Around the island by boat

Spetses is about twenty-two square kilometres with a coastline that folds in and out far more than the shape on a map suggests. The ring road touches a handful of the bays. The rest, the small pebble inlets on the west and southwest, the rock coves, the stretches where pine drops straight into water with no path down, you can only reach from the sea.

Going round the island by boat is therefore not a novelty excursion here. It is the only way to actually see the place.

What the trip is

Boats leave from the harbour at Dapia and from the Old Harbour. The standard offering is a day or half-day circumnavigation with swimming stops, usually taking in the south coast beaches, the sea cave at Agioi Anargyroi, and the northwest bays around Zogeria.

There are broadly three ways to do it.

A shared trip on a larger boat. Fixed departure, fixed route, a set number of swimming stops, sometimes food included. Cheapest per head and the easiest to arrange, because you simply turn up at the quay and book that morning or the day before.

A water taxi hired for a private circuit. You negotiate directly with a skipper on the quay for a run of a few hours with the stops you want. Costs meaningfully more but you set the itinerary and you are a group of your own.

Self-drive. Small boats are available to hire on the island, some in the engine class that requires no licence. Full freedom, and the island is small enough that you cannot go badly wrong on a calm day.

We are not going to quote prices, because they move with the season, the size of the group and how many boats are sitting idle that morning. Ask three skippers on the quay before you commit, and agree everything, route, duration, stops, and whether fuel is included, before you get in.

Why it is worth doing

Because the coastline from the water is a different island. Pine down to the rock, small inlets with nobody in them, the mainland close on the northern side, the old boatyards and the bell tower of Agios Nikolaos seen from the angle they were meant to be seen from.

Because it solves the beach problem. Spetses beaches are reached by moped on a hot ring road or by walking. From a boat you get four or five swims in a day with no road at all.

Because the Bekiris cave at Agioi Anargyroi is much easier approached by water than scrambled to over the rocks.

Pain points

The wind decides. The summer meltemi comes from the north, and when it blows the north and west coasts, including Zogeria, get rough. On a windy day a circumnavigation either gets cut short at the sheltered south coast or is genuinely unpleasant. Trips do get cancelled. Build a spare day into a two-night stay if this is the thing you most want to do.

Seasickness. The south coast is usually fine. Rounding the western end into any swell is where people start regretting breakfast. If you are prone to it, take something before you board rather than after.

Shade. Many of the smaller boats have little or no cover, and a full day on open water in July burns people who thought they were fine. Hat, long sleeves, high-factor cream reapplied after every swim.

Cash. Small operators and water taxis frequently do not take cards. Bring notes.

Bring your own water and food unless it is explicitly stated as included, and check before you pay rather than after.

With small children, ask specifically about life jackets in the right sizes. Availability on smaller boats is inconsistent.

Out of season the number of boats running drops sharply and by late autumn you may find no shared trips operating at all, only a private hire at a private price.

The plan we recommend

Do the boat on your first full day, while you still have a spare day in hand if the wind kills it. Half a day is usually enough for the highlights and leaves you the afternoon for the town. Then give the second day to land: the walk from Dapia to the Old Harbour, Bouboulina’s House, and a late swim at Agia Paraskevi. Between the boat and your feet you will have seen most of Spetses without ever sitting in a car.