“ I feel very lucky to have been born on this island. My name is Vangelis Spathis and I was born in the little village of Spathi, 5km from Skala, in 1952. At a time when getting from one place to another was quite difficult, and done only by foot or donkey, at the age of 4, I saw her for the first time. I was enchanted and fell in love with her in an instant. From that moment on I kept seeing her in my dreams and, growing up, came to love her more and more. I looked forward to finishing school when I could meet her in all her magnificence and, at the age of 18, my dreams came true. This was a relationship that was never complete, was a love that never died and always be fresh & new.
I was always waiting for something new, and she never disappointed me. She was totally unpredictable, sometimes sweet, friendly and lovely, sometimes wild, fearful and poised to swallow me up. A lot of years have passed and this love is still alive, strong and unsatisfied. It has given my life both aspect and colour and I can never imagine a life at any distance from her. I am not talking about my wife or any other beautiful woman. I am talking about THE SEA. This love induced me to become a seaman, to become a traveler, to become a nautilus and, at the age of 32, to get my Masters’ License.”

I got my Master’s License on 1984. Until this time I fully enjoyed my life at sea. Unknown  routes, unknown destinations, different ports, places with different cultures. Each  one  trip was a different adventure ,feelings  and my heart  sown  all around the world. One year  later  happened to me to fall in love with a pretty young girl, or to be  honest we both fall in love each other. After  this  from the one moment to the other,  the things became very difficult for me as I had to choose for the rest of my life. The dilemma was  to continue my life as  a  Captain or to continue  my life with my girl-wife and my family.   I never imagined  my life  at any distance from the sea and It was a dream for me to became a Captain .Now just when came the time for this for which I was  waiting and dreaming for so long I had to renounce it. It was a real war between my mind and heart. Except of the feelings, Master  on a ship means Prince of the sea, means  the big boss of the boat, means money and good life, means high adrenaline, but Master out of a ship means nothing, means an unlicensed worker.

I had to look for a middle solution. From the one not to be away from the sea, but from the other  at the same time to be close to my family. In 1987 I  started  cruises from  Skala with M/Y TARA. Today I thanks the God for meeting my   wife  and also thanks my wife for the strong feelings she inspired to me and  because of she, all these years I am close to the sea but also we  both are the one close to the other  and I was  close to my children  as they were grown up and need me. I never felt that I betrayed my love for the  sea .  Instead   of it now I feel that I have 3 loves. My family, the sea  and all of  you  who support  and entrust me. Now I run the same cruises for more than 30  years. I  never felt lazy for this or that  it is  routine for me. Each one cruise  never is the same with any other one but different due of the different people, different talkings  and   after each one cruise I am happy  to have new friends. I am very happy because you choose my cruises and thank you for this. Every year about 40% of the passengers are repeaters and you placed  my cruises on No 1 attraction in Skala. Some of you know  how hard I am working for the best.                                                                                                                      
Good chance for me to say that the cruises I do are specially way for life for me and after are business. The money I won I never put in my pocket but time by time   I invest on a new boat offering  at your disposal to enjoy it. It was a big decision for me , the cost is very high in a very  bad period, to  built  a  new boat the BIG  LADY”NIRIIS”. Really a very-very special  boat. It will be a boat coming from the future. Not at all noisy, very luxurious, very comfortable, deep sea with high safety standards, equipped with stabilisers and the very modern  VOLVO PENTA  IPS  2x 900 hp engines,  really a yacht.