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Mare Nostrum 

We had hardly finished our high-five before the phone rang. It was Thijs.

- "Welcome to Port Saint Louis" it sounded excitedly. "If you look a little to your port side you can see me. There's a free berth next to us. Best berth in the marina "

It sounded tempting, but we wanted to go to Port Napoleon. Here lay our mast. It had been driven from Travemünde by car and had been waiting for us since February. At least that was what the shipping man had assured us - a few times. 

The port of Port Saint Louis is large and at first impression seemed confusing and unmanageable. We sailed out of the almost 3 mile long exit. Stayed clear of the lighthouse at the end of the pier before turning to starboard and heading for the 2 buoys marking the start of the gutter into Port Napoleon.

The passage was narrow. On the banks people stood in water to the ankles and fished or picked mussels and oysters.

We found a free space on the visitor ponton, docked with the aft inward, as they do in the Mediterranean and had toasted in cool champagne to celebrate that we had arrived.

Port Napoleon is a large marina. It accommodates 1.000 boats on land and 250 both in the water. In the big area of ​​the marina there are around XNUMX workshops that offer help with virtually anything a pleasure boat may need.

Pulling out and launching into the water goes fast - the big boats are handled as if they were dinghies which as the most natural thing in the world is pulled on land and launched into the water when are to be used for sailing again

This weekend everything was closed. We biked to Port Saint Louis, shopped the supermarket and said hello to Sarah and Thijs, who invited us for drinks in the evening.

Next day we cycled 7 kilometers through the Camargue to the beach to the Mediterranean. On the way we saw pink flamingos, a small sample of the 500 different bird species living here and a couple of large and dead snakes that were run flat by the cars on the road. We didn't see the wild white horses and the black bulls that are captured and used for bullfighting in Spain.

Monday we went to the port office or le capitainerie as it is called in French.

- “What are you looking for? Asked one of the 3 ladies in the office as we entered the nicely chilled room.

- "Our mast" we answered jokingly.

The lady smiled, explaining where the masters were kept and wrote us in as guests.

We rode to the square.

It was almost full of master. We started to look for pur mast. Only when we reached one of the last ones we found ours. We breathe relieved.

A lady on a Swedish boat a few meters from us recommended us the workshop that had been responsible for the erection of their boat.

We biked to the workshop

- "Is anyone helping you? "Asked a man when we entered the workshop's small office. (What a difference compared with the welcome Lennart in Fjällbacka had given us). We explained that we needed help to get our boat rigged. A quarter of an hours and a cup of coffee later we had a price and a time for the rigging.

Two days later Heron was again a sailboat.

The Swedish lady was right.

The workshop employees were efficient and skilled. One had a smile so charming that the female part of Heron's crew took a wrong bike, as it unexpectedly met us at the bicycle racks. 

After the mast was erected, the scratches from the close contact with the wall in the tunnel in Toul were rectified.

Heron appeared as new.

We set out on a test voyage, set sail as we came out into the well-protected bay and enjoyed being carried away by the light warm wind. As we approached the shore we hoisted the sails in, dropped anchor and bathed in the clear water, which at this time of year is nicely cooling.

We had not stayed long before the wind - as predicted - increased. After another swim we pulled the anchor and sailed back to the harbor.

The wind increased even more - 15-20 meter sidewind per second was a challenge for the harbor maneuver. The sailing on the narrow canals and the 254 locks had set their tracks. We entered our berth without any problems.

We stayed in Port Napoleon for almost 2 weeks, made various little things on the boat and planned our two-month stay in Denmark from mid-July.

The guest bridge made up a small community of sailors on their way out or on their way home.

Almost every day we met new people - like Dutch Peter and Marjolinje, who started their life as retired in a brand new boat, American David and Lisa who crossed the Atlantic Ocean and sailed the Mediterranean thinly in 5 for years and now wanted to explore the canals in France for a year, English David and Jill, who were on their way home after 27 in the Mediterranean, Danish John, who had sailed his boat down to his home in southern France, English Geoff, waiting for a guest so he could sail on to Sicily and of course Sarah & Thijs. We came to see them a lot more of them because they needed more than a week to repair a rudder damage on their boat.

Luckily they had discovered the damage before coming out on the great Mediterranean or Mare Nostrum as the Romans called it.

ps

You can read about the visit to the mechanic in Fjällbacka by clicking here )

 

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Michael Westen-Jensen
Michael Westen-Jensen
23. June 2017 12: 14

still good reports

Peter Rasted
Peter Rasted
25. June 2017 10: 21

Another nice travel story. 🙂 But have you found an explanation of why you are lying with your back towards the pier?
Greet the female part of the crew if she is still there

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It is not very easy to pay the Tepai tax online. The official manual was last updated in May 2019. Since then, quite a few changes have been made.

Here's what worked on August 16, 2022 and May 15, 2023

Start to apply on https://www1.aade.gr/aadeapps2/etepai/

You can check whether your application has been approved by going to the front page (Where you started)

Your new application is now at the bottom of the list. Scroll to the right. The last column now says `New'.

After a few minutes (sometimes a few hours) you will receive an email with two attachments. The one 'Application form' is your application. The second 'ePavorolo' is your payment information. Take a printout of the last one and take it to a post office or bank if you prefer to pay your Tepai there. 

If you don't want to spend your time finding a post office or a bank and que up for a couple of hours, you can pay online.

Log in to your online bank. 

Now fill in the payment request like this

Recipient

IBAN:

GR1201000230000000481090510

Name:

International Authority for Public Revenue (AADE)

Address:

Sina 2-4

City and Postcode:

106 72 Athens

Remittance to receiver 

The 20 digit 'Administrative fee code' which you will find in the ePavorolo file. It is important that you do not insert anything other than the 20 digits.

Recipients bank

The Bank's Bank Code:

BNGRGRAA

Remember to indicate that you want to pay in EURO.

Payment is made at 15.00:XNUMX CET.

Log in after an hour or two https://www1.aade.gr/aadeapps2/etepai/

At the bottom right it now says 'Paid'.

...Voila

You can save the file in Pdf format. Then show it on your mobile phone, tablet or PC if you need to document that you have paid your TEPAI. You can of course also make a print of it.

PS

If for some reason you do not receive an email with the application and payment information or receive your payment back, you can try to complete the payment with the code that begins with RF and is followed by 23 digits.

It is on the web form in the column to the left of the column where it says 'New'.