Delos Channel

What the Delos Channel Means for Your Charter

Straight answer: the Delos Channel is not somewhere your charter will anchor — it’s exposed to the Meltemi and laced with reefs, and even the tripper boats treat it as a passage, not a stop. What matters to charter guests is what it leads to: Delos itself, the ancient sacred island and one of the most important archaeological sites in Greece, ten minutes from Mykonos by water. For routes and yachts, see our Mykonos yacht charter guide.

The way we arrange a Delos visit: the yacht positions off Mykonos or in the sheltered bays of Rinia next door, and you go ashore to walk the ruins in the morning before the day-trip crowds build. Overnight anchoring at Delos is restricted anyway — the site closes, and the yacht is better off at Rinia or back at Ornos. If ancient Greece is on your list, this is the half-day that delivers it.

Delos Channel is a narrow, shallow, and vastly reefed channel between Rinia and Delos that surrounds the Nisidhes Remmatio islet. Since this islet is beyond the 500-meter mooring restriction, you can choose to drop anchor here. However, the channel is completely open to the Meltemi and is spread with reefs, which can make things tricky for you.

Delos Channel cannot exactly be termed an anchorage. It’s just a bypass to sail to the nearby Rinia and take cover at Ormos Skhinou, Chapel Bay, or South Bay.

Top view of Delos by Discover Greece. — Top view of Delos | credit: Discover Greece

Mooring at Delos Channel

Delos Channel is preferred only for a quick transit to Rinia because of its vast reefs and bareness to the northerlies. We do not recommend anchoring anywhere near the Delos Channel, even if you plan on stopping around the islet.

The meltemi winds are known to blow at force 7 or more in worst cases, which can be an inconvenience. The reefs and the small seas do not help either.