Just envision the currents roaring through the pass between Ikaria and Samos -- and imagine the challenge of trying to miss all those Fournoi obstacles with a primitive sailing / rowed vessel!
I think the problem is, the archaeologists doing this are landlubbers. It’s much more likely that these islands were hidey holes, both for pirates and for ships trying to elude pirates. The same kind of landlubber mindset produces howlers like, “ancient sailors hugged the coastline” — y’know, the coastline, where 99% of the dangerous shoals are.