Is there a Morning Ferry from Mykonos to Paros in late May on a Friday?
 

Hello,
I need to travel between Mykonos and Santorini on the last Friday in May 2014. I know there are 2 hydrofoil options both leaving near 3pm and arriving around 5:30pm.

I have read that there is supposed to be another option involving a morning ferry from Mykonos to Paros, switching to the Blue Star at Paros, and arriving at Santorini around 3:30pm. However, I cannot locate that morning ferry out of Mykonos. Searching the internet continuously only gives me the two afternoon hydrofoils.

Can anyone point me in the right direction?

Thank you.

I guess you mean catamarans, as there are no hydrofoils in the Cyclades. For many years Sea Jets Consortium had a daily SeaJet 2 sailing from Mykonos to Paros at 10:00 - 10:40, and you probably read about it in older posts. Last summer that all changed.

If you look at gtp.gr or openseas.gr it shows no morning ferry from Mykonos to Paros on May 30th. However, if you look at http://seajets.gr/admin/files/ships/...JET%202014.pdf and scroll down to the 20/05/2014 – 05/06/2014 timetable, it appears to show Superjet sailing the route on Fridays from 09:40 to 10:30 during that period.

Bottom line: your guess is as good as mine. Sea Jets Consortium is notorious for publishing a timetable and then changing it later. You won't have to prebook a ferry during that period, so just wait and see what is running when you get to Mykonos. If there is no morning Sea Jet from Mykonos to Paros you will still be able to take the afternoon Hellenic Seaways FlyingCat 4 all the way to Santorini.

Thank you, Heimdall. You really clarified that for me. I guess I'll wait to see when I am there then.

I appreciate the insights.

I took this route this year. A simple answer is there is usually a "way" to get to Santorini one way or another.
I looked at www.gtp.gr and the schedule at Mykonos travel agencies until a day before the departure. What you will find are offerings that come and go all the way up to the day of the departure.

These were some of the offerings that came and went up to my trip. I ended up taking the Hellenic Seaways Highspeed 5.

<b>Hellenic Seaways</b>, around 15:00, to Paros only or all the way to Santorini. The www.gtp.gr only showed trip to Paros until about a month before my trip. Then I showed I could stay on it all the way to Santorini.

<b>Blue Star Ithaki</b>. This one usually travels only to Mykonos, but this summer, it traveled further onto Naxos in high season until mid September. So I could have taken this to Naxos, then switch to a larger Blue Star to Santorini.

<b>Seajet</b>. On the surface, this company seems to "paper" offer a lot of trips to all sorts of destinations. But their schedule depends on the whim of the weather or the company itself. They had trips to Paros to Naxos from Mykonos up to a few days before the departure, but a morning departure disappeared eventually.

Another island where it is possible to catch the Blue Star to Santorini is Naxos, but there don't seem to be any morning ferries from Mykonos to there, either.

If you do wish to book in advance, wait until late April or early May for the timetables to be finalised. Look at gtp.gr and openseas.gr for the timetables, but book on the ferry company's own website rather than through a third party. Those are: http://www.hellenicseaways.gr/index.php/en/ and http://seajets.gr/htm/default.aspx?cul=en. If it is important to reach Santorini on that specific date, pre booking would do no harm.

Greg has mentioned some excellent ferries: Highspeed 5 and Blue Star Ithaki. Don't let that confuse you, though. Highspeed 5 replaces FlyingCat 4 on June 1st, a couple of days later than when you wish to travel. Blue Star Ithaki starts its Rafina - Mykonos - Paros - Naxos - Ios sailings on July 1st. :-)