We were aboard Beetfish at 9 a.m. After clearing customs, we left Çeşme for Chios, bought a local data card and turned towards Ikaria. With Çiftlikköy to port and Chios to starboard, it was a blue journey beneath the June sun.
Ikaria rose ahead of us, wild and green, with steep slopes and settlements pressed into narrow strips of land. Our first stop was Evdilos, one of the island’s few ferry ports. In the cool of the evening we tried the electric bicycles for the first time and covered 14.5 kilometres over the hills, looking every inch the “professional tourists” in our helmets.