Marathi Island

Marathi is a tiny islet in the Dodecanese, lying about half a mile southwest of Arkoi and roughly three nautical miles north of Lipsi, within the same small archipelago often referred to as Arki-Marathi. Unlike its larger neighbors, Marathi has never grown beyond a handful of year-round residents — commonly cited as around a dozen in summer and closer to two or three people in winter — and it has no roads, no shops, and no cars, only a scatter of houses, a small church, and three family-run tavernas around its single settlement.

The island's one sandy beach sits inside a wide, sheltered bay on its eastern side, calm enough that boats can anchor close to shore in most conditions. Summer in the northern Dodecanese is dominated by the Meltemi, the strong, dry northerly wind that blows through July and August, and Marathi's bay is well regarded among sailors precisely because it offers reliable shelter when the wind picks up elsewhere in the area. By evening, once the day-trip boats have left, the bay tends to empty out and the island returns to the near-total quiet that has kept it off the standard tourist track.

That mix of a safe anchorage and genuine isolation is exactly why many charter guests exploring Greece anchor here for the afternoon, swimming off the boat and eating fresh fish at one of the tavernas before moving on toward Lipsi or Patmos.