Two of Mr S’s greatest loves in life are boats and skiing (I fall somewhere around 4th or 5th after Tottenham Hotspur and the family dog) so I decided to book a boat day as part of his birthday trip. I’d been in regular contact with the concierge at Amanzoe to make sure everything was perfect for Mr S and to organise all the different surprise elements of our stay. I was provided with a programme of activities but I knew he’d rather sit, relax and enjoy the hotel for the most part with one day trip out at sea. The hotel offers a few options for cruises but I opted for a full day island hopping discovery tour on the hotel’s boat, Aquazoe, a Pershing 62.
Now before I met Mr S, I knew next to nothing about boats but now I’ve had many experiences chartering them myself, including our recent Amalfi trip. I saw some pictures and watched a video of Aquazoe before the day and I knew Mr S would absolutely love this beautiful yacht.
Inside the boat is beautifully plush and feels almost brand new. There’s a seating area with dining table and kitchen and there’s one big bedroom and one small – it’s actually one of the bigger boats that I’ve been on as the Amalfi boat was a Morgan 44. I know boat interiors aren’t the most exciting photos in the world but I hope seeing these pictures will help people decide whether they want to charter the yacht for themselves if visiting Amanzoe as it’s certainly not cheap.
The captain explained the route that we would be taking today, and I settled down on the back of the boat as we left the port… soon we were riding the ocean wave and Mr S had a huge smile on his face, basically at his happiest! We stopped off in a secluded cove so that Mr S could go for a swim in the beautiful blue waters…
Now I don’t often talk about what goes on ‘behind the ‘gram’ but a few months ago Mr S sustained a rather scary head injury. It’s healing now and there doesn’t seem to be any internal damage but he can’t just jump in the water like he used to so he took a very careful swim around the boat before climbing back on board.
Amanzoe offer several options for picnics on board but as we were planning to stop for lunch I chose the option of nibbles including Greek cheeses, dips and meats. The captain’s skipper laid everything out for us and popped open the bottle of Perrier-Jouet which I’d also organised to have on board.
We took our drinks out to the front of the boat and just relaxed, enjoying the perfect warm temperature and the very gentle movement of the boat. I was a little worried about feeling seasick as I hadn’t had a chance to take any pills but there was actually no fear of that on Aquazoe!
Soon we were off and bound for our first stop; the island of Hydra. Hydra reminded me of a mini version of Santorini with all the pretty white buildings stacked on top of each other. I was instantly in love with this gorgeous little island that is almost untouched by motor vehicles and construction. By law cars and motor cycles are banned and rubbish trucks are the only form of motorised vehicles allowed on the island. There’s only one main town – Hydra Port – and it’s an easy walk around crescent shape.
We loved walking around beautiful, unspoilt Hydra with it’s charming cobbled streets, blue shutters and chilled out restaurants and cafes.
The concierge at Amanzoe had suggested and booked Omilos for lunch, and it turned out to be the absolute perfect location right on the water. 
This beautiful but fairly simply looking place has seen many famous faces walk through the door – The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Jackie Kennedy, Mary Kallas and Aristotelis Onasis have all paid a visit to this gorgeous white-washed seaside restaurant.
Mr S and I are both big seafood lovers so there really wasn’t any doubts what we would order. Honestly if you were to ask me what my last meal on earth would be, seafood and rosé by the water would be a contender. We ordered some clams to share with a local wine and a really good varied basket of bread.
For main course, we stuck with the seafood theme and shared a whole sea bass with sides of potato, quinoa and Greek salad.
You don’t need to charter Aquazoe or a big boat to pop to Omilos for lunch as Amanzoe can organise a much more purse-friendly water taxi. It’s definitely worth the trip!
After about an hour and a half of exploring and enjoying lunch at Omilos, it was time to get back on board Aquazoe bound for our next destination. 
Our next stop was the serene island of Spetses, another unspoilt island, popular with affluent locals. By this now we were slightly running out of time on our boat charter so we just took a 20 minute stroll around Spetses to have a look.
The island’s biggest claim to fame is the Armata festival which takes place every September and combines a fleet of the island’s boats with music and fireworks to honour a naval victory during the Greek revolution.
The day seemed to pass in a flash as we reclined back on the boat watching the sun dipped below the sea. It’s Mr S’s absolute favourite part of the day and a sense of calm like no other just watching the sunset, bobbing up and down gently in our boat.
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