Sailing with Balvenie - Mykonos and Santorini

by Amanda Church and Mark Farrell on 9 Jul 2009 Amanda Church and Mark Farrell continue their tales of sailing in the Greek Islands - this time in some of Greece's most renowned treasures of resorts, Mykonos and Santorini

Finally we left our little sheltered and very friendly harbour of Finakas on the Cyclades Island of Siros and headed due east. Heading east is not a good thing when you are circumnavigating in a westerly direction but sometimes you just have to make these sacrifices to ensure you do not miss any of the best bits. It was a beautiful day, the strong winds had abated, the seas flattened and we had a very pleasant but slow sail the short distance across to Mykonos.

We anchored in the southern bay of Ormos, amongst several other yachts and sat back to watch the procession of superyachts arrive on this sunny Friday afternoon. This was our first taste of the big boys and their bigger toys in the Med, as most of them don't seem to go the extra miles to Turkey. I don't know why, as I suspect it is not because they can not afford the fuel!!

One of the top stops on Greek cruise ship itineraries, Mykonos boasts a lovely cute little old town around the port area (yachts not permitted), with white sugar cube buildings which I thought looked more like marshmallows, as all the buildings edges were nicely rounded, most of them displaying 'med blue' shutters and trim, with blossoming bougainvillea cascading down, all picture perfect postcard scenes. All the tiny boutique shops, bars and cafes welcome the arrival of around 4 cruise ships a day in summer. There was just one in while we were there at that was busy enough.

We had heard about 'Paradise', an area on the southern coast not far from our anchorage so decided to catch the bus and check out 'Paradise'. Basically its a beach resort that could have been in Thailand or the Caribbean, with thatched umbrellas, sun loungers and many many people. Its a major party spot, loud music, cocktails aplenty, go go dancers, partiers dancing on the table tops - and we went at about 5pm!!! We didn't stay for the full moon party - this was way out of our league.

Two nights and one full day seemed enough for Mykonos, so we lifted anchor and motored south in no wind and glassy seas to Paros. There is a small harbour on the northern coast, but with 3 over 20m power boats tied up it didn't leave much room for anyone else, so we anchored off in a Plastiras Cove a nearby sheltered bay for the night.

The plan was to spend a couple of days here, then go across to the neighbouring island of Naxos and leave Balvenie tied up for three days while we caught the ferry down to Santorini. However we are ever flexible and after hearing the morning radio net which gave a five-day weather forecast of very light winds we decided to point the bow south, ever conscious of the fact that we would have to put the miles back in north again.

The weather was warming, the dreaded meltemi winds possibly about to strike at any time, we knew we would not be able to seek shelter in the small marina as we draw too much, but life is full of gambles and sailing our own yacht into the crater of Santorini appealed, so south it was!


With just enough breeze to fill the mainsail and a poled-out headsail, we had good downwind sail the 40 odd miles south to Santorini (Thira).

The island group has a somewhat explosive past. Once upon a time, Santorini and the surrounding islands were all one, well populated and with a bustling port. Then in around 1650BC, recent enough to be well documented, the very big bang occurred, the crater blew, part of the sides collapsed, islands were formed where the rim once was and water filled the crater, producing most of what we see today.

This makes anchoring there somewhat problematic as there are depths of around 50m right up to the crater walls. The cruising guide offers a couple of possibilities which we didn't feel comfortable with, and there is a small marina but it is around the bottom of the island and outside the crater and it is only 2 metres deep, so not an option for us. So while our eyes were feasting on the incredible vista surrounding us we tried to find somewhere to settle for the night.

We had heard a waterfront taverna had put in a few moorings but we didn't know where, but saw some yachts so had a little tiki-tour along the shoreline and found them, unfortunately all occupied. There was however a couple more buoys a little further along with no lines on them but looking big and solid so we backed up to one, hitched a line through and tied on.

We went ashore to the small taverna nearby to check if it was ok, he made a phone call to a friend and said no problem - yippee!! We have found the Greeks to be so friendly and helpful everywhere we have been, nothing seems too much trouble... they are great. So after a celebratory dinner ashore we headed back to Balvenie and watched the full moon rise above the crater, just priceless.

Next morning, armed with plenty of water, we dinghied ashore and climbed the 276 steps up to the village of Ia. Now 276 steps is bad enough, but between some of the steps you had to walk 3 paces uphill to get to the next one, this was serious exercise. Arriving at the top looking and feeling very much worse for wear, we had a very leisurely look around Ia, enjoying its winding little alleys, stunning views, tasteful boutique shops and cafes with balconies suspended out over the steep crater walls.

We caught the local bus to Fira, the main town and got a circle trip sightseeing tour enroute. Santorini's non crater side slopes gently to the sea, offering a totally different terrain to the one she is famous for. There are volcanic sand beaches, some vineyards and a few crops growing, but tourism certainly is the mainstay.

There were four cruise ships in port, and everywhere was bustling, cameras snapping.

I can't think of anywhere as stunning as Santorini. Fira is just a larger version of Ia. We had a good look around, stopped for a rest and lunch then headed back on the bus. This time it took the crater rim road with stunning views, magical.

It was back down the steps to Balvenie for a swim and siesta before round two up to the top to catch the sunset. Unfortunately not spectacular but we sure got plenty of exercise.

Next morning the weather forecast was not good, our window of calm winds was closing rapidly and we had had some gusts during the night, so we decided to leave with a forecast of 10-15knots from the Northeast and head Northwest as far as we could.

An hour out we were having second thoughts, very confused and lumpy seas, a double reefed main and reefed headsail and winds from nothing to 30knots - up and down, all day long. It made for a very uncomfortable, difficult and extremely wet sail, we do not remember when we last had so much salt water over the boat. We finally got in the lee of Sifnos, flatter water but mega wind gusts, the tops being whipped off the waves.

We got the sails down and motored the last couple of miles into Vathy Bay, quite a wind tunnel unfortunately, and busy with charter boats dragging anchor. After a very long and tiring day we did anchor watch till around 3am when things settled enough for us to feel comfortable enough to go below.

Ole Wind God Huey had thought it was time to remind us the infamous 'meltimi' was coming, and this cruising life is not all bikinis and martinis. Time to leave the Aegean. So with two more days before the 30+knot northerlies were due to arrive and settle in for at least a week we sailed northwest, first to a quiet remote bay on the southern side of Serifos where we had 12 hours