Giannis Skopelitis, known to generations of islanders and travelers as “Captain Giannis,” the longtime master of the ferry Express Skopelitis and a symbol of the Small Cyclades’ connection to the wider Aegean, has died at 68.
For decades, he captained the vessel linking some of Greece’s most remote islands with one another and with larger hubs such as Naxos, often sailing when larger ferries remained in port.
He carried on a family maritime tradition begun by his father, Dimitris Skopelitis – known as “Captain Mitsos” – a fisherman from Koufonisi who launched the service in 1965 to connect the Small Cyclades with Naxos and mainland Greece. A succession of wooden and steel vessels followed before the Express Skopelitis became the line’s sole ship.
The 45-meter ferry carries up to 340 passengers and about a dozen vehicles, serving Amorgos, Donousa, Koufonisi, Schinousa, Iraklia and Naxos six times a week, along with a weekly route to Ios and Santorini.
To island residents, however, the vessel was more than transportation.
