◉ When used: • Kalymnos - Kos 28.05.06 • Pireus - Egina 27.09.07 and 28.09.07 • Egina - Pireus 27.09.07 • Samos - Patmos 12.06.08 • Patmos - Samos 12.06.08◉ More info: Hydrofoils are a fast but pretty charmless way of getting around. They can be unreliable, as these boats are very sensitive to choppy seas. In the Saronic Gulf (especially) and in the Sporades, this service can pretty much be trusted. In the Dodecanese it is often more a matter of finding what's actually running, when the day comes.
Some questions about the safety of the hydrofoils in general have been asked. I got a comment about this from one traveler who referred the fact that this had been an issue in Swedish press at some point. I must agree that when traffic is at its peak, luggage might be blocking exits (and the aisles themselves), and evacuation of the crafts might be seriously hindered if an accident should occur. We should perhaps be lucky that these boats cannot run in bad weather?
You must be warned about one death trap: If you are sitting in the front cabin, there is a drop of half a meter (OK, it felt like that anyway!) down from the seat to the floor. This may come as a surprise, especially if you thought you were used to these boats, but usually have been sitting in the main cabin...
One last comment: I really cannot say that these vessels remind me much of the graceful and streamlined dolphin. The only resemblance I can find to anything in the animal kingdom, is big ugly bugs leaping on top of the water with their hairy legs resting on the surface... Actually the boat is a "Kometa" class of soviet russian design.
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