Schoinoussa is an odd shape. It looks a bit over 2km wide at its widest and about 5km long. Last census was just over 200 people. On Monday there were 5 or 6 other boats anchored in our bay but today there is just one other sailboat along with a local fishing boat that seems to go out at night. There is a peninsula beside us that is private and owned by a rich Greek shipping family. You can see their mansion from the satellite view in google photos. It looks huge. On our side of the bay you can see what looks like a church and a giant open-air ancient greek amphitheatre. It is very odd. It looks like it could seat 1000 people, which is odd on an island with a population of 200. They must have built it to host private plays. I have not seen a soul walk anywhere there over 3 days.
The bay and water are about as beautiful as you might expect (imagine the most beautiful place you can). The water is crystal clear. You can easily see the bottom 10+ meters down. Maybe you will see a single cloud somewhere. The only thing I would add is a coral reef. I dive with a mask to check the anchor daily (mostly an excuse to jump in) and in our general area there are hundreds of little fish but not the giant-aquarium experience you see in the best diving places in the Caribbean.
Yesterday we rowed to shore and walked into ‘town’. It was a bit steep up from the beach to a dirt road. The single car that passed us went slow to not cover us in dust. There were a few hardly-signed restaurants, two very small places to buy groceries and empty rental-type looking units……but believe me: if you want to get away from it all this is the place. We saw less than 10 other non-local looking people. It always makes me happy to see these beautiful places that are not insanely developed.
It still amazes me how dry these places are. You can read that the Mediterranean climate is dry in the summer….but until you experience it you don’t understand. We have not had any rain for all of June, and we might get 1 or 2 very brief sprinkles of rain in July and August. The fields we walked past yesterday are bone dry. I don’t know where the locals would have gotten their water in ancient times……maybe you can dig a well below sea-level and get drinkable water….but this is almost desert.
Tomorrow we are going to head to an even smaller island nearby. I don’t expect there will be a grocery store there. The forecast is for strong northerly winds on Friday, so by Thursday we will be in a nice bay with good protection to the north (I’ve got a place picked out).
Adventures on Spruzzo 