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| Club report: The
Robinson Club "Nea Sivota" in Greece |
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| In short: Located in
a scenic environment, Nea Sivota offers a superb view, great touristic
infrastructure and good water conditions for recreational waterskiers and their
families. (Please note that you can click on many of the images in this club report to load a large panoramic version. Simply click on the images to load it.) Position: Nea Sivota is located on the greek mainland 24 km from the city of Igoumenitsa. The island of Corfu is just on the opposite side and you can see it as a grey band in the upper right corner of the image below. |
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 view from the top of the restaurant. |
| Waterski conditions: On the image above, you can also see a small island just opposite of the resort. It creates a small natural lagoon and shelters the waterski dock from the sea waves. Unfortunately, the lagoon is not long enough for a full slalom course and so the buoys 1 to 3 can be in rough water. |
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| You may be lucky and have very good conditions in
the course when the sea is calm but this does not seem to happen often. Those
of you who absolutely want reliable water in the slalom course should look out
for another place. The situation is different if you do not focus on the course because you are a beginner or if you want to improve your style with free skiing. What makes Nea Sivota ideal for you are two more small islands that form two more lagoon like waterski channels. Both are very close to the dock as you can see on the image. (small islands 2 & 3) The waterski coaches and boat drivers Wasislis and Andreas know the places very well and almost always find a spot with flat water. One of them is called the "blue lagoon", located on the back of the second island. The color of the water says it all. To sum up, Nea Sivota is a great place for skiers as long as you do not ski in the short lines in the course. It fills the important gap between mass tourist spots with lousy waterski conditions and professional waterski schools that are located in the middle of nowhere with no touristic infrastructure. |
 free skiing in front of the village Sivota  The "blue lagoon" |
The dock: Because the main beach is very small and rocky, they have built a wooden platform and placed deck chairs on it. Many of the skiers spend their time on these deck chairs waiting for thheir run or watch the others depart from the dock. For those how prefer a quieter spot there are two sand beaches 200 meters away. They are just opposite of the dock across the lagoon on the small island. The water on the left hand side of the dock is very shallow and you can walk to the beaches. |
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 View from the ferry at the arrival |
 Andreas, the head coach of NeaSivota |
 The main beach with the start of the dock |
| Boats and equipment: The waterski base is equipped with a large variety of skis and wakeboards. Live vests and neopren suits are available in all sizes.  The resort has a video camera and inside the dock house is a
video and television set to display the tapes directly after skiing.
Three waterski boats are available. 1) Correct craft ski nautique: 1995 2) Correct craft ski nautique: 1998 3) Malibu: 1997 |
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| The club resort Nea Sivota: | |
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The club resort is located on a hill
and stretches from sea level with the dock to the reception on the top of the
hill. The guest bungalows, the bar, theatre and discothek are scattered on the
spacious resort aerea and connected by small pedestrian walkways. Surrounded by
large trees, palm trees and gardens they form a beautiful tropical network of
passages. The price you pay for the great view are hundreds of stairs. No matter where you go, you will always have to use them. But you get used to them quickly and wherever you go in the resort, you will be rewarded with a view. |
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| NeaSivota is a holiday club resort. For those of you who are not
familiar with this concept follows a brief description of what this concept is
about: Contrary to traditional hotels, club resorts focus on more activity inside the resort aerea. They are equipped with lots of sport possibilities and recreational activities. In a way, these resorts tend to become villages of their own. They often have shops, restaurants, bars and discotheques and there is no real need to ever leave the resort aerea. Some traditional hotels may have comparable services but the at the club resorts most of the activities are included in the price. At the beginning of your vacation, you can deposit your wallet at the reception because you wont need it for the rest of your stay. With all the sports, food and drink included it is obvious that most of the visitors never leave the club. |
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 Viewpoit, next to the bar |
Days in a resort are usually packed
with activity. The resorts employ "animateurs" who organize activities like
"beach volleyball", and perform a daily show in the theatre. As a result, you happen to meet more people as you would in a normal hotel. Since you share the same beach, restaurant and discothek it is a lot easier to get into conversations. Furthermore, the restaurants are equipped with large tables for eight persons so you meet different people at every meal. If you ask people if they like the concept, it seems that they love or or hate it. My personal experience has been always positive. If you want to spend a sports holiday or simply want to relax, club holidays are a good option. There is no hassle with money, because there is simply nothing you could buy. |
| Another important advantage of club
holidays and larger ski schools alike is the team factor. I have been to great
manmade lakes with ideal glassy water and world class coaches. But after skiing
there was little to do because everybody left the place and went their own way.
To me, it increases the fun factor considerably if you ski in a team. The
discussions how to improve, what ski to buy etc. are part of the game. |
 The terrace next to the bar |
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 view from the top of the restaurant |
  the lagoon & slalom course |
 the restaurant |
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| The pool, the bar and the
theatre: One of the central points of the resort is the aerea that connects the pool, the bar and the theatre. Needless to say that you have a great view from the pool and the bar. We start our little tour from a quiet lawn aerea surrounded by palm trees next to the pool aerea. The picture below has been taken from the opposite side of the pool. |
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 The pool |
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| Taken from the same
position, the picture below shows the aerea left to the pool. The theatre is beeing used for the evening shows and aerobic sessions at daytime. |
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 The theatre |
| Next to the theatre is the bar and my favorite viewpoint. From there, you can see the pool, the bar, the theatre and you can even watch the skiers part from the dock. The ideal place for a tea or cofee break in the afternoon. | |
 The bar and the viewpoint |
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| When to go to Nea
Sivota: You can visit Nea Sivota from May to October. At the beginning and at the end of the season, the resort organizes waterski event weeks with guest coaches and video analysis. In these weeks, the club is in the hands of waterski enthousiasts. Wherever you go, you hear people talk about the water conditions, fins and brakes. It must be a frustrating week for the non skiers in the resort :) If you plan a trip to Nea Sivota, you should absolutely try to participate in the event weeks. Since the number of participants is limited to 20 skiers and should book early. |
 The sunset at Nea Sivota |
| Facts: |
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| URL: | Robinson Nea Sivota
homepage Nea Sivota is resort under German management and unfortunately, the homepage is in German language only. Inside the resort, you can speak English or German. |
| Question board & Visitors site reports | Board |
| Boats: | Correct craft Ski Nautiques, Malibu |
| Equipment: | Fully equipped with combo skis, Slalom skis, wakeboards |
| Contact name: | Andreas Hirschfeld |
| Email: | |
| Open: | May through October |
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