500 Adrenaline Adventures (Frommer's) - Lois Friedland [43]
The multitude of yacht chartering options is almost overwhelming. You can charter a luxury yacht for a week costing more than most people pay to buy a house, or sign onto a smaller yacht for less than it would cost you for the flights within Greece and hotels—perhaps a more palatable option for those without deep pockets who are eager to spend time at sea. Sailing also includes a ready swimming and snorkeling option.
The average size charter, which takes six to eight passengers, is approximately 15m (50 ft.) in length. Accommodations vary from berths to double cabins and a variety of meal options are available, from basic meal packages to gourmet cuisine. The incredible sunsets are thrown in for free. To maximize the number of islands you visit and to avoid tacking into the wind for days, consider a one-way charter.
Most charters provide the ability for novices to learn about sailing and for experts to brush up on their skills. Having a skipper provides you with an expert on the winds and currents, as well as an interpreter, a guide, a historian, and someone who knows the better restaurants and out of the way places.
Although they are two of the larger, more popular islands, Santorini (Thira) in the Cyclades and Rhodes in the Dodecanese still top the list of must-see islands. The west side of Santorini is a huge volcanic caldera which is so large that your yacht is little more than a speck when seen from the cliffs 300m (1,000 ft.) above. I particularly like the village of Oia on Santorini with its blue painted church domes and cave houses. (Try to avoid visiting when the cruise ship hordes have descended on the island.) A trip to the caldera with a hike to the top is worthwhile. The Dodecanese Islands, which are a bit off the beaten path, can provide some exciting sailing mid-summer with steady winds of around 20 knots. The old city of Rhodes, where car traffic is forbidden, is surrounded by a high stone wall and provides you the opportunity to walk the same alleys the Knights Hospitallers (a religious military order) walked between 1309 and 1522. Hire one of the many private guides, such as Rhodes Private Tours (www.rhodesprivatetours.com) for a few hours to tour the restored castle and surrounding area. —LF
www.sailingissues.com.
Tours: Seascape Sailing ( 70/085-877-112;www.seascape-sail.com/home). Easy Sailing Ltd., 10 Poseidonos Ave. ( 30/210- 985936;www.easysailing.gr).
When to Go: Mid-May through mid-June to avoid the heat and crowds.
Athens International Airport; Corfu Airport; Heraklion Airport (Crete); or Rhodes International Airport.
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Kayaking Around Remote Islands
Paddling Spectacular Waters
Hebrides Islands, Scotland
You’re quietly paddling along with your hand only a few inches from the water’s surface in a craft designed by the Inuits thousands of years ago. To your left, on the crest of a small wave, a sea otter floats on its back enjoying lunch. There pops a seal’s head less than 3m (10 ft.) away, almost startling you into tipping your sea kayak. Then, as you’re heading toward land, you find yourself in the midst of a pod of porpoises. You are sea kayaking in the magnificent Hebrides Islands of Scotland.
The Hebrides is a 241km-long (150-mile) chain of islands in the North Sea, approximately 81km (50 miles) off the west coast of Scotland. Sea kayaking in the Hebrides can take you to sand dune-fringed islands and islands with cliffs that explode straight up out of the water for hundreds of feet. The extraordinary sights are as varied as the numerous sea kayak operations that ply the Outer Hebrides