About Hydradirect
My 25 year love affair
I launched my website when I moved to Hydra in 2000. Now in 2024, HydraDirect.com is in its 25th year and my love for the island is unabated. I still wake every morning eager to find out what's happening, still interested in this fascinating microcosm that I call home. Regards, Kelsey Edwards
In 2023, I changed my business status from a private individual into a sole trading limited company.
My business details are:
Registered Name: Saronic.Net I.K.E PC
Registered Address: 24 Lagoumitzi Street, Athens, Greece, TK17671
AFM/VAT: 802256015
G.C.R (GEMI) Number: 173083408000
Chamber Registration Number: 72215
Company Owner: Kelsey Jane Edwards
Email: Kelsey@Saronic.Net
Mobile/WhatsApp: +30 698 813 1742
My permanent home is still on Hydra but I now travel to the other Saronic Island of Aegina, Poros & Spetses when I can find someone on Hydra to look after my cat colony!
Hydradirect.com is one of the sites that I own and operate in exactly the same way as I have done for the last 25 years putting visitors in direct contact with real people. Created by one person, available for everyone!
Hello Kelsey. Just had to thank you for your absolutely brilliant website. Wish every tourist destination had a resource like this. We leave tomorrow after 4 nights and it has been a real joy. Hope to return one day but Australia is such a long haul away. Would love to see the place in spring. I really enjoyed my ride with Harriet yesterday and thank you so much for sorting out the booking when I was having problems. We fished, swam and ate the most delicious fresh fish this morning with Dimitris. The setting, the people, the food, the sun!! No wonder you stayed. Best wishes.
Anne, Australia, 10 June 2023
Thanks Kelsey! Congratulations on your website which is very well done, full of interesting information. Everything you wrote inspired me to choose Hydra as one of my next travel destinations. I hope to succeed.
Massimiliano Morani
Hydradirect rocks! The founder, Kelsey Edwards is always in the know, always helpful, very professional and genuinely well meaning. Highly recommended for anyone looking for anything on Hydra.
Hydra Language School
Hydradirect - In the beginning
I arrived on Hydra looking for an alternative lifestyle. Social media didn't exist but an embryonic Hydra internet did, so a website was an easy way for me to organise my research about this wonderful Greek Island.
It was my ' blog ', before blogs were invented, that I could use to easily show my friends and family what I was getting-up-to and what it was like to live on Hydra.
Tempted by my, then, limited non-digital photos of sparkling white houses, flaming bougainvillea, crystal clear blue sea and glorious sunny days, of course they wanted to visit. So I added travel information and places to stay for them.
Being one of the very few websites available in 2000 meant that people I'd never met before, started to find and use the site so my roller-coaster story of running Hydradirect began.
Primarily, Hydra is my home first. This is where I deliberately chose to move to with my then ten-year-old daughter, my English cat and 2 gerbils in the quest for a 'My Family & Other Animals' simpler style of life. My daughter now runs her own Harriet's Hydra Horses business. She is married to a Hydriot and my grandson is the apple of my eye.
I have an enviable life with a foot quite literally in two worlds. I love being included in the local community activities and celebrations. And many of the younger generation who now run the family businesses, I remember as children. This connection with my friends on the island keeps me 'in the know' about what's going on and how to get things done when bureaucracy seems insurmountable!
Created by 1 person, available for everyone!
The 'business-side' of my website comes a very close second-priority in my life because the information on it is so intertwined and essential to the community, my friends and family. Even though I am not a writer, nor a photographer, or film maker (come to that, I'm not a travel agent either) all the different aspects of running such a large site, satisfies my less obvious creative side.
Hydradirect is the longest-standing website for Hydra. It provides what is probably the most comprehensive, insider-knowledgeable collection of facts, description, imagery and contact information, that's all personally verified by one person (me) and available to everyone on the internet. The site is frequently used by newspapers and magazines and I am happy to supply Press and Media . But please note that these days, I do have to charge for my time to answer 1-1 questions and requests for even more detailed information than can already be found on the site. So if you really need to, you can still Contact Me Here.
Dear Kelsey, our family visits Hydra every summer all the way from San Francisco. We were not able to come last summer, so we have so enjoyed your website and updates throughout the year. We just wanted to reach out and say thank you! It is so wonderful to see Hydra and some of our friends in your updates and videos. The recent video about going down for your first coffee was especially wonderful! We are looking forward to our big journey (first time back on a plane) to Hydra this summer. We all just wanted to say thank you! We truly all love your site.
April & the boys - May 2021
Created by 1 Person
As from the start, I do everything myself. It's my tribute to Hydra. It's how my organisational creativity finds an outlet and helps to promote Hydra's businesses because with so many visitors, the site is a good place to show off! I accept advertisers but only when I can personally write and recommend.
Available For Everyone
Personal Help
Hydradirect is a very personal presentation of Hydra Island. Everyone can always Contact me for personalized help or inspiration. And my Blog will keep you up-to-date with news, event coverage and local colour.
I'm not a booking agent but I'm happy to pre-book a private consultation if you need to
I've used Hydradirect often as a resource and for listings information and have found the content up-to-date and useful, while with more specific enquiries, Kelsey has been really friendly, highly knowledgeable and very well informed about Hydra. No qualms about recommending Hydradirect highly.