The only way to stop at Santorini overnight is to find one of the eight floating metal barrels and try to use it as a mooring. These barrels are old and rusty so you need to be very careful when trying to attach the boat to it. You go bow in, jump on a barrel (as you can imagine it is floating and not very stable) and then you need to try to find the best place to attach the line. If more than one sailing boat is using the barrel, it is a good idea to attach to each other, as the swell will be moving everyone around in the same direction. A lot of fenders on both boats is a good idea too.
Unfortunately, although very beautiful and charming, Sanotrini is spoiled by money. A small sailing boat does not matter, it does not bring that much money after all. The best clients are the big yachts, staying overnight and being charged 1000 or more euros per night. After exploring the island Marcin and I were waiting for our turn on a dingy to get back to our boat and we have spent some time talking with one of the guys working in the port. His stories were shocking.
He pointed on one of the big yachts we could see from the harbour and said that the other night he delivered a bottle of wine there. I could understand the charge of 100 euros, since it looks like 100 was a usual price for most of the things here (which would be still horrendous), but when he said 2000 euros I was not sure I heard it right!
Vasilis was not from Santorini. He was born in Crete, in Chania, the place we have visited just a few days back. He came here to earn money, has been here about 8 years and was slowly thinking about coming back to Crete, as for him Santorini lost all its beauty. “Everything here is about money and this island is the least Greek from all the island around.” – he said. After spending few hours exploring it, I could understand why he was thinking that. Although the views from the top are breathtaking and the sunset was magical, the people seemed different. Perhaps tired by the number of tourists coming in every day?
When we finally got back to our boat, we have noticed something strange happening. A huge, I would say about 50m yacht was attached to another barrel and it seemed to be getting closer and closer not only to us but to the cliffs of Santorini. At first we thought that the big yacht was moving and it was really a matter of time before they would crash. The darkness eluded us and we lost the perspective of how far the big yacht was from the rocks and as we were moving towards the sea parallel to the big boat at first we thought that they are moving towards the rocks! But it was not them, it was us! Our barrel was loose and our boat was moving!
I had no idea how far we have drifted and how long it was since the barrel became loose. I cannot imagine what would happen if we were pushed further towards the rocks, if the barrel become loose earlier, if there was a current or wind pushing us towards the island! What would we see after coming back from our day of exploring – our boat on the rocks??? Plastered to the bigger yacht??? Crashed??? Luckily for us we were moving towards the sea rather towards the rocks, but we were getting closer and closer to the big yacht sitting just few meters from us.
There was another boat attached to the same barrel as we were and they decided to go. In a way we were still baffled by the situation and not sure what to do. When the fact that the barrel and us are moving too close to the big yacht became undeniable and we started to detach ourselves from the barrel, the port police arrived. The next two hours were spent on sailing around and waiting for further instructions. The dangerous barrel was taken away and a new place was found for us. We were advised to keep watches overnight, in case this barrel would detach itself too!
I have no idea what has happened and how. We left at 6am, saying goodbye to Santorini and headed for Ios, deciding to have a whole day beach break on a way. We all needed a day full of sunbathing and swimming to get rid of the stress we have encountered recently.
When I recall the whole experience, I remember everyone shouting and waiving at the people on the huge boat, trying to make them aware that they are in a grave danger. That they are going to crash, because they are moving. I remember the captain of the boat coming on the deck and trying to explain that we need to move. No one believed him. We all have been waiting for a huge spectacle. It is hard to believe how stupid we were! Only when it became apparent to all of us that the big boat crew must have had the instruments to show them if they are moving or not, only when the guys from the other boat pulled out their plotter and checked the position, we finally understood what was happening.
I am glad we survived this whole ordeal. When I think about it I must admit that my imagination would never come up with something like that. Life can surprise you and there is no better writer that the life itself.
Wind Travelers 