Seamanship · 27 May 2027 · 5 min read
Why you cannot anchor in the caldera
The water under Oia is 300 metres deep. Here is how we spend a night under the cliffs anyway.
Santorini is the rim of a drowned volcano. Inside the ring the seabed drops away so steeply that no anchor will hold: 300 metres of water a boat length from the cliff.
“No anchor will hold in 300 metres of water a boat length from the cliff.”
So we do what the fishermen do. On the inner side of Thirasia there are a handful of moorings off Korfos, and we book one a week ahead. From there you watch the sunset over Oia from the water, without the crowds on the terraces.
The crossing from Ios is the longest open leg in our usual summer and it is often a fast one. Asteri and Ourania are the boats we send.
