Grossly over-priced and miles from town.

Laviro is a confusing mix of officialdom and ‘private enterprise’. Although the Port Authority is as helpful as they can be this is a Charter Base and to all intents and purposes, they own the place.

The Town Quay is home to a number of charter companies and during the week is almost deserted. Change over days are Friday and Saturday and there is little point in trying to get in as the place is generally full. Sunday to Thursday you stand more of a chance.

The quayside is equipped with water and electricity points, locked and chained shut, which are owned by the Charter Operators. Good Luck in finding which one though; Argolis and HDM, based at the eastern end of the quay seem to run many of the points east of the small stubby jetty midway along the quay.

The berths on the quay by the fishing harbour, seem to be run by The Yacht Week and Istion. On this quay you may find unofficial dockhands (bored fishermen?) who will help you tie up then ask for €20 …….. Watch them. We suddenly found ourselves with one of the laid mooring messenger lines around our prop, the dock hand would happily dive and free it for us ……..

The Charter Operators are a mix of helpful and down right rude, but then they probably speak highly of visiting yachts cluttering up their work area.

The caution regarding only paying the Port Authority stands. However, you are only paying for the berth, electricity and water is the domain of the Charter Companies. It is about €5 per day for electricity and the same again per cubic metre of water, if you can find the person with the key.

The Port Authority office is the isolated low beize coloured building with two chimneys west of the quayside; there is a restaurant with a tiny clock tower on it and the office is on the west side of that. The staff there are friendly and helpful but their first priority is the Charter Operators, but at least they polite about it.

The Port Authority phone numbers are 00 30 22920 27711 (land line) 00 30 69700 29900 (mobile). The advertise that they operate VHF Ch 6. The website is http://www.oll.gr but isn’t overly helpful.

Laviro itself is far from an attractive place. It does, however, have 4 or 5 supermarkets, a small chandlers, a post office, mobile phone store and a Jumbo. The My Market stores (two of them) will deliver to the quayside. There is a fresh fruit and veg market and a fish market.

There are a large number of tavernas.

Fuel is available by mini tanker.

If you are looking for an overnight stay, mid week, to take on provisions this is the place. Other than that there is little reason to visit.

A note of caution. We met a couple whose boat had been on the hard here for a while. When they returned to it they had lost a host of portable kit such as radios, EPIRBS and the like

Wintered our boat 2014 to 2015 at the gravel area at south end of main harbour with Dimitris (not Olympic Marine). This is a cheap winter storage solution for many boats, but be aware.

He does not keep paper records and therefore deals that were made will be forgotten and your price will go up (charged us extra for cradles). Then you will not go back in the water until he’s received his payment.

He is incompetent as a crane driver and also does not know how to deal with timber or boats other than the standard charter boat.

There are two companies working this yard and they have some kind of agreement, but no teamwork and in no way any improved efficiency.

This is the old Greek, off the books way of doing things and not recommended at all. There are some local and charter boats using it regularly but without any relationship or local knowledge highly recommend staying away!

At the main pier itself, there is a very nice Harbour Master and the perfect spot right in town if you can get in, otherwise as has been said use the charter spots during the week.

Regards
Oliver

We left the boat at Olympic Marina and for us, it was very safe and you can take a bus to Athens in 2 hours. There are full services and it’s in a good location.