Sailing to Uninhabited Rhenia Island and Southern Coast Catamaran Cruises

While millions of visitors know Delos, far fewer realize that just 600 metres across a shallow turquoise channel west of Delos lies a second, four-times-larger uninhabited island called Rhenia (Greater Delos). In antiquity, when Athenian religious law banned anyone from giving birth or dying on sacred Delos, pregnant women and the dying were ferried across the channel to Rhenia (and in 530 BC, the tyrant Polycrates of Samos symbolically bound Rhenia to Delos with an iron chain to dedicate it to Apollo). Today, Rhenia has zero roads, zero hotels and zero permanent residents, only herds of grazing sheep, four deserted bays of fine white sand and some of the most transparent neon-blue water in Greece.

How to Visit Rhenia Island (Combined Delos + Rhenia Boat Trips)

Because the regular morning commuter ferry from Mykonos Old Port only stops at the archaeological jetty of Delos, the only way to swim at Rhenia is on a shared or private sailing yacht, catamaran or traditional wooden kaiki schooner (departing early in the morning or in the late morning from Agios Ioannis pier, Ornos or the Old/New Port and returning in the afternoon or in the early evening):

1. Morning Stop at Sacred Delos (Optional 2-Hour Shore Stop): most full-day cruises drop you first at the Delos pier for two hours to walk the Terrace of the Lions and the ancient theatre before midday heat.
2. Midday Anchor & Swim at Rhenia's Skinos, Glyfada or Lia Bays: the boat sails ten minutes across the strait to drop anchor in 3 metres of glowing turquoise water off one of Rhenia's sheltered eastern coves, giving you two to three hours to swim ashore to the empty white sand beach, snorkel over ancient amphora shards, and eat a freshly grilled Greek lunch on deck.

Afternoon & Sunset Southern Coast Catamaran Cruises

If you have already visited Delos on the morning ferry, you can also book a 5-hour afternoon-to-sunset catamaran cruise that sails along the wind-sheltered southern cliffs of Mykonos (stopping to swim off Dragonisi / Tragonisi Island, a protected nature reserve off the eastern tip of Mykonos famous for dramatic yellow-and-turquoise sea caves and rare Mediterranean monk seals, and the southern coves of Super Paradise and Paraga) before watching the sun sink behind Delos from the water.