A Mykonos catamaran cruise sails from the island’s harbours to its south coast, to Rhenia and to the waters around Delos. It is one of the Cyclades catamaran cruises in Greece on Greece VIP.
This post covers what a Mykonos catamaran cruise includes, its harbours and the south coast beaches. It also covers Rhenia, the rules near Delos, the islets, sea life, sea history and winds. Sea traffic, the best season and common questions come last.
Each section ends with a Mykonos catamaran cruise or a nearby cruise that can be booked online.
What does a Mykonos catamaran cruise include?
A Mykonos catamaran cruise mixes south coast sailing, swim stops and a Greek lunch on board. Routes cross to Rhenia for swimming in clear water. Boats then pass Delos or anchor in its harbour. Kayaks, paddle boards and snorkel gear come along.
One public route starts at Kalafatis beach, in the east. This Mykonos catamaran cruise sails west past Super Paradise, Paraga, Psarou and Agios Ioannis before crossing to Rhenia.
Lunch on this Mykonos catamaran cruise follows traditional Greek recipes, with salads, appetisers and a main course. Wine, beer and bottled water come with the meal.
One listing for yacht cruises from Mykonos leaves Agios Ioannis on a sailing yacht. Guests snorkel at a south coast beach, lunch at Rhenia and pass Delos without landing.
One semi-private Mykonos catamaran cruise takes up to 25 guests. Another sets its limit at 19, served by a captain, a chef and a hostess. Its three crew members all speak English.
The chef on the smaller boat cooks a three-course lunch on board from local market produce. Seafood, vegetarian and vegan options are on the menu.
At the swim stop, the captain anchors in a calm bay with clear water. Guests swim, snorkel, kayak or paddle from the boat, weather permitting.
- Boarding: Tender boarding means the smaller catamaran is not wheelchair accessible.
- Commentary: The 25-guest boat adds live commentary in English and Greek.
- What to bring: Each guest brings a passport or ID and a swim towel.
A Mykonos catamaran cruise pairs south coast beaches with a Rhenia swim and a Delos view.
Which harbours does a Mykonos catamaran cruise leave from?
One Mykonos catamaran cruise starts at Kalafatis beach, while yacht routes start at Agios Ioannis and Platis Gialos. Another Mykonos catamaran cruise leaves from a marina on the island. Hotel pickups also cover the Old Port and the New Port.
A fish market runs on the Old Port quays in the early morning. In light southerly winds, boats anchor in 7 to 10 m in coves south of it.
The New Port at Tourlos has a commercial quay about 640 m long. Its land of about 48 hectares joins the coast by an access bridge.
The Municipal Port Fund of Mykonos has repaired storm-damaged quay walls there. The works form part of a programme to prepare the port for larger vessels.
The Tourlos marina has 40 berths in water 3 to 5 m deep. It has two entrances, and its south basin gives the better shelter.
Ornos, home to 715 residents in the 2021 census, sits at the inner end of Korfos Bay. A pier about 80 m long lies east of its beach.
Pickups for one Mykonos catamaran cruise run from hotels, villas and the cruise port. A tender then carries guests from the marina out to the boat.
- Delos limit: Harbour rule 14 bans passing or anchoring within 500 m of Delos.
- Platis Gialos: Boats moor about 10 m west of the swimming zone.
- Agios Ioannis: The 1989 British film Shirley Valentine was shot on its beach.
Each Mykonos catamaran cruise listed here starts from a beach or a marina.
Which south coast beaches does a Mykonos catamaran cruise pass?
A Mykonos catamaran cruise passes Psarou, Platis Gialos, Paraga, Paradise and Super Paradise. Starting from Kalafatis, it also runs past Kalo Livadi, Elia and Agrari. State profiles record sand on every one of these shores. Super Paradise has the top capacity, at 3,000 swimmers.
Psarou averages 15 m wide inside a closed bay 1,300 m long. Its state profile allows up to 1,500 swimmers. Sailing notes rate its sandy anchorage as excellent.
A Mykonos catamaran cruise passes Platis Gialos, which averages 25 m wide. Water reaches 5 m depth about 90 m out. It became an official bathing water in 1990.
Paraga’s bay runs 300 m, with beach rock along its edges. Sailing notes warn of water taxis moving at high speed.
The state profile for Paradise gives a 370 m beach with a steep sea floor. Water reaches 5 m depth only 35 m from shore.
The first stop on one Mykonos catamaran cruise is Super Paradise, inside a closed bay 1,200 m long. Agrari, 6.5 km south-east of Chora, averages 60 m wide.
Elia averages 35 m wide and reaches 5 m depth about 100 m out. Sailing notes say its anchorage gives a Mykonos catamaran cruise the best south coast shelter.
- Kalo Livadi: A low islet and reefs sit in the southern approach to its bay.
- Kalafatis village: The village had 128 residents in the 2021 census.
- Windsurfing: Strong winds make Kalafatis popular with windsurfers.
One Mykonos catamaran cruise starts at Kalafatis, a 620 m bay that held a Blue Flag for 2014.
What does a Mykonos catamaran cruise see at Rhenia?
A Mykonos catamaran cruise at Rhenia sees a long island split into two halves by a thin isthmus. Sheltered bays line the coast, and the whole island sits inside a Natura 2000 site. No one lived there at the 2021 census.
A Mykonos catamaran cruise passes an isthmus 1.2 kilometres long and only 70 metres wide. The island runs about 8 kilometres from north to south.
Rhenia sits 9 kilometres from Mykonos, and its coastline runs for about 43 kilometres. A strait just 1 kilometre wide separates it from the island of Delos.
The bays serve a growing number of yachts as anchorages on a Mykonos catamaran cruise. Ampelia, Lygia and Agia Triada face west. Sheltered Skinos lies south. Ntalotis, Karantines, Stena and Kasari face east.
About 60 abandoned houses stand on Rhenia, with no phone service, electricity or running water. Protected as an archaeological site, it allows no new building.
The 1971 census counted 24 people on Rhenia, and the 2021 census recorded none. Mykonians graze livestock there and farm plots rented from the municipality.
A Mykonos catamaran cruise here enters Natura 2000 site GR4220027, managed from Ermoupoli. Its records list two threats: illegal hunting and tourist disturbance of seabird colonies.
- Nickname: Locals call Rhenia Megali Dilos, meaning Big Delos.
- Breeding: The Natura site is an important breeding area for raptors and seabirds.
- Chapels: Five whitewashed chapels stand on the island.
Signs of settlement on Rhenia go back to the 5th millennium BC. Foundations of a sanctuary to Heracles still stand near the chapel of Agia Triada.
What rules apply near Delos on a Mykonos catamaran cruise?
Greek law protects archaeological sites on land and at sea, and all of Delos is one. Boats on a Mykonos catamaran cruise need a special permit to dock. A ministry decision of 2004 also governs visits. Overnight stays are banned.
UNESCO names Law 3028/2002 as the law protecting Delos. That law defines archaeological sites as areas on land, in the sea, in lakes or in rivers.
The same law counts monuments fixed to the seabed as immovable monuments. Its protection also reaches Greek territorial waters, which a Mykonos catamaran cruise crosses.
Visitors on tours of Delos also fall under a Ministry of Culture decision on access to archaeological sites. The Government Gazette published it on 23 January 2004.
A Mykonos catamaran cruise uses the small harbour for tourist boats on the west side. Visitors step off between the Sacred Harbour and the commercial ports.
Gourna, a cove on the east coast of Delos, offers safe anchoring. A Mykonos catamaran cruise finds shelter there from north, northwest, west and southwest winds.
Mykonos catamaran cruise guests cannot stay overnight. Still, the 2021 census counted 15 residents on Delos. The only modern buildings are the museum, a refectory and staff houses.
- Works: The Committee for the Conservation of the Monuments of Delos supervises all works.
- Heritage area: The World Heritage property covers 350.13 hectares.
- Routes: Set itineraries and temporary high-season staff limit risks from visitors.
UNESCO lists the World Heritage property under Delos. Its file says Delos, Rhenia and the two Rematiaris islets form one immense archaeological site.
Which islets does a Mykonos catamaran cruise pass?
A Mykonos catamaran cruise passes Dragonisi off the east coast, and two small islets near Chora. Off Delos and Rhenia, it slips past the two Rematiaris islets and Kounelonisi. A 1930 study explains the names of these islets.
A Mykonos catamaran cruise reaches Dragonisi, an islet of 2,500 stremmata. Yellow sea anemones live in its underwater tunnels. It belongs to the Ano Mera municipal unit, east of Mykonos town.
A small church of the Panagia, the Virgin Mary, stands on the rocks of Dragonisi. Its festival falls every 11 June, and only men attend.
Baos once held a settlement of the same name, and the islet also served as a cemetery.
The title deeds of Baos belong entirely to one family. The 2021 census lists Baos and nearby Kavouras, also called Kavouronisi, with zero residents each.
Between Delos and Rhenia, a Mykonos catamaran cruise passes the two Rematiaris islets. Mikros Rematiaris lies to the north and Megalos Rematiaris to the south.
Hecate was worshipped on Megalos Rematiaris in antiquity. Ruins of a Hellenistic temple and an early Christian basilica survive there. Its name comes from sea currents.
- Kounelonisi: A 1930 study links its name to rabbits that once lived there.
- Schinos: Kounelonisi, also called Schinos, is a Special Protection Area within Natura 2000.
- Prasonisia: The same 1930 study described this cluster as two dry islets.
Simos Menardos wrote that 1930 study of Mykonos place names. A Mykonos catamaran cruise passes islets he described, from Kounelonisi to Megalos Rematiaris and the Prasonisia.
What sea life does a Mykonos catamaran cruise meet?
A Mykonos catamaran cruise sails inside a marine mammal area holding monk seals and three dolphin species. Ship surveys show that dolphins stay scarce around the Cyclades islands. On the seabed, rocky ground holds more fish species than bare sand.
The Central Aegean Important Marine Mammal Area spans 58,265 square kilometres. It covers the Cyclades, Dodecanese, Samos and Ikaria, so a Mykonos catamaran cruise sails inside it.
Monk seal pupping grounds earned the area its listing. The minimum estimate is 151 seals, or 23.2% of the world population.
Records for the area, which wraps every Mykonos catamaran cruise, list common, striped and bottlenose dolphins. Surveys from ships in the 1990s logged them in the Cyclades.
In the Cyclades, those surveys logged eight sightings along 1,004 nautical miles. That rate, 0.006 sightings per mile, covers the waters of a Mykonos catamaran cruise.
A survey in June and July 2008 counted fish at 233 sites on 26 Cyclades islands. Sand scored lowest for species and hard ground highest, with seagrass between.
Four fish appeared only over bare sand: wide-eyed flounder, common stingray, greater weever and pearly razorfish. The survey also logged alien algae, including Caulerpa cylindracea and Asparagopsis taxiformis.
- Turtles: In 2010, an injured male loggerhead turned up in Mykonos port.
- Anafi: The listing names an Anafi group of 20 monk seals.
- Habitats: The mammal area holds threatened seagrass beds and coralligenous grounds.
For a Mykonos catamaran cruise, the area reaches seaward to the 200-metre depth line.
What sea history does a Mykonos catamaran cruise recall?
A Mykonos catamaran cruise recalls Persian, Ottoman and pirate fleets around the island. Mykonos ships fought in the 1821 war, and islanders drove off an Algerian attack. Two modern wrecks lie off the coast, a submarine and a cargo ship.
Herodotus writes that the Persian commander Datis stopped at Mykonos on his way back to Asia. There, he found a gilded Apollo statue aboard a Phoenician ship.
Under Ottoman rule, Mykonos supplied the Ottoman fleet with a galley and crews. A Mykonos catamaran cruise starts from an island where an Ottoman fleet once based itself.
A Mykonos catamaran cruise sails seas that once teemed with pirates and corsairs, Greek sources say. They threatened nearby islands and merchant ships crossing the Aegean.
When the 1821 war began, Mykonos joined with four armed ships under Tombazis’s command. Manto Mavrogenous later gathered a flotilla of six ships and sixteen infantry companies.
After the destruction of Chios, an Algerian squadron with 200 men attacked Mykonos. Islanders organised by Mavrogenous forced it to withdraw. In 1825, an Austrian admiral raided the island.
In 1827, the American warship Warren seized a 40-oar pirate tratta near Mykonos. Sailors and marines then landed and burned a pirate boat. The town was shelled.
- Submarine: The Italian submarine Jantina lies 103 metres deep, south of Mykonos.
- Cargo ship: The 62-metre Anna II sank off Lia beach in 1995.
- Russian era: Russian forces held Mykonos from 1770 to 1774.
Divers located the Jantina in 2021, adding a wreck to the sea history of a Mykonos catamaran cruise.
How do the winds shape a Mykonos catamaran cruise?
A Mykonos catamaran cruise meets winds that blow on average from just west of north. The south coast lies in the lee of that wind. The strait toward Ikaria ranks among the three roughest sea areas in Greek waters.
For a Mykonos catamaran cruise, airport records since late 2000 give an average wind direction of 355.6 degrees. Speeds there average 13 knots, with average harbour gusts of 18 knots.
On a Mykonos catamaran cruise, the south side offers shelter from the prevailing north wind. Strong wind can still cancel boat trips around Mykonos on that coast.
North-facing Ftelia is hit by strong northern winds, which suits windsurfing more than swimming. Megali Ammos has no umbrellas or sunbeds because of strong northerly winds.
An HCMR computer model rebuilt winds and waves from 1995 to 2004, checked against a buoy off Mykonos. It named the strait toward Ikaria one of three stormy hotspots.
Mean significant wave height in that strait reaches 1.3 metres in winter and summer. It drops to 1 metre in spring and autumn, when mean wind eases to 7 metres per second.
On 22 January 2004, a storm pushed significant wave height there to 11.0 metres. Wind hit 27.9 metres per second, and pressure fell to a record 972 hectopascals.
- Buoy: The Mykonos wave buoy returned in April 2017 after a five-year break.
- Breakwater: The northeastern Cyclades break up waves from the north Aegean.
- Storm period: That storm’s waves had a peak period of 13.3 seconds.
A Mykonos catamaran cruise in the enclosed Cyclades waters meets mild seas in every season, the model found.
How busy is the sea around a Mykonos catamaran cruise?
A Mykonos catamaran cruise sails around the third-busiest cruise port in Greece. In 2023, only Piraeus and Santorini received more cruise passengers. The island’s airport handled 1,654,255 passengers that year. Sea traffic at the port peaks from July to September.
Greece’s civil aviation authority ranked Mykonos tenth of 39 airports by passengers in 2023. It trailed Zakynthos but carried nearly twice the passengers of Kefalonia.
International flights lead the count. In 2023, 546,233 international passengers landed at Mykonos, against 258,910 on domestic flights. That makes roughly two in three arrivals international.
Flights add to the traffic around a Mykonos catamaran cruise: the airport logged 18,390 aircraft movements in 2023. July peaked with 4,642 take-offs and landings.
Eurostat counts non-cruise sea passengers at Mykonos port by quarter. From July to September 2023, the port handled 792,000. January to March saw only 79,000.
The Hellenic Ports Association counted 685,918 cruise passengers and 608 ship calls at Mykonos in 2022. The next year brought 73.9 percent more cruise passengers.
Mykonos took about 17 percent of the 6,988,015 cruise passengers at Greek ports in 2023. Corfu, in fourth place, counted 667,182, over half the Mykonos total.
- 2019: Eurostat counted about 1.67 million sea passengers at the port.
- Cruise leader: Piraeus topped Greece in 2023 with 1,484,788 cruise passengers.
- Autumn quarter: October to December 2023 brought 183,000 sea passengers.
Spring traffic sits in between: the port counted 502,000 sea passengers from April to June 2023.
When is the best season for a Mykonos catamaran cruise?
A Mykonos catamaran cruise meets the calmest seas in spring and autumn. Central Aegean wave power then stays at or below 5 kW/m. July and August bring the highest air traffic. Winter brings the strongest waves and no international arrivals.
Greece’s civil aviation authority publishes monthly counts for Mykonos airport. In 2023, August was the busiest month with 393,083 passengers, just ahead of July with 392,280.
February was the quietest, with 7,762 passengers. In January, February and December, winter visitors flying in for tours of Mykonos island used domestic flights only.
International flights return in spring. In 2023, only 710 international passengers arrived in March, all on charter flights. April brought 12,145, still all on charter flights.
The season closes fast. International arrivals fell from 25,039 in October to just 116 in November. Domestic flights still brought 5,933 arriving passengers that November.
Greek marine researchers mapped wave power by season. In winter, it reached 10 kW/m north of the Cyclades, against 6 to 8 kW/m south of them.
A Mykonos catamaran cruise in summer meets livelier water. North of the Cyclades, summer waves carry 5 to 6 kW/m.
- Peak arrivals: July brought 151,909 international arrivals, the year’s highest.
- September: The airport handled 270,771 passengers, more than June’s 265,401.
- Sea trend: September wave power in the Aegean rose about 0.07 kW/m per year.
July and August brought 47 percent of 2023 air arrivals, the peak window for a Mykonos catamaran cruise.
What do travelers ask about a Mykonos catamaran cruise?
Questions about a Mykonos catamaran cruise center on port access, cruise tenders, weather bans and delays. Greek law sets passenger rights for weather bans and late departures. The maritime ministry’s portal lists access features at both Mykonos ports.
Can wheelchair users reach a Mykonos catamaran cruise from the New Port?
The maritime ministry’s passenger portal lists access ramps at the New Port. It also lists two accessible toilets and four disabled parking spaces. A separate ramp serves passengers leaving the port. Marked corridors for disabled travelers run through the tourist section.
Does the port offer free help before a Mykonos catamaran cruise?
No. The maritime ministry’s portal says the Mykonos ports offer no free assistance to disabled travelers. No reception point exists at either port where they can declare their arrival. The Old Port does provide one accessible toilet for travelers with reduced mobility.
How do cruise passengers come ashore for a Mykonos catamaran cruise?
Cruise passengers from anchored ships arrive by tender boat at the Old Port. A new tender pier there takes up to four tenders at once. It operates under the international ship and port security framework. The Mykonos Port Authority helped plan it.
What happens if weather stops the ferry for a Mykonos catamaran cruise?
Article 38 of the Greek domestic sea transport code covers weather bans. Passengers can change the ticket date, or cancel and receive the corresponding fare. They can also stay aboard if the captain allows, with snacks or meals at the carrier’s cost.
What if the ferry to a Mykonos catamaran cruise leaves late?
Article 35 of the same code applies when a breakdown or carrier fault delays departure beyond 90 minutes. Passengers can then cancel and receive the ticket price. On routes up to four hours, a one-hour arrival delay earns 25 percent of the ticket price.
Who handles port complaints on a Mykonos catamaran cruise day?
The Mykonos Port Authority sits at the New Port in Tourlos. Its phone number is 22890 22218. The Municipal Port Fund takes calls on +30 22890 28933. The maritime ministry asks that copies of complaints also reach its State-Citizen Relations Department.