How to take a private Greek island mini-cruise (and possibly have more fun than Elon Musk)
Get thee a skipper — and skip the $100k superyacht rental — to see the best of Ios.
So you think you need to be a billionaire or NBA superstar to have a stellar time at sea? Actually and with due respect to the Jeff Bezos crowd, you don’t have to be.
I recently spent less than $300 on a private boat excursion around a chunk of the scenic Greek island of Ios, across the Aegean water from Santorini.
A few hours is enough to both get the gist of an island’s coastline and enjoy yourself in the process.
It’s all about the weather, and trust.
You need to find a captain who is not only reliable, but one whom you can trust—because the elements are fickle (let me tell you about a hell ride I took off the coast of Capri one time) you want a capable seaman at the helm.
How do you do this? Not by Googling “expert sea captain in X”. That’s not how you find a good pizza either, for that matter (more on that later).
Ask around.
In Ios, ask almost anyone who knows the island and they’ll tell you that person is Captain Andonis. I first met the captain a couple years ago doing laundry — his family runs the island’s best-known, or perhaps only, laundromat on the island. But he also owns a (very, very clean) boat.
Not a tiny one, like what you find at some island boat outfitters, and not a yacht either — Ios has a vibe somewhere between laidback and luxury, and does not, mercifully, typically pull the superyacht crowd. Not yet anyway.
Just the perfect sort of boat to see some of Ios’s famously secluded coves and beaches in style. The Cabo can comfortably seat up to 12, and the seasoned skipper is also known for doing sea transfers between Ios, which does not have an airport, and nearby Santorini, which does.
On a sunny day in June, I wanted to visit the beach at Kolitsani, which is near the Chora. But you have to walk way down a hill full of dry brush (there’s a path, but I don’t like bugs). People and “the Internet” say it’s about a ten-minute walk, to which I say, wishful thinking! Way more than ten minutes, and in the hot sun, plus the knowledge that you’ll have to haul your carcass back up that hill in the hot sun après-dip — no way, José.
So I paid a visit to Andonis, and got things sorted. We would go out the next day, weather-permitting, and because it wasn’t peak season yet, it would probably be just the two of us on board.
I had forgotten how refreshing it is to enjoy a personalized mini-cruise without other people and all their stuff and phones in the way. Of course, too, it is very freeing to pull up to a secret cover with amazeballs blue water and go for a refreshing dip right from the boat, without having to futz with messy sand and without having to navigate the long, winding roads that you inevitably have to take if you want to get some of the better island beaches by land. This, as seasoned yachtsmen know well, is the proper way to do it.
My only request was to make a brief stop at Kolitsani, for a quick dip (not a skinny-dip, which they is okay to do there) and to have a gander at some insanely over-the-top houses I heard were being built by a Greek or Russian billionaire (those pesky Elon Musk types show up where you least expect ‘em).
After that, I said, “Surprise me.”
And he did.
He bypassed the usual tourist routes and steered us toward a hidden cove called Klima, concealed by the rugged landscapes — perfect for a refreshing swim. At another cove, Pikro Nero, the water looked less like the sea and more like liquid neon emerald. Like diving into a scene from Pirates of the Caribbean — only this is a literallyi immersive experience.
The boat tours are customizable depending on how much time you have and budget. Had I stayed out on the water a little bit longer we could have gone to Manganari Beach, where scenes from The Big Blue were filmed, but that beach is fairly easy to get to by car. I really wanted to focus on hidden coves.
If you want to plan an Ios beach tour in advance, email Andonis at steliosboatios@gmail.com. If you’re already on the island, don’t leave without giving him a call, at 6973784900. Anchors aweigh! ⚓
