Captain Dimitris Magoutsos from Thasos speaks on “Fair Winds & Following Seas” and Voice of Greece.
“I disembarked for good in December 2023 in Chios, as the ship was headed to war-torn Ukraine and I didn’t want to go. I had completed a long seafaring cycle of almost 42 years,” Captain Dimitris tells us.
Speaking about ships in today’s ports, he notes that they remain for very short stays and shore leave is extremely limited. “In the past, seafarers’ outings were guided by instinct. Now they rush to buy SIM cards for their mobile phones. A port and a country that truly impressed me, both for the lifestyle of its people and its organisation, was New Zealand.”
He also recalls a moment he cannot forget—an extremely dangerous situation in the Sea of Japan. “We were in great danger, but in the end, all’s well that ends well.”
Produced and presented by Antonis Karagiannakis