Boat Tours in Zakynthos

Boat Share Greece specialises in small-group and private boat experiences in Zakynthos. We focus on a more personal and relaxed day on the water: carefully selected local captains, smaller groups, and plenty of time to enjoy the coastline, the swim stops, the caves and the marine life without feeling like part of a large, crowded excursion.

Every one of our Zakynthos boat tours leaves from Agios Sostis Harbour, beside Cameo Island and right inside the Zakynthos Marine Park. It is a short hop from Laganas and about ten minutes from Kalamaki, and it means the protected southern bays are the first thing you reach rather than the last. Return transfers are free from anywhere within six kilometres of the airport — Zakynthos Town, Argassi, Kalamaki and Laganas — with Tsilivi pickups at a small extra charge and other areas arranged on request. There is normally free parking by the harbour if you would rather drive yourself.

The Marine Park is the reason this stretch of coast is worth a boat at all. Loggerhead turtles — Caretta caretta — feed and nest here, and turtle spotting is part of several of our trips. They are wild animals, so nothing is ever guaranteed, but our captains know where they surface, and a small quiet boat disturbs them far less than a full excursion vessel does. Our turtle spotting tour is run by two local brothers, Dimitri and Pantelis, and it is the trip the whole company grew out of: crowded boats stress the turtles and spoil the moment, so we kept ours small.

From there the coast opens up. Marathonisi — Turtle Island — is a low, turtle-shaped islet with a sandy beach to swim from and one of the most important loggerhead nesting sites in the Mediterranean. The Keri Caves are sea caves our boats can go right inside, which the larger ones cannot; the light coming through the rock is the part people remember. Mizithres is two limestone peaks rising straight out of the water, where white stone on the seabed turns the sea a bright electric blue, and there is a rock arch through to a quieter cove on the far side. Further up the exposed west coast lie Porto Limneonas, Korakonisi, the Eros and Love caves, and Navagio — Shipwreck Beach — probably the most photographed bay in Greece.

We run three trips from Zakynthos. The small-group turtle tour is about three hours, leaving mid-morning, and covers the Marine Park, the Keri Caves and Turtle Island. The Mizithres sunset cruise is also around three hours but goes out in the late afternoon, timed so the boat is sitting between the two Mizithres rocks as the sun drops — most boats are back in harbour by then, which is the point. The west coast tour is a longer day at roughly five hours, running the full length of the coast to Shipwreck Beach with swim stops at Mizithres, the Eros Cave and Oasis Beach along the way. All three can be booked privately for couples, families or groups, with the route adapted where the sea allows.

If what you are after is a private boat tour in Zakynthos rather than a shared one, all three trips can be booked exclusively for your own group — a couple, a family, a group of friends — with the captain adapting the route and the swim stops to what you want and what the sea allows on the day. The small-group departures work the same way for anyone travelling alone or as a pair: you share the boat, but with six or seven people rather than sixty.

People searching for a Shipwreck Beach boat tour usually have the aerial photograph in mind, so it is worth saying plainly how Navagio works. The bay is on the exposed west coast, it can only be reached by sea, and whether a boat can safely enter it depends on the wind and swell that morning as well as on any access restrictions in force. Our west coast tour goes there when conditions allow and turns back when they do not. Anyone whose main interest is turtles, the Keri Caves or the Mizithres rocks is better served by the shorter southern trips, which run in calmer, more sheltered water.

The season runs from early May to around the middle of October. Shipwreck and west coast routes depend heavily on wind and swell on that side of the island, and on whatever access restrictions are in force at the time — the captain decides on the day, and safety comes before the itinerary. Worth knowing before you board: there is no toilet on the boats and no food or drink included, so bring water, snacks, a towel and sun cream. Every boat has shade, carries the required safety equipment, and is run by a licensed local captain.