We were picked up at 9am , there were two people, a Spanish couple, already in the transfer van, we picked up two more, a young, quiet, American couple. Then headed to the bay in Pollonia where we were picked up by the ships captain, Kostis, in a small tender. Shoes off was the first order of the day, no shoes worn on the yacht. We were soon at our ride for the day, a 46 ft single mast yacht by the name of Aria Calma. There were already another two couples on board, so them and the mate, Nicky, made 12.
We set out under motor and headed towards the island of Polyegos, the largest uninhabited island in Greece. On the way we passed a private island where a wealthy Greek has commenced building a luxury retreat, complete with a chapel with an elaborate bell tower. Unfortunately, something must have happened, and work stopped several years ago and it has never been completed. (this appears to be fairly common in Greece and not only for the mega rich)
Our first stop was a small bay off Polyegos, in 10m deep water offshore from a large Kaolin deposit. The Kaolin is white, and over many years it has been eroded into the sea and the seabed, the fine white powder, makes the water crystal blue in colour, a beautiful sight. We swam here for about 30 minutes. The water was brisk, and saltier than I had expected, as a result anyone in the water was extra buoyant. It was fun being able to be in the water and just bob around!
We left the beautiful waters around 11am and headed to the south coast of Milos, along the way we passed by many interesting areas. First was an area of old sulphur mines (more on those later), then we passed an area of beach, Paliochori Beach, where thermal springs occur. It was said that you couldn’t walk on the beach in bare feet during summer as you would burn your feet. A restaurant at the beach has many specialty dishes on their menu that are cooked in the sand heated by the thermal spring waters, you need to preorder 24hrs in advance.
We stopped and anchored in 4m of water at noon at Gerakas, an area where a volcano erupted about 90 thousand years ago, forming the large perlite deposits at this location. (Milos has a very long history of volcanic activity, the same as most of the area, and as a result this island is very rich in many volcanic sourced minerals, which have been mined for 100s of years. Milos is one of the worlds leading sources of perlite). The geology of this area was really interesting, the many different layers of rock and how they had been twisted, raised and lowered and pierced as a result of the volcanic activity, fascinating if you’re interested in that sort of thing. 😁 There were thermal springs in the water around caves at the base of the cliffs, some of these can be scolding. The warm water is a lure for sea Turtles at various times of the year, just not now unfortunately. I didn’t swim here, the water was colder than the first stop, which was at my limit.
We left Gerakas at 12:40pm and headed further West along the south coast. The wind was really starting to pick up, gusts to 40 knots our captain said. At about 1:30pm, a very strong gust hit our boat and my hat was blown off my head across the boat and stayed on board by netting in the side rails. The Captain commented “very lucky” in his best Greek accent 🙃
Around 1:45pm we pulled into a bay at Keliftico, an area sheltered from the weather with lots of caves, many large enough to get a small boat into. Pirates used the area during the middle ages as a refuge. In WWII it was also used by many navys for the same shelter. I counted 15 other sailing boats of tourists at this spot. Nicky, our mate, said she had seen up to 15 Super Yachts anchored here in summer. We got the opportunity to ride in the yacht’s tender to go inside many of the caves, it was lots of fun and interesting. We left there at around 3:30pm.
We started heading back to Palomino, with a few stops along the way.
At 4:30pm we pulled into a bay that had a beautiful small beach, Tsigrado Beach. The beach is only for the intrepid. To get to it by land requires you to descend down a very steep narrow crevice using two very rickety ladders and some rope. We saw two groups come down that way, very slowly, the second group had the complication of having to pass a small group going back up to the top. All went well and everyone made it safely. The other far easier method is by boat. There were maybe 20 people on the beach when we got there, some off our boat. We left here at about 5pm.
Our next stop was around 5:50pm, at the old sulphur mines I mentioned earlier. Sulphur was mined here from 1890 to 1958. The mine workers and their families all lived on-site. You could see a small settlement that was built on one side of the valley and extended up the valley wall. The mine processing plant was on the opposite side of the valley. It appears frozen in time, and Nicky said it looked like the workers just shut the doors and left, all their belongings were still in the homes. There is hope that one day the company will give the site to the government so it can be made into a museum.
We continued on, and getting closer to Pollonia we passed an operating Bendonite mine, a huge scar on the landscape. Ships come from all over the world for the Bendonite.
We tied up in Pollonia at 6:45pm, we said our goodbyes to Kostis and Nicky, and the rest of the group and were taken back to our hotel.
We were in our balcony spa by 7:05pm, the end of a good day.
