I have a love affair with Greece. In three trips to Greece, I had visited archaeological wonders, beaches, mountains, hillside tavernas with ocean views, and museums crammed with artifacts both beautiful and puzzling.

However, when I said, "I'm going to Greece," my friends immediately pictured sun-sparkled waves surrounding a sleek yacht. Although there are over 2000 islands in Greece, my travel had been on land. I took ferry trips and visited a couple of islands, but a sailing vacation sounded like a budget-buster. Yacht charter equaled "expensive" in my mind.

But then I met Robert. And "cyber words" sold me on sailing.

I use bulletin boards and the Internet to research travel. On a travel bulletin board discussion of Greece, I made friends with two very knowledgeable participants, Sam and Robert.

Robert talked about a sailboat that he rented to travelers visiting the Aegean, but he wasn't breaking bulletin board rules by trying to advertise his product. He was just helpful to people with questions. Sam had lots of information about inexpensive travel in Greece.

When I learned that Robert and Sam both lived in the Washington, D.C. area, and I was going to be there on business, we arranged to meet. Following all the cautions about first-time meetings with strangers from cyberspace, I took my sister along and we met in a public place: a Greek restaurant (of course!) near Capitol Hill.

      

After our meeting, we all kept in touch by e-mail. I was on my way to Crete that year, and Sam was going to be there too, so we set a time and place to meet, but we missed each other. He later told me that he embarrassed his wife by walking along the bay at Chania, Crete, calling my name.

From time to time, Robert mentioned his new boat, and filled us in on how roomy the 55' sailboat is compared to his older 44' boat. I wasn't buying it. Sailboat cabins are crowded. I was sure I'd feel smothered. Once he sent a message that said he had a boat sailing empty on a return trip from Rhodes to Athens if we'd like to take advantage of a special low rate. My itch to return to Greece was overcome by conflicting obligations, and we passed up the offer.

Beautiful Santorini

Little by little, the thought of sailing made sense. There were a couple of islands I really wanted to visit. Other people on the bulletin board pointed out that you only spend sleeping time in the cabin, so it doesn't really matter how big it is. Aegean islands are so close together that you rarely are sailing for more than four hours at a time, so you spend the day playing on land.

Two years after our original meeting, despite the fact that neither my husband nor I had every sailed, I e-mailed Robert and asked for information on renting his 55' Atlantic sailboat and hiring a captain. We went through several months of recruiting three other couples to join us. We juggled schedules. We debated itineraries.

We filled Robert's e-mail basket with questions. He joked about my endless concerns, but faithfully answered every question. Without e-mail, I would have been a nervous wreck.

Yes, there was a shower in every cabin. Yes, there were refrigerators on board. No, we could not cover as much territory as I had planned, but I needed to relax and enjoy the trip and go with the flow of sailing. Yes, the captain could speak English. Yes, electric converters could be used if passengers wanted to use electric shavers or hair dryers. Yes, there was a stereo. Yes, they furnished all the linens and had a completely equipped kitchen.

When we figured costs, we were amazed to learn that sailing this way was as inexpensive as traveling on land. And in September 1997, we stepped off the plane in Athens, where Robert's Greek partner met us.

Our friends arrived. We met the captain. We went grocery shopping. I dubbed this trip a "house-keeping" sail. The term reflects the economy of Aegean sailboat rental much better than the term, "yacht rental." The captain was the only crewmember. We helped with minor sailing chores, cleaned our own cabins and when we weren't eating on shore, we cooked our own meals.

We enjoyed ten Aegean-blue days of sailing to little known islands, of spending our days ashore walking up stair-step streets, marveling at white-washed houses and churches with brilliant blue doors.

Vera Aboard the AnnaMaria

Robert and I had corresponded for so long about the possibilities of the trip that it seemed as if he were there with us. For ten days we were away from the computer and e-mail. However, the captain had a cell phone in addition to the ship's radio, so we were still in touch with the world.

When I got home, my first e-mail was to Robert to tell him how much everyone loved his boat, the Annamaria. Next I e-mailed Sam, to tell him that he should add sailing in the Aegean to his itinerary.

We had fulfilled a dream that we did not even know we had. Our hesitation to set sail would have been a permanent block to a sailing vacation if I had not met Robert on line. Add "cyber words" to "word of mouth" as the most effective advertising.