By AURA Private Yachting ·
Scorpios island sits 2 nautical miles southeast of Nydri. AURA cruises pass close on every Lefkada route — swim in its waters from __FROM_PRICE__.
An Island With a Name Bigger Than Itself
Two nautical miles southeast of Nydri, between Lefkada and Ithaca, there's a small island that sits like it belongs to a different century. Dense green, completely private, surrounded by water so clear you can see the bottom from the deck of a boat. You pass it, you look at it, and you can't touch it.
Scorpios. The island that Aristotle Onassis bought for himself.
The History: How One Man Bought an Island
In 1963, Aristotle Onassis — at the time arguably the richest private individual in the world — purchased Scorpios for a fraction of what it would cost today. The island was uninhabited, undeveloped, and largely unknown. He saw something in it.
What followed was a transformation. Onassis built a villa, a harbor, a helipad. He introduced deer and peacocks. He planted the trees that still cover the island in dense green. And then, in 1968, he married Jacqueline Kennedy there — a ceremony that made Scorpios internationally famous overnight and turned the quiet harbor town of Nydri into a tourist destination.
After Onassis died in 1975, the island passed to his daughter Christina, then to his granddaughter Athina. Eventually it was sold to a Russian business family. Today it remains privately owned, and public information about its current state is limited.
Why You Can't Land There
Scorpios is private property — not a nature reserve or government restriction, simply owned land. Greek law provides for coastal access rights up to 50 meters from the waterline, but this is rarely enforced on Scorpios. In practice, the island is closed to visitors. There's no public dock, no path in from the water, and boats that approach too closely have reportedly been turned away.
But swimming in the water around it? That no one can prohibit.
What It's Actually Like to Sail Past
The real experience of Scorpios is from the water, not from land.
As you approach, the first thing you notice is the trees — a density of green that looks almost artificial against the blue of the Ionian. Then, as you get closer, the deer appear. Real deer, standing at the water's edge or in the shallows, utterly unbothered by your boat. They've seen few enough humans that you don't register as a threat.
The water around Scorpios is exceptional — shallow enough in places to see the seagrass clearly, clear enough to make the deer reflections visible on the surface. AURA anchors at a respectful distance, and guests swim in water that feels completely removed from the busier parts of the Ionian. There's no sound except the water. No parasols, no jet skis, no beach bars.
Scorpios and Scorpidi
Immediately adjacent to Scorpios is Scorpidi — a tiny uninhabited islet with no history and no restrictions. The channel between the two is shallow and protected, and the swimming there is among the calmest and clearest in the whole area. On most days, you'll have it entirely to yourselves.
How to See It
Every AURA Lefkada cruise passes close to Scorpios — it sits on the natural sailing line toward Ithaca, Kefalonia, and Paxos. If you want to stop and swim there, just ask: the captain anchors nearby and you go in. If you'd rather sail past and hear the story, that works too.
Scorpios isn't the headline destination of any of our cruises. But it tends to be the moment guests talk about afterward — the deer on the shore, the unexpected silence, the sense of having been somewhere genuinely off-limits.
See all details of our private boat tour in Lefkada.