Santorini Boat Trip

A Santorini boat trip takes passengers out on the sea around Santorini by wooden caique, motor boat or fishing boat. Trips leave the island ports for coves, islets and open water. It is one of the day boat trips in Greece on Greece VIP.

This post covers what a Santorini boat trip includes, the traditional boats and fishing trips. It also covers the east coast, the islets nearby and the sea life. Seasickness, safety and what to bring follow. Anafi, the best season and common questions come last.

Each section ends with a Santorini boat trip or a nearby sea tour that can be booked online.

What does a Santorini boat trip include?

A Santorini boat trip includes a seat on a passenger vessel that follows EU safety rules. Life jackets, lifebuoys and distress flares are on board. Posted pictures explain emergency steps. The Hellenic Coast Guard watches over Greek waters with boats and aircraft.

EU rules sort passenger ships on domestic voyages into Classes A, B, C and D. The class depends on the sea area each ship works in. A Santorini boat trip fits this system.

A Class B ship never sails more than 20 miles from the coast. A Class C ship stays within 5 miles of the coast and 15 miles of a refuge. Waves over 2.5 metres hit its seas less than 10% of the year.

A Class D ship stays within 3 miles of the coast and 6 miles of a refuge. Waves over 1.5 metres hit its seas less than 10% of the year. The rules do not cover wooden ships of primitive build.

Class B, C and D ships carry life jackets for everyone aboard plus 5% extra. Child life jackets cover 10% of people on board. Class D ships carry 6 distress flares, and Class B and C carry 12.

Posted pictures show each passenger the assembly station. They also show the emergency steps and how to put on a life jacket. Passengers on boat tours around the caldera can study them before departure.

• Lifebuoys: Class C or D ships carry at least 4, or 8 with over 250 people aboard.
• Loudspeakers: Every ship with more than 36 passengers has a public address system that works from the bridge.
• Muster: Passenger ships gather everyone within 24 hours of boarding and can abandon ship within 30 minutes.

Above any Santorini boat trip, the Hellenic Coast Guard flies seven airplanes and six helicopters. Its patrol boats range from 6 m to 60 m. They include RIBs, fast inflatable boats, and lifeboats.

Which traditional boats sail on a Santorini boat trip?

A Santorini boat trip can show the Greek craft of wooden boatbuilding, called xylonafpigiki. Greece listed this craft as national intangible heritage in 2013. Hull types like the trechantiri and the liberty are still built close to their older form.

The best-known hull types in Greek seas include the trechantiri, gatzao, botis, tserniki and perama. Others are the rowed trata, varkalas, Hydra varkalas, Chania gaita, karavoskaro and liberty. The gatzao, tserniki, perama and trata are very rare and no longer built.

Sponge-diving trechantiria were called achtarmades. Builders made them mainly on Kalymnos, Hydra, Piraeus and Symi. Old builders also hung weights or pulled ropes on living trees. Years later, the felled wood had the curves a hull needs.

Old boatyards had specialists. The salatzis drew the hull lines on a wooden floor called the sala. The kalafatis sealed the hull and deck. The armadouros made the rigging, the ropes that hold the sails.

The word karnagio, meaning boatyard, comes from the Italian carenaggio. That word comes from carena, the hull part under water. Only a handful of karnagia survive, on Lefkada, Syros, Kalymnos, Samos and Lesbos.

Caulkers seal the gaps between planks. They twist oakum, a loose fibre, by hand. They drive it into the seams with a chisel and a wooden mallet called a matsola.

• Lateen: This triangular sail served fishing, sponge-diving and cargo boats, and once pirate ships and warships.
• Bratsera: This two-masted boat of the Adriatic and Aegean carried passengers and fish, later with a petrol engine.
• Timber: Builders work with pine, oak, cypress, elm, mulberry, eucalyptus and kermes oak.

In the 19th century Syros was the largest shipbuilding centre in Greece. Galaxidi, Spetses, Hydra, Piraeus, Skiathos and Skopelos followed. This sea story still sails on each Santorini boat trip by caique.

What fishing can a Santorini boat trip offer?

A Santorini boat trip can include leisure fishing under clear Greek rules. Greece dropped the recreational fishing licence with Law 4256/2014. Anyone can fish from shore or boat where fishing is not banned. Fish caught for leisure cannot be sold.

Only Greek-flagged boats can fish for leisure in Greek territorial waters, including any Santorini boat trip. Professional fishers need a special licence to take tourists out fishing. Ministerial decision 414/2354 of 2015 sets this rule.

Trolling, called syrti in Greek, drags bait behind a small motorboat. The boat moves at about 3-4 knots. Bottom trolling, run near the seabed, commonly hooks dentex and grouper, both fierce predators.

The common dentex lives over rocky inshore ground. It is found mostly at depths of 15 to 50 metres. Anglers on a Santorini boat trip look for this kind of ground.

Each angler can keep up to 5 kg of fish or octopus-like catch in 24 hours. With longlines the limit is 10 kg, unless one fish weighs more. Octopuses can be kept only above 500 grams.

Each angler can keep only one grouper of the genus Epinephelus. Bluefin tuna and swordfish are only for professional vessels with a special permit. A tuna caught without one goes back alive.

• Sea urchins: Leisure fishers take up to 20 a day, or 30 from a fishing boat.
• Lights: Light fishing is banned except with a hand spear and one 500-candle lamp without a reflector.
• Spearfishing: Divers can hunt fish with a spear from the age of 16.

EU minimum sizes protect young fish. Sea bass must reach 25 cm, white seabream 23 cm and gilt-head seabream 20 cm. Common pandora needs 15 cm, red mullet 11 cm and groupers 45 cm.

What does the east coast show on a Santorini boat trip?

A Santorini boat trip along the east coast passes beaches, villages and steep peaks. Kamari, Perissa and Monolithos line the shore. Ancient Thera sits high on the ridge above. Old churches, ruins and festivals tie each village to its past.

Seen from the sea at Kamari, two peaks frame the view. Mesa Vouno stands on the left. Profitis Ilias rises on the right. The winding road to Ancient Thera climbs between them.

On a Santorini boat trip, the high ridge holds Ancient Thera. It stayed the only town on Santorini up to the 5th century. In the 3rd century BC, a rock shrine for ancient Egyptian gods joined its sacred area.

A hoard of 760 coins dates from the 6th century BCE. It shows modest trade with Athens, Corinth, Ionia and Rhodes. The finest kouros, a statue of a young man, is called the Apollo of Thera.

Next, a Santorini boat trip passes Perissa. Digs have found signs of an ancient city here since 1836. A rich Byzantine town later rose over the ruins. It declined in the reign of the emperor Leo III the Isaurian.

The Holy Cross church of Perissa was rebuilt after the 1956 earthquake. During the work, the ruins of two three-aisled basilicas came to light. The building work destroyed both ruins.

• Kamari festival: The church of Panagia Myrtidiotissa holds its feast on 24 September.
• Perissa festivals: The Holy Cross celebrates on 14 September, and Panagia Katefiani on 8 September.
• Cape Koloumbos: The cape rises 47 metres beside the pebble beach of Koloumbos.

Monolithos takes its name from a large rock. The church of Agios Ioannis is built on it. The village counted 266 residents in the 2021 census, against 499 in 2011.

Which islets lie near a Santorini boat trip?

A Santorini boat trip to the south-west reaches the Christiana islets. The group has three islands: Christiani, Eschati and Askania. Another islet, Anydros, has no natural spring. Each islet holds traces of nature, volcanoes or old human life.

On a Santorini boat trip, Christiani is the largest and northernmost islet of the group. It lies 9 miles south-west of Cape Akrotiri on Santorini. The islet rises to 283 m. A small chapel of Agios Vasileios stands on its north side.

Old dry-stone walls, threshing floors, buildings and abandoned fields show that people once lived on Christiani. Threshing floors are flat spaces for separating grain. In the mid-1970s, NATO considered the islet as a base for a missile silo. The plan never came to pass.

Askania is the middle islet of the group. It reaches 168 m and covers 0.257 km². It lies about 740 m south-south-east of Christiani. The channel between them is only 4 m deep in the middle.

Eschati means “the last one” in Greek. This uninhabited reef is the southernmost islet and stands about 23 m high. A lighthouse sits on it. Reefs fringe its south-west and north-east tips.

Anydros, also called Amorgopoula, lies about 15 nautical miles from Santorini. It sits roughly in the centre of the sea framed by Santorini, Amorgos, Ios, Anafi and Astypalaia. It covers 0.907 km² and rises to 193 m. It has been privately owned since 1860.

• Volcanic base: All three Christiana islets sit on one underwater volcanic structure, thought dormant since the Early Pleistocene.
• Hot vents: Hydrothermal vents, openings that release heated water, were found on the sea floor around the group.
• Protected reptiles: The cat snake Telescopus fallax and Kotschy’s gecko live here under Bern Convention protection.

Remains of a defence wall and tower survive on Anydros. Vaulted underground rain-water cisterns, or tanks, also remain. A small Byzantine church stands there. These show the islet served as a supply stop and shelter up to the Middle Ages.

What sea life swims near a Santorini boat trip?

A Santorini boat trip crosses deep water where whales, dolphins and big fish live. Seabirds dive and skim the waves. Turtles and jellyfish drift through the same sea. Each animal has its own way to hunt, travel or survive.

Cuvier’s beaked whale lives in Mediterranean water mostly deeper than 1,000 m. It holds the mammal records for the deepest and longest dives. These reach 2,992 m and 222 minutes.

A common dolphin calf takes about 1 year to learn its signature whistle. That whistle then stays the same for life. Bottlenose dolphins can recognise another dolphin’s whistle after more than 20 years apart.

Swordfish are known to bask at the surface with the first dorsal fin in the air. They also make powerful jumps. Their scientific name, Xiphias gladius, joins Greek xiphos and Latin gladius. Both words mean sword.

The ocean sunfish swims near the surface. Its tall dorsal fin can look like a shark’s. Yet the sunfish swings the fin in a sculling motion. In Greek it is called fengaropsaro, or “moon fish”, after its rounded shape.

The mauve stinger is one jellyfish to know before a Santorini boat trip. It carries stinging cells on its bell and tentacles. This is unusual among jellyfish. Its bell measures 3 to 12 cm.

• Scopoli’s shearwater: This seabird has a wingspan of 112 to 122 cm.
• European shag: Mediterranean shags belong to the subspecies desmarestii and have been recorded diving to 61 m.
• European storm petrel: This 14 to 18 cm bird patters its feet on the sea while feeding.

Loggerhead turtles carry magnetite, an iron compound, in their brains. This lets them sense the Earth’s magnetic field. With this sense, they find their way, or navigate, across the sea.

How does a Santorini boat trip handle seasickness?

A Santorini boat trip handles seasickness through simple habits and pharmacy aids. Light meals without spice or alcohol help before sailing. Tablets and skin patches also work. Mild symptoms clear within a day for passengers who do get sick.

Seasickness starts in the inner ear. Three semicircular canals, which are curved tubes, sense turning. Otolith organs, tiny balance sensors, sense straight-line movement. On a rocking deck, these signals clash with what the eyes see.

One theory explains the sick feeling. The brain reads the clash as a sign of poison. A brain area called the area postrema then triggers vomiting to clear the supposed toxin.

Nausea is not the only sign on a Santorini boat trip. Motion sickness can also bring extra saliva, tiredness and loss of appetite. Pregnancy, migraines and Ménière’s disease, an inner ear disorder, raise the risk.

The NHS, the UK health service, advises sitting in the middle of a boat. This spot reduces the motion felt. Pharmacy motion sickness patches suit adults and children over 10.

Hyoscine hydrobromide is a travel sickness tablet sold in pharmacies. It is taken at least 30 minutes before a Santorini boat trip. This gives it time to start working. Common side effects include dry mouth, large pupils, drowsiness and constipation.

• Wristbands: Acupressure bands press on a point called P6, and placebo trials show no clear effect.
• Research: A Cochrane review found P6 pressure cut nausea after surgery, but not vomiting.
• Safety: Acupressure is considered safe to use alongside normal medicine.

After landing, tiredness can last for hours or days. Experts call this sopite syndrome, with drowsiness, yawning and mood changes. A short spell of land sickness after a Santorini boat trip is common too. It lasts from minutes up to hours.

How safe is a Santorini boat trip?

A Santorini boat trip is safe when crews and passengers follow clear rules. EU law sets strict checks on every passenger ship. The Greek Coast Guard keeps watch over the seas. Life jackets, sun care and calm habits on deck add more protection.

The Greek name of the Coast Guard is Limeniko Soma. It translates as “Harbor Corps”. Its fleet counts about 240-250 vessels of all types. It runs the Maritime Rescue Coordination Center in Piraeus.

Under EU law, a passenger ship leaving a port in a member state counts everyone aboard. The master, or captain, checks the number does not exceed the permitted number. The same rules cover boat trips around Milos and other Greek islands.

The count has two goals on a Santorini boat trip. Passengers never exceed what the ship and its safety equipment are certified for. Rescuers also know the number of people involved.

Inflatable life jackets fill when a pin punctures a carbon dioxide cartridge. A pull cord fires it, or it fires automatically. Automatic jackets use a small pill that dissolves in water. Others use a hydrostatic release, a part that reacts to water pressure.

Sun and heat need attention on a Santorini boat trip. Clouds only partly block UV, so a large share gets through on an overcast day. Canopies and umbrellas reduce UV but do not block all of it.

• Lights: Commercial passenger life jackets commonly carry a light that switches on in water.
• Children: Young children are more prone to heat stroke because they absorb more heat and sweat less.
• Cooling: Heat stroke is treated by rapid cooling, such as spraying water and using a fan.

Good habits help in an emergency too. Everyone within earshot repeats the “overboard” call until all on deck hear it. More people jumping into the water is never the answer.

What do passengers bring on a Santorini boat trip?

A Santorini boat trip calls for light and practical packing. A dry bag keeps phones and cash safe from spray. Sun protection comes first on the open sea. Water shoes, a hat and sunglasses complete the basic kit.

A dry bag closes with a roll-top. Two firm strips fold over again and again, and a side-release buckle joins the ends. Its seams are sealed by welding with radio waves, by gluing, or by sewing with tape over holes.

Phone water ratings on a Santorini boat trip follow the IEC 60529 standard. The first digit rates dust, and the second rates water. An X means no rating was given. A phone rated IPX7 for immersion is not always safe from water jets.

Water shoes are commonly made of mesh. Their hard sole prevents cuts on wet rocks. People commonly wear them without socks. Rash guards, tight swim shirts, use flatlock stitching that keeps seams flat.

Fabric weave matters more for sun protection than colour, weight, stretch or wetness. Polyester contains a benzene ring that absorbs UV light. A sun hat brim is about 4 to 7 inches wide.

Sunscreen goes on before a Santorini boat trip. In the EU, labels go no higher than SPF 50+. A higher SPF does not last longer on the skin than a lower one. The ancient Greeks used olive oil against the sun.

• Sunglasses: Price and polarizing lenses do not guarantee the best UVA protection, a 1995 study found.
• Mirrors: A mirrored coating does not always reflect UV as well as visible light.
• Coins: Greek 1, 2 and 5 cent coins show an Athenian trireme, early 19th-century corvette and modern tanker.

Greeks call the euro cent the lepto, plural lepta. Those coins fit easily in a dry bag. With these items, a Santorini boat trip stays dry, shaded and relaxed.

What can a Santorini boat trip show of Anafi?

A Santorini boat trip can show Anafi, a small island in the Cyclades. It belongs to the Thira regional unit, like Santorini. The island has a huge rock peak, quiet beaches and temple ruins. Its myths link it to the god Apollo.

Anafi had a population of 293 in 2021. Ancient geographers counted Anafi and Santorini among the Sporades, not the Cyclades. This changed under Latin rule in the late Middle Ages.

In myth, Apollo lit up the island. He made it appear to the Argonauts as shelter from a bad storm. The name Anafi is said to mean “he made appear” in ancient Greek. Apollonius Rhodius tells this story in the Argonautica, 4.1717-18.

A Santorini boat trip to Anafi passes Mount Kalamos. This rock sits on a peninsula at the eastern end. It rises to 420 m, while the highest point of Anafi stands at 584 m. It ranks among the largest monoliths, or one-piece rocks, in the Mediterranean.

The Kalamiotissa church sits on top of Mount Kalamos. Its icon, a holy painting, is said to have been found on a reed. The Greek word for reed is kalami, which gave the Virgin the title Kalamiotissa.

After a storm in 1887, the icon moved to the church at the foot of the mountain. That church stands inside the walls of a temple of Apollo. The monastery of Panagia Kalamiotissa holds remains of a temple offered to Apollo Aegletus.

• Beaches: Klisidi and Roukounas are the best-loved beaches of Anafi.
• Protected coast: The EU Natura 2000 scheme protects Roukounas and Kalamos on the south coast.
• Plants: Anafi has 635 plant species and subspecies, with 37 found only in Greece.

The Strangford Apollo is a marble nude youth from around 490 BC, 1.01 m tall. It is believed to come from Anafi and has been in the British Museum since 1864.

When is the best season for a Santorini boat trip?

A Santorini boat trip has its sunniest days from June to August. July is the brightest month, with the driest air. September and October bring milder light and warm air. The sea around Santorini stays steady all through the year.

The Hellenic National Meteorological Service, or HNMS, has a Santorini station. There, July averages 12 hours of sunshine a day. Relative humidity, the water in the air, averages 59.1% in July.

June averages 11.5 hours of sunshine a day, and August 11.4 hours. In the HNMS 1991-2020 normals, June has a mean temperature of 24.8 °C. These months suit a Santorini boat trip with long days.

September averages 9.7 hours of sunshine a day and October 7.8 hours. October has a mean temperature of 20.5 °C. The HNMS notes that autumn in Greece is long and warm.

The darkest months are December, with 4.6 hours of sun, and January, with 4.7. The Hellenic Navy Hydrographic Service has a station on Thira. It records an annual mean sea surface temperature of 18.8 °C.

Of 8 Aegean stations, Thira has the smallest yearly swing in sea temperature, 8.1 °C. Kavala in the north swings 15.9 °C. These records cover 23 useful years, from 1972 to 1995.

• REMOS network: This network measured the sea at 4 Santorini stations, on Palea Kameni, Nea Kameni and Gialos.
• Yearly cycle: At the Taxiarhis station, sea temperature swings about 4.28 °C above and below its average.
• Winter sea: The REMOS records show sea temperature changing less from November to April.

Picking a month for a Santorini boat trip depends on taste. Summer brings long, bright days. Autumn brings calmer warmth and softer light. The steady sea keeps the water pleasant through the warm months.

What do travelers ask about a Santorini boat trip?

A Santorini boat trip raises common questions about crowds, boats and safety. Travelers ask about cruise visitors and the small transfer boats. They also ask how toilets on board work. Parents also ask about sun and water safety for young children.

How busy is the island around a Santorini boat trip?

Santorini caps cruise ship visitors at 8,000 a day because of overtourism. Overtourism means more visitors than a place can handle. Before the cap, the island of 15,000 residents was receiving up to 18,000 tourists a day. The cap aims to ease crowds in the port areas.

What are tender boats on a Santorini boat trip from a cruise ship?

On cruise ships, lifeboat tenders do double duty. They ferry passengers day to day. They are also fully equipped to serve as lifeboats in an emergency. Each carries 100 to 150 passengers and two to three crew. Newer catamaran tenders roll less in calm to moderate seas.

How does a traveler reach Fira after a Santorini boat trip?

A cable car links the Old Port to Fira, the main town on the cliff. It lifts riders up the steep caldera wall from the water. The caldera is the large bowl left by the old volcano. The ride saves visitors a hard climb up the slope.

How does the toilet work on a Santorini boat trip?

On a boat, the toilet is called the head. Old sailing ships placed the crew toilet at the head, or bow, of the vessel. A modern boat toilet looks like a normal seated toilet. It uses valves and pumps to bring in water.

Why does paper matter on a Santorini boat trip?

Too much toilet paper easily blocks the cleaning parts of a boat toilet. So only a small amount of paper is safe. Sewage release from boats is also controlled by world agreements. One is the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships.

How do families stay safe on a Santorini boat trip?

Babies under 6 months have skin too sensitive for sunscreen. Wide hats, loose covering clothes and less sun from 10am to 4pm protect them. Sunscreen is safe for infants aged 6 to 12 months. The WHO notes that drowning risk rises without active adult supervision near water.