Our Boat

Size:

Length: 11 m.

Breadth: 3.50 m.

Facilities:

Electric toilets.

Flexible fresh water tank with showering.

Comfortable pillows on top of all seats.

Shadow cover.

History:

“Nikolakis” is a traditional wooden boat that was built in 1971. The history starts at Spetses, a Greek island, where the boat transferred fruits and 2 years later, in 1973, got formed to transfer people. In 2018 transferred to Kalyves to offer cruises in the most traditional way.

Every winter the dream seems to be over as the trip ends, but our boat leaves the sea and meets the coast to be prepared so to continue the cruises for the next summer and make the dream start from the beginning. A wooden boat needs special care and every maintenance is unique.

The sweet smell of wood, the grounds scattered with wood chips and tools, the cutting sound of a hammer as it touches a plank, and the buzzing shrill of the saw cutter, all harmoniously co-exist in the birth of a Greek wooden boat.

Greek wooden boats or kaiki: the culture of Greek boat building. The history of Greek shipbuilding dates back to prehistoric times. Over the centuries, the craftsmanship transitioned through various stages and today’s traditional wooden shipbuilding is shaped by the diverse elements adopted from the Middle Ages and the Byzantine Empire.

During the Ottoman Empire, the sultans would use their imperial kaiki for ceremonial and daily excursions around the Bosporus. The kaiki were adorned with impressively carved decorative items to show off the wealth of their owners.

The Greek wooden boats known as kaiki are deeply rooted in the culture of the Greek boat-building traditions. They served as traditional fishing boats for fishing and trawling in the Mediterranean. Today, they are mostly used for tourist boat rides on the islands.

The techniques and knowledge of this complex traditional craftsmanship have been passed down from generation to generation. The secret of the successful shipbuilding craft lies in mastering specific tasks in the construction phase and the graceful manipulation of natural materials. The skilled masters would first use their imagination to visualize and create their unique masterpieces.