Anchorages and general advice for the Cyclades

P

poe42147

New Member
Joined
26 Aug 2015
Messages
1
Visit site
Hello all,

First time poster so be kind if what I'm asking is in the wrong place or if such information already exists elsewhere.

I have a yacht chartered in Laviro for two weeks at the end of May 2016 with a mind to see some of the Cyclades. I have eight persons on board with experience ranging from nothing through to myself being a somewhat experienced skipper and everything in between. I've been eagerly searching out various bits of information but I'm really keen for some personal advice from anyone who has been that way. Any and all advice would be much appreciated but especially any beautiful and quiet anchorages. In particular smaller coves, beaches inaccessible by land, that kind of thing. Mostly just lovely places to lunch, swim, or overnight.

Again, whilst I'm looking for the proverbial 'perfect' anchorages I am also really open to suggestions for marinas, must see Islands and attractions on those Islands, right down to whether anyone has top suggestions for restaurants.

Any and all advice hugely welcome!
 
Welcome to the forum.

I understand why you may not want to buy the Heikell for just a 2 week charter but I'm sure there will be some great suggestions along shortly.

Personally I would love to sail into the caldera of Santorini (Thira) because I've read so much about it over the years and seen so many lovely pictures over the years. However, I don't think that anchoring there is very easy and it will be very busy although May is probably a good time to go.

Richard

Should have mentioned JimB of course!
 
Last edited:
RichardS said:
Welcome to the forum.

I understand why you may not want to buy the Heikell for just a 2 week charter but I'm sure there will be some great suggestions along shortly.

Personally I would love to sail into the caldera of Santorini (Thira) because I've read so much about it over the years and seen so many lovely pictures over the years. However, I don't think that anchoring there is very easy and it will be very busy although May is probably a good time to go.

Richard

Should have mentioned JimB of course!
Click to expand...

Just been to Santorini. Though not impossible, anchoring is very difficult and we were cowed onto a mooring buoy in Ormos Kakaki on Nea Kameni and dinghied to Santorini (1 mile). The moorings are owned by various charter boats who were very accommodating but someone able to move the boat needs to be aboard at all times.
Would also recommend Skala on Sikinos and Aliki on Paros.
 
Last edited:
We chartered out of Lavrion around 4 years ago. Most, if not all good charter companies will provide you with a pilot book on board....no need to take one out with you (a mistake we've made in the past).

We mostly went stern to on the harbour walls but we did anchor in the bay at Livadi on Serifos and dinghy in which was good. It's a nice little harbour. We also anchored in Amorgos after having a right faff to get there, arriving late and not being confident enough to go to the harbour as it looked full. Next morning I lost the boat hook trying to get our anchor up when it crossed over a fishing chain. Got in trouble with Mr LandM for that!

We also took the boat to Santorini and were really lucky in that there were some mooring balls just inside the main caldera below Oia. They belong to a restaurant there which may or may not be open when you go. We took up the mooring, dinghied ashore to ask the restaurant owner if he knew who it belonged to so we could ask official permission. He said 'yes, me how long do you want it for?' We stayed overnight and it cost us the price of an extremely nice meze lunch and a couple of beers.

Antiparos is a nice quiet place and Naoussa on Paros is ok too although it's got a harbour, we had to anchor for a time when our charter engine konked out. Naxos is good too...can't remember if we picked up a mooring or anchored but it was quite scenic and everywhere will be quieter in May.

Hope you have a great time and it's probably a good time to go before the meltemi kicks in. Once we'd got to Santorini we then had to hack it back up to Lavrion via Amorgos, Naxos, Syros and Kythnos. Nightmare on the nose sailing but as usual we had tried to get too much done in the two weeks we had.
 
You would be going very well to get to Santorini and back in a fortnight. Not impossible but you would have little time for anywhere else. Water is not very warm at the end of May, at which time our swimming sessions are usually short.

Places recommended within your criteria - Sandbar Bay on Kithnos, either side. Loutra on the east coast is small but one of the few ports to offer good shelter in all wind conditions. Siros, lots of anchorages and two good ports. Forget Mikonos but Rinia to the west is superb, several anchorages on an almost unihabited island. Delos next door worth visiting if you like antiquities, you can anchor in the channel next to it. Paros has lots to offer, a couple of good ports and some exquisite anchorages, especially Dhespotico and in the NW corner of O. Naoussa Also some good anchorages on the south of Paros and AndiParos. If you can fit them in the Small Cyclades are beautiful with plenty of anchorages on offer. From there Sifnos is OK, maybe on to Milos if there is time, nice anchorages on the islands to its NE, Kimolos, although can be busy with tripper boats. Then back north to Serifos, other side of Kithnos, Kea and back to Lavrion. We would take a couple of months to do that but it is doable in a fortnight.
 
vyv_cox said:
You would be going very well to get to Santorini and back in a fortnight. Not impossible but you would have little time for anywhere else.
Click to expand...

I agree with what Vyv and others have said.

Seafarer offer cruises (see http://www.seafarersailing.co.uk/share-a-sail/cyclades/) on a 51 footer from Lavrion to/from Santorini taking a week each way, and we did the round trip with them in June/July. Although we did sail into the Santorini caldera, and had an exciting time trying to moor, we gave up and returned to Ios. People leaving or joining at Santorini, or merely wishing to visit, did so by ferry from/to Ios.

I can also confirm that the return week northwards was quite bumpy with extensive periods of slamming and a wet ride!

Mike.
 
We have been in the Aegean for five years and have cruised most of it. We have not been to Santorini and have no intention of doing so. We do know several who have been there and almost unanimously they advise against it. Worth taking a tripper boat from Ios maybe but not in your own boat.
 
I agree with everything said.

I've been to the caldera in Santorini but it can blow up there and you really need to have someone on board at all times who can move the yacht if necessary (probably two people actually as removing the rope to the huge buoy may need another pair of hands). Ios is very sheltered and there are lots of ferries so you can take a ferry to Santorini from there.

In my opinion, though, you'd be better to leave that until another trip. Why rush all the way south and probably have to beat north again? Stick to the northern and middle islands for this holiday and then charter from Paros or Naxos another year to sail the southern ones in a more leisurely manner. There are more than enough places to visit without pushing your crew too hard.

Most charter yachts will have a copy of Heikell but you may want to buy a copy of the Pilot Chart PC3 for the Northern Cyclades by Nicholas Elias. You'll find places shown there that are not in Heikell and he also includes lots of interesting local knowledge such as prevailing winds and currents (no tides but you can get strong currents)

You can get it here http://www.eagleray.gr/index.php/products/pilot-chart and it's 22 euro I think.

Just be aware that it uses EUR50 not WGS84 though so don't plot GPS positions directly. The correction is shown on the chart.

It's quite possible to go north for a bit, by the way, so don't assume all the nice places are in the Cyclades. There are some lovely bays to visit on Evia.
 
vyv_cox said:
You would be going very well to get to Santorini and back in a fortnight. Not impossible but you would have little time for anywhere else.

We had a pleasant reason to want to go to Santorini as it's where we got married and we wanted to go back while we were 'in the area' so to speak. As I say we struck lucky with a mooring just inside the entrance to caldera when we had sailed from Ios but that was 4 years ago and it may not even exist anymore. If we'd had to go round to the marina I don't think we would have seen half of the other places we saw and it's stupidly far from Oia or Thira so I wouldn't say I'd recommend going there on a two week break with the boat but we certainly did and we saw many other islands as well during the time. It was a labour of love though :) We did think once we'd returned that we did too much sailing about and not enough relaxing but sailing in the Cyclades isn't like creek-hopping in Turkey and it did give us a LOT of practice!
Click to expand...
 
LandM said:
If we'd had to go round to the marina I don't think we would have seen half of the other places we saw and it's stupidly far from Oia or Thira so
Click to expand...

We were told that the marina was a no-no (for our 51-footer) because it's too shallow. I gather it is also quite busy with local boats so there is little motive to dredge it deeper. But research is advised!

Mike.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top