Oia 

Although it is very crowded in high season, Santorini has a so charming landscape that no one can resist. Moreover, it's not every day that you can sail inside a volcano.

But, you know, beautiful things are never easy to reach and Santorini is not an ideal place where to have a stop: very few harbours, only one marina at the southern side of the island, very crowded and little sheltered anchorages and a not-excellent sea bottom.

Nevertheless, we recommend a visit here. The anchorage we'll talk about is located in one of the most beautiful and less crowded corners of the island.

Maybe because Oia (also known as Ià) is literally perched in one side of the caldera or because Fira, the main city of the island, attracts most of tourists. Anyway, Oia is a real "pearl" not to be missed. Narrow lanes, ancient white houses, blue domes, breath-taking views on the volcano and a typical intact atmosphere. The view on both the bay and the volcano is wonderful.

Oia, of course, doesn't have a harbour but just a small shelter, well-protected only from northern winds. If you want to spend a night at anchor, Oia offers two possibilities: a small dock or 8 buoys located just opposite the coast.

In the dock, almost always occupied by local fishermen, depth reaches about 6 metres. If you find a place, we suggest to keep a certain distance from the dock itself since the bottom is made up of rocks and many waves are gerenated by tourist ferries.

If the dock is all occupied, you can moor in front of it, where depth varies from 10 to 20 metres; the bottom is made up of sand and rocks, so grip is not excellent. Moreover, shelter is very bad.

As an alternative, you can moor at the buoys located just in front of the cliff or those ones south-east of Oia.

Once you've moored, you can enjoy a visit of the charming city of Oia.