Private Full-Day Trip to Dia island
MGV-Yachts-Cruises offers sailing trips to Dia island, Agia Pelagia, Elounda, and the Cyclades.
Trip to Dia island. Try a unique sailing experience. Travel with us to Dia island in style, elegance and comfort. Join the sailing procedure if you feel like it, get eye-catching views of Heraklion from aboard and let the sea breeze fondle your skin.
Upon arrival you can swim, fish, snorkel into the crystal-clear waters and explore the remnants of the ancient port. You may walk around the island or just relax aboard or at the sandy beach of Agios Georgios bay.
Minoans, the ancient inhabitants of Crete, are known as the most skilful sailors of the ancient world. They were expertized, capable and owned such a powerful navy that the Minoan cities had no need to build any kind of fortification for protection. Minoan civilization is considered the only long-lasting peaceful civilization on earth.
While a visit to Knossos reveals the significance of the uniquely intellectual, humanitarian yet so robust achievements of the Minoans, this cruise is an excellent opportunity to have a taste of these achievements from another perspective – underwater!
Dia island is located about 7 nautical miles north of Heraklion. It is 5 km long, 3 km wide (about 12 sq km), 220 m high and is accessible only by boats. Beside Dia lay two islets, Paximadi and Petalidi. In the south side of the island there are five small coves: Agios Georgios, Kapari, Panagia, Agrielia and Aginara. In the north, there are rocky cliffs up to 60 meters high.
According to the legend Dia was created by Zeus. During the Minoan era, the island was inhabited. Near Agios Georgios bay a harbour settlement was discovered. The findings of Jacques Yves Cousteau in 1974, while searching for the lost Atlantis between Crete and Santorini, are of great archaeological interest. In 1976, Cousteau suggested that there stood one of the most important ports in the whole island of Crete. The harbour appeared to have sunk due to the destruction caused because of the eruption of the Santorini volcano (1450 BC) . You may still see the ruins during snorkelling around the place.
The only available facilities are the port, in the bay of St. George, and a forestry shelter. A stone-paved path leads to the forestry shelter, another one leads to a tiny, beautiful Chapel named Analipsis. The island is a Natura protected area, a very important refuge for native plants and animals with minimal dispersion in the southern Aegean and one of the few areas where some very rare kinds of falcons nest (e.g. Falco eleanorae). Visitors can meet a lot of wild rabbits as well. Dia also shelters the endangered Cretan Ibex.
MGV-Yachts-Cruises
Marina of Heraklion Crete, Greece