Money and weather

What happens when wind cancels your Santorini boat tour

8 min read

If wind cancels your Santorini boat tour, you lose nothing. The captain reads the sea on the morning and decides then. A weather cancellation is refunded in full or moved to another date, whichever you choose. He may instead reverse the route or drop a stop, which is not a cancellation.

Wind, not rain, is what stops boats in Santorini. This page says who makes the call, when they make it, and what happens to your money in each case.

It also says what we have not written down. Two of the rows below read "not published", and that is deliberate. We would rather leave a visible gap than print a percentage we have never set.

The numbers

Every scenario, and what you get back

Read the row that matches your situation. The third column is the only one that costs you anything.

Scenario	What happens	What you get back
The captain cancels for weather	He reads the wind and the sea on the morning of your cruise and calls it off. You hear it from us directly, not from a website.	Everything back, or another date inside your stay. You choose which, not us.
The route is reversed or reordered	Same boat, same five hours, a different order of stops — usually to put the sheltered legs where the wind is worst.	Nothing. The cruise ran. This is a normal Santorini day, not a downgrade.
A stop is dropped	One anchorage is unworkable in the day's wind, so it comes off the list. The remaining time goes to the stops that do work.	Nothing. Ask the crew which stop went and why — they will tell you straight.
The boat is substituted	Your cruise runs on another boat of the same class. We tell you before you sail, not when you arrive at the quay.	Nothing for the swap itself. If the replacement does not suit you, say so before departure.
You cancel seven or more days ahead	Message us and we release the seats. No reason needed and no questions asked.	The whole amount, back to you.
You cancel inside seven days	Message us with the date. We look at the boat, the seats, and how late in the week it is.	Not published. Ask on https://wa.me/306989771888 before you pay and we will put the answer for your date in writing.
It rains, but the wind is light	The cruise sails. Rain is not what stops boats here, and a shower in April passes in twenty minutes.	Nothing. The bimini is over the cockpit and lunch is cooked regardless.
Your ferry or flight is delayed and you miss the pickup	The boat sails without you. A shared cruise cannot be held for one car.	Not published either. Call the number on your confirmation the moment you know you are late.

Two rows read "not published". Those terms have never been set down in writing, so we are not going to invent them on a web page. The full policy, including deposits, is on the cancellation policy.

Who decides, and when

The captain decides. Not the office, not the booking form, and not the forecast on your phone at 22:00 the night before.

He looks at the sea on the morning of your cruise and calls it then. That is late, and we know it is inconvenient. It is also the only honest time to make the decision, because a Santorini forecast three days out tells you very little about a specific anchorage.

Above the captain sits the port authority. When it restricts sailing, nothing leaves, and no operator has a view about it. Other operators publish the same rule: santorini-yachts.com states on its FAQ page that a cruise is cancelled when the port authority restricts sailing or conditions are judged unsafe (seen 25 August 2026).

You hear the decision from us on WhatsApp, on the number in your confirmation. We contact you rather than waiting for you to check a page. The single most common complaint in this market is a cancellation that nobody told the guest about.

The call is about safety and it is final. We would rather move you than sail a day you will not enjoy.

What the wind actually stops, and which coast

The direction matters more than the number. Two days at the same wind speed can produce completely different cruises depending on where the wind comes from.

The wind that day	The water it ruins	What usually happens to your cruise
Light air, under Force 4	Nothing	The published route, in the published order. Most days between May and October look like this.
Northerly meltemi, the summer default	The north-facing coast and the open channels between the islands	The south coast stops stay comparatively sheltered. Expect a reordered route rather than a cancellation.
Southerly — the sorokada, more common in spring and autumn	The south coast: Red Beach, White Beach, Mesa Pigadia	Those stops come off. The caldera basin often stays flat, so the day moves inside the rim.
Strong wind from any direction, Force 7 and up	All of it, including the caldera	The boat stays in. Full refund, or another date in your stay.
Wind that builds after you have sailed	Whatever is exposed by mid-afternoon	The captain shortens the exposed legs and lengthens the sheltered ones. You still get five hours.

The meltemi runs from late May to mid-September, peaks from mid-July to mid-August, and typically blows a strong Force 5 to 6 with quick rises to Force 7. It usually builds through the day and eases in the early evening. igohellas.com makes the point we would make in its Santorini wind guide (seen 25 August 2026): a single threshold in kilometres per hour tells you nothing on its own.

Why there is no wind speed printed on this page

People ask for a number. Twenty-five knots. Thirty. Force 6. We are not going to invent one to make the page feel more definite.

There is no published wind speed at which every Santorini boat stands down. It depends on direction, on sea state, and on the vessel. A catamaran handles a chop that stops a small open boat, and it is stopped by seas that a ferry does not notice.

If you are watching a windy forecast for your date, message https://wa.me/306989771888 and ask what we are seeing. You will get an opinion from someone looking at the same water, which is worth more than a threshold.

Inside seven days, we have not written the rule down

On a shared cruise, free cancellation runs up to seven days before departure: cancel at or beyond that point and you are refunded in full, without explaining yourself. A private charter is different — its cancellation terms are agreed with you when you book, because the whole boat is being held.

Closer than seven days, there is no published rule on this site. No percentage, no sliding scale, nothing. What we can do probably depends on the date, the boat, and whether the seats refill.

Send a message on https://wa.me/306989771888 with your date and we will tell you where you stand, in writing, before you commit to anything.

None of this touches a weather cancellation. If the captain calls the day off, the seven-day rule has nothing to do with you and you are refunded in full.

How it works

Four things that protect the day

A weather cancellation costs you no money. What it can cost you is the cruise itself, if there is no day left to move it to.

Book early in your stay, not on the last dayThis is the whole trick. A cancellation on day two can be re-sailed on day four. A cancellation on the morning you fly home cannot be re-sailed at all, and a refund is a poor substitute for the day you wanted.
Give us a number that works in GreeceWhatsApp on a phone you will actually look at. We call the weather early and we tell you as soon as we know. That message is no use sitting on a handset in airplane mode.
Watch the wind, not the rainA grey morning means nothing here. A forecast showing Force 7 from the south means a great deal. If your app only shows you a cloud icon, it is not telling you anything about whether you sail.
Ask us before you assumeA windy forecast three days out is not a cancellation, and plenty of them turn into ordinary cruises. Message us rather than rebooking something else in a panic on Tuesday night.

Ready when you are

Worried about the forecast for your date?

Send us the date and we will tell you what the wind is doing that week and how it usually plays out on this coast. If your cruise is already booked and the morning looks bad, you will hear from us before you have to ask.

Check availability & book

Call the harbour office+30 698 977 1888

Common questions

What happens if the weather is bad?

The captain may cancel the sailing or change the route for safety, and that call is his alone. If we cancel, you are offered another date or your money back in full. We would rather move you than sail a day you will not enjoy or remember fondly.

Do tours run if it's windy?

Often, yes. Milder wind usually means a rerouted itinerary rather than a cancellation: different stops in a different order, the same five hours. Strong wind means the boat stays in. The caldera is sheltered by cliffs up to about 300 m, so it is frequently workable when the open coast is not.

Will I receive a refund if the operator cancels?

Yes, in full. An operator cancellation is not a guest cancellation, so the seven-day rule does not apply to you at all. You choose between a full refund and another date inside your stay. Book early in your trip so a rescheduled sailing still fits before you fly home.

What wind speed cancels a Santorini boat tour?

There is no published figure, here or anywhere else on the island. Direction, sea state and the vessel matter more than the number. A northerly at twenty-five knots and a southerly at twenty-five knots are different days on this coast. The captain judges it per sailing.

How much notice will I get if the cruise is cancelled?

Usually a few hours. The captain decides on the morning of your cruise, and you hear it from us on WhatsApp as soon as he has. Nobody in Santorini can honestly tell you the night before, and an operator who promises to will sometimes be wrong.

What if I cannot make the rescheduled date?

Then take the refund. A weather cancellation gives you both options and the choice is yours, not ours. If none of your remaining days works, say so in the same message and we will process the full refund rather than pushing you towards a date that does not suit.

Santorini Boat Tour - Water Taxi is a catamaran cruise and water taxi operator based in Fira, Santorini.

Updated August 2026