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To get a good start on the day, we opted for a 6am start, so we were out of the marina and heading out by 6:30am.
The boat was docked stern-to (perpendicular to the dock, with the back of the boat closest to the dock) with “wet” mooring lines tied both sides the bow, and both sides of the stern (back of the boat) tied off to the dock. There was also a third spring line tied, from the port side dock bollard to the starboard side stern cleat. “Wet” mooring lines are lines which are permanently anchored to the marina sea floor, and are led to the dock where they can be easily brought forward and tied off to the front of the boat.
The process to leave the dock consists of :
- Releasing the spring line
- Starting up the engines, leaving in neutral
- Releasing the forward “wet” mooring lines, and allowing 30-40 seconds for them to sink to the marina sea floor.
- Releasing the leeward line
- Releasing the windward line – sometimes this happens on a controlled loosening of the line to prevent the boat from turning too much before it is clear of colliding into neighboring boats
- Motoring away
Once we were free and out of the marina, the journey was motoring out to a small port in Aegina named Agia Marina — a 2-hour sail. About halfway through, the wind picked up enough for us to put the jib out, to eek out a few tenths of a knot more boat speed.
The dock at Agia Marina is a cement dock, but with rubber bumpers all around the sides of the dock walls– so this made for a good site for docking practice.
See docking practice post here: 2026 Greece: Docking Drills (Day 2)
After my first stern-to docking, my brother-in-law’s family returned to the dock, where we had lunch and then left the boat again for some paddleboarding. While they were out we did a bit more drilling, then they paddle-boarded back to the boat, after which we then went around to free-anchor near the beach and swim.
After swimming, we picked up anchor and decided to side-dock in the marina so that we could go onshore for dinner. By this time, I was at the helm and Jason would give instructions like “approach at this angle” and “put the starboard bow near that dock bollard”, and I would attempt to maneuver the boat as he directed. If he saw that I was not getting the boat where he wanted, he would then give more detailed instruction like “both back to neutral”, then “click the starboard engine in forward gear no rpms”, then “back to neutral”, etc. In this way I could see how each of the throttle actions affected the boat’s trajectory, and I learned how to better maneuver the boat at slower speeds. Once we got the bow line tied off, a bit of reverse gear slowly moved the boat to be parallel to the dock and hugging the dock. At that point the stern line could be tied to the dock. Back on the bow cleat, the remaining line at the bow cleat can then run back to the dock and then tied off to the midships cleat, for extra security. And a similar line can run from the stern cleat back to the dock and to the midships cleat, thus finishing the mooring to the dock.
Once all docked, the port master came to inspect our boat paperwork and then collect a 12.50 EUR docking fee. No problems there. After that we all left the boat for dinner onshore, where we had a nice Greek meal and followed it up with some gelato. When we got back to the boat, I learned a neat way to bring a catamaran off of a side dock: after slipping the stern line and bow line, put the big ball fender between the dock and the boat, and then steer bow of the boat forward into the dock. This will cause the boat to pivot around the ball fender, kicking the stern off the dock, after which you can reverse out and motor away.
By this time it was after sunset, so we found a spot a few hundred meters away, where we could drop anchor (no stern lines) and call it a night.
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( Part of series: Bareboat Charter in Greece 2026 )