Discover 5 secluded beaches while sailing with Jack & Jenny
Opening up our little bag of secrets today, we are going to share some of our most beloved, secluded beaches of the Aegean sea, with you. We are very thankful that our adventures out at sea enable us to discover many beaches all over Greece. Finding a new mesmerizing beach is always on our list, but we love to return to our favourite coves. Here they are!
Sailing to the historical “treasure-chest”.
Smack in the middle of the Cyclades, there is an island that, up until recently, you might never had heard of its name. With no inhabitants to defend its right to celebrity, the island of Despotiko has sat there, quietly, next to Antiparos, and Paros. But today, as you stand on the shore of Antiparos, you might see an ancient temple being re-erected in the distance. We know that Apollo, the God of light and music, was worshiped all over the Cyclades. What we are discovering now is that the sanctuary dedicated to him, which you can discover by foot on the island of Despotiko, was an important site, some say, as important as the one at Delos.
Despotiko is worth discovering with a yacht not only for it’s emerging archaeological site, but also for one of its beaches which has a peculiar shape. It is called “Livadi” which means “Meadow”. As you arrive on that beach, the best thing to do is to get on the shore and walk its depth. Going on and on, it meets up with the hills with some beautiful magical dunes (dunes are rare in Greece!). There you feel cut off from the world. You walk up and down the sand dunes, replying back to the only inhabitants of the island: grazing sheep and goats.
This beach can only be accessed by small caiques from the island of Antiparos, or of course by sailing with Jack & Jenny. This quest is part of our Dash of Time- historical discoveries sailing week.
The secret cove named after its seaweed colony.
On the edges of the island of Sifnos, there is a beach we will call Seaweed, for our love of it, keeps us from disclosing its full name.
There are not one, but two sandy beaches, a church, and a centenary olive-grove to paint the picturesque image of this place. You dip into the turquoise waters to wash the heat of the day off your skin. As the sun turns to its afternoon golden light, you can appreciate the glittering olive leaves in the distance. The beach is generally quiet as no boat tours come here, only a few private yachts during the middle of the day. The sun-setting colours wash the bay in delicious colours and as you quietly sip a rose and listen to the chanting cicadas, you fall on your back and are ready to watch the night sky. You may visit that beach on our Star Dash - astro-sailing adventure.
A very well hidden tropical oasis
In the most remote part of the Pelion Peninsula, there is a beach that resembles no other. It sits between gigantic rocks and very lush cascading vegetation. Some of the smaller rocks dot the beach making natural beach-space dividers. You can access it via a strenuous footpath from one of Pelion’s most remote villages. Don’t bother driving there though, you will be faster sailing there with us. On our Mountain Dash yachting trip, we visit the lush archipelago of the Sporades combining it with the Pelion peninsula. There we organise Canyoning, diving and cycling activities. Yet, weather conditions make it a call of the last minute for us, to sail to that beach. You never definitely know up until the last minute, if the winds will be forgiving or not. You might seriously mistake it for a beach in Thailand. The place looks like it has come out of “The Beach” movie. This is the lovely Fakistra beach.
The free camper’s paradise
There is a community of free campers, who return to the same beach, year after year, for more than a decade now. Visiting that beach is like time-traveling back in the sixties and joining a hippie community.
We will leave the happy campers on their sandy beach, and observe this beautiful scene unfolding before our eyes, from our yacht. Anchored in the middle of the bay, we will watch its abrupt tufa-stone cliffs turn to gold at sunset.
This is Nero, in Kato Koufonisi, which is part of the “Little Cyclades” archipelago – also called Greece’s Carribean.
Sail to the lunar landscape beach
Sitting on the Hellenic arc characterising the meeting point of the African and the Aegean Sea tectonic Plates, in the active volcanic zone crossing Greece, there is an island whose name means “Many-Goats” in ancient Greek. A nod to its trusty four-legged inhabitants.
The volvanic landscapes of this island compare to no other, both in shape and colour. With its abrupt claw-like looking rocks, the geology of the island is graced with a rainbow of speckles of different colors from white, yellow, red, grey, green and black! Oh how happy these goats must be, grazing on the thousands of low vegetation bushes! Discovering this island while sailing on our Mad Dash- adventurous sailing week is one of the trip’s highlights. There are a few, equally beautiful-looking beaches all deserving an exotic title, but the one we prefer offers exactly what we look for at Jack & Jenny. First of all, there is a sloping ash-white landscape, lapping off a mountain. It reminds you of the craters on the Moon. To add to this already magical image, we have a perfect familiar specific rock-mooring, a perfect beach, a few sand dunes where you can see baby goats jumping around. We enjoy observing them hiking trails going off to the distance, while a dreamy sunset crowns it all.
Sail away with Jack and Jenny
To get to know the name of that island, you will have to follow the clues in the text above. To know the name of that perfect beach, you will have to sail with us on our next Mad Dash adventure! Go on, click here. You can also find the island’s name there :-)
No matter where you are, count on us to make you dream of lunar landscapes, historical treasure hunts and sailing into sunsets a reality.
We are off to sail with the dolphins and go talk to the goats.
Thank you for following us on our sailing adventures.
We wish you a very happy summer.