• When used: • Pireus - Egina 26.07.93 and 06.07.96 • Egina - Pireus 26.07.93, 06.07.96, 23.06.07 and 28.09.07 • Skiathos - Skopelos 29.06.94 and 07.04.03 • Skopelos - Alonissos 02.07.94 and 11.04.03 • Alonissos - Skopelos 02.07.94 and 11.04.03 • Skopelos - Skiathos 03.07.94, 13.07.94 and 07.04.03 • Skopelos - Skyros 06.07.94 • Skyros - Skopelos 06.07.94 • Ag. Konstantinos - Skopelos 31.03.03• 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. However, in April 2003 I was marooned on Skopelos for a sufficient number of hours to not be able to get myself to Athens that day.
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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