[WHOOSH]

Frenzy:

I''m sorry that I can''t help you on slip rates but you probably should read up on how Greece is handling non-EU citizens and their boats these days. The EU has had to take Greece to the EU Court, despite it being one of its own Member States, for violating taxation rules and imposing ''VAT by another name'' taxes. There''s been a fair bit of angry complaint within the North American yachtie community about their behavior as well, which seems to be more prominent in some parts of the country (near the bigger cities and charter company locations) and less so in the more remote areas (which you might find more attractive but, since you''ll be looking for boat oversight and travel convenience, you might find unsuitable).

If you haven''t, consider joing SSCA (a small fee for a world full of cruising-related info) and then review their back issues of the SSCA Bulletin, which this past year have carried a series of stories on this topic). Re: your inquiry here about marinas, consider buying a CD of 9 years of SSCA Bulletins (I don''t think membership is required and the cost is low) as that will have much info to answer your question and it can be searched either within the CD or, more selectively, using Adobe Acrobat''s search engine.

www.ssca.org for membership, and for the CD, go to the Store and select ''Pubs''

Keep in mind the EU will get 10 new member states on May 1st, at which point Cyprus and Malta will disappear as non-EU locations (with VAT-free exclusion). Were I basing a yacht in the Eastern Med, I''d consider Turkey or Croatia, adjacent to Greece waters, and then move the boat between its home waters and the various cruising destinations that I found inviting. This seems to be a common choice even among the EU sailors leaving their boats in the E Med.

Jack