years about the number of people coming to this port illegally, by road or sea, and quite often from Turkey; one can feel sympathy for those who feel they must leave their own country and hazard their lives to get here, hoping for a better and/or safer life. Of course this is quite a simplistic view; I had read about refugee camps being set up outside the town and the local authorities (and citizens) finding it extremely hard to cope with such a big influx of people, often with no proof of identity, and who would not qualify for refugee or asylum status.

After walking around the town in the heat, we located the local Archaeological Museum and enjoyed its exhibits. Just south of here is Mount Sounion which is now an important site for discovering remains of previous civilisations, many of them now on display here. I liked seeing the acanthus leaves on pillars and other artefacts from the Hellenistic period in Greece (about the 4th Century B.C.). The acanthus was one of the plants that the Romans brought to Britain and I grow it very easily in my own garden in England. We saw some obsidian tools, which are made of volcanic material. We also saw pictures of some wonderful silver jewellery which had been dug up in this area, and was so fine that the Lavrio people had been asked/instructed to give it to the Athens Museum for display there. The old argentiferous ore (silver) found in the 10th Century B.C. in Lavrion had been mined and then abandoned, but the mines had been re-opened in the 1800s by a mining engineer called Andreas Kordelias but are no longer working.

I loved several of the small pieces of statuary, especially one little piece from the 4th Century B.C. which named the three people standing and then said “and adorants”, which I think is a charming description of those sitting at their feet.

Back at the harbour side, near one of the quays, we could see a white-painted lifeboat just floating, apparently abandoned. We could see lettering and a number on it, but it was almost impossible to guess its origins. It seems to be made of fibre-glass, possibly from a 1960s or 1970s passenger ship, so again we will need identification help when we get home.

Abandoned lifeboat

I wonder where this came from

Issham Al Baher

Taxiarchis and her unusually positioned lifeboats

The saintly Taxiarchis

It was soon time to get back to the ferry port and embark on our ship for the overnight sail from Lavrio to Limnos: it is yet another 1970s built ship, this time the saintly TAXIARCHIS of NEL Lines. She was built in Norway in 1976 at 10,749 gross tons and sailed in New Zealand waters until 1994 when she came to Greece, so has had many owners, routes and names over the years. She is classified as a ro-ro/passenger ship. My cabin key was made in Norway, so now I know why.

Taxiarchis for our overnight sail

My cabin key

Macedon looking good

Embarking

Flower bower

Deck view

Cabin

Deck plan

Closed cafe

This was on the wall in the cafe

Deck view on the port side

Deck view

AQUA MARIA was berthed on our port side, and we noticed a dent in the metal above her bridge. MACEDON was on our starboard side and we could see her funnel and logo more closely from our deck.

Macedon at dusk

Funnel logo

Aqua Maria, and a dent above the Bridge

Marmari Express

Goodbye Aqua Maria

Cheap fuel again

We sailed in a cloud of black smoke, so I suppose cheap fuel is being used with old engines, but hey, this is becoming the norm on this trip….


Ships seen: Aqua Maria, Macedon of Goutos Lines, Issham Al Baher the private yacht, Taxiarchis, Alios of Salamis, the unidentified lifeboat, Marmari Express


To be continued….