Greece Kayaking Trip 2019

 Its taken me way to long to put this out there. But better late than never right?

With NL going into another lockdown after an outbreak of COVID-19, I figured I have some time on my hands to finally put this trip report out there. 

Myself, Rob Scott and Robert Bertolo kayaked the 'Ionian Ring' in Greece back in June 8-17 2019.

Ionian Islands are in western Greece, about an 8 hr drive from Athens

We rented a car in Athens and did some sight seeing along the way to Vasiliki. The first stop was the site of the Battle of Thermopylae, where Leonidas and the Spartans made their famous last stand.

Next it was off to Meteora (about 4 hrs drive from Athens), to visit the famous monasteries high on top of the rocky cliffs. Very cool place.

We spent the night in a nearby town, and the next morning made the 4 hour drive to Vasiliki. We rented our boats and gear from Ionian Explorers (www.i-explorers.com). George Kiriakos, the owner and his staff, were very helpful, and help us plan our route for the next 7 days. His shop is right next to the beach, so it was super fast and easy for us to load up and hit the water.

But first, we had a nice meal of grilled octopus and some nice cold beer. There are a lot of great restaurants right around the waterfront, a short walk from Georges shop. There is also a grocery shop nearby where we stocked up on last minute items, include a bottle of Ouzo :)

Due to our late arrival, and the options for camping along the way, we decided to wait until late afternoon and head to Agiofili Beach, which was only 3kms from Vasiliki. 

The beach is a very popular spot for swimming, snorkeling and sunbathing. You can even rent beach chairs and buy cold beer from a couple guys that have a hut set up. Once the sun started to go down, the beach cleared out of people. 

The next morning we were up early for coffee and breakfast and hit the water nice and early to start exploring. 

Robbie making coffee

Our route for the day

Ithaca off in the distance, home of Odysseus

Our first break for the morning, for second coffee and some snorkeling

Heading into Sivota for lunch

It was quickly becoming apparent that this was going to be a different trip for food consumption. With all these villages and Tavernas around, no need to eat MREs. We were probably gonna gain weight on this trip!

After lunch we headed east and were keeping our eye out for the 'Bat Cave' George had told us about.

You have to duck to get in there. Be very mind of the wake of ferries, which can come from nowhere

The cave is huge inside and expands into several chambers. I really wish I had my headlamp on

The only way to really see anything is from the flash of the camera

Heading north between Lefkada and Maganisi Island

Nice beach for expresso/pee break

So many amazing caves to explore

Nice breeze at our backs as we headed to Thilia Island. We planned to camp there for the night

Small abandoned church on the high point of the island

George told us to camp here, but also said to watch for snakes on the island. He said don't worry though, only the vipers are poisonous! How do we tell vipers from other snakes??? After walking around the small island, it didn't seem like the best place to camp, so we crossed back over to Maganisi to look for a better spot. 

We settled on this courtyard in front of a small church. George told us that was an option as well. 

One problem, there were goats everywhere!

There was a small restaurant nearby, but by the time we got there, they were closed and said 'come back tomorrow'. So it was looking like MREs for the night. We looked on the map and saw there was another village, on the other side of the island, only 3kms away, so we decided to walk over there instead. We were getting spoiled with all this great restaurant food.

We didn't realize that the 3kms was mostly a switchbacked road that headed over the mountain and across to the other side of the island. We were absolutely beat by the time we got there, but it was worth it!

Shot from Google Earth showing the road from the church to Spartochori

A beautiful village (image taken from Google)

As much as I hated the walk, it was worth it!

On our walk back, we managed to hitch a ride with the only taxi on the island. Only 10 euros and we were back at our tents. Lovely!

The usual coffee and oatmeal for breakfast

Slightly longer day today, with a 6km crossing

Another flat calm morning

The western side of Maganisi is all cliff and caves. My favourite type of paddling. I was in heaven exploring all the caves and nooks and crannies. 

The big attraction in this area is Papanikolis Cave. It is so big that during WW2 a submarine used it as a regular hide out.

Papanikolis Cave

There is a nice beach inside

Large tour boats come here each day, and it can be very busy from what we heard, but we were there early in the morning, so we had the place to ourselves. Large tour boats come right inside the cave. 

6km crossing between Maganisi and Kalamos. Great conditions, and very little boat traffic.

Great spot for a break and some snorkeling

Old windmill near Kefali

Approaching Kalamos Village

We camped on this beach, just on the other side of the village

After pitching our tents, we decided to follow the trail to the village, which is about a 20 minute walk. There is a lovely restaurant that George told us about that is owned by a friend of his, who is also named George. 

When we told him we were kayakers and that George had sent us, he offered to give us a ride back to our beach by his boat instead of having to walk all the way back. How nice!

When we got back to the beach, there was another guy camping on the beach, named Mike. He was an interesting character for sure. We shared a few drinks with him and an interesting chat. 

I learned from Mike that you can buy 2L of water that is frozen.What a gamechanger! I could put in my cockpit for AC and have ice cold water to drink for the entire day

Today we'd head south to explore Kastos and we planned to return back to Kalamos to camp again that night

The eastern side of Kastos has some amazing geology

We stopped on one of the first beaches to do some snorkeling. We really wanted to see an octopus

Huge seashell

Seal Cave, the longest cave we saw

Entering Kastos harbour

Roughing it again for lunch!

Making our way back. Lots of sailboats in the area

This is why you always bring spare paddles. Robbie's broke off just as we were getting to the beach

What a spot for a paddling break

Spoiled rotten on this trip!

On the eastern side of Katmos, the geology changed again

We found a dandy beach to camp on on the eastern most part of the island

Our only night of MREs, but a nice bottle of Ouzo to go with it

What these trips are all about

Up early in the morning of June 14 to listen to a live stream of the Toronto Raptors winning the NBA championship. Go Raptors!!!!

Today would be our longest day, with a 9 km crossing

Leading up to this trip, I was nervous about such a long crossing. Especially if it was windy.

Well, it looks like I had nothing to worry about

Next stop Maganisi

We made it across in a little less than 2 hrs

This side had a lot more 'fingers' of land poking out. We were looking for a Taverna, but weren't having much luck, there was a lot of private land, and a lot of boat traffic

It was interesting, there were signs everywhere like you would see on the road for various services like laundry, showers, etc.. that cater to all the boat traffic here.

We finally found one that was pretty darn close to a beach

Trying to figure out where to camp over a beer

Skorpios Island, once owned by Aristotle Onassis, one of the worlds most famous private islands. We didn't bother to paddle around it

Approaching Spartochori from the water this time

There are steps that lead up to the village from the marina below. We went up to pick up some more water and some beer.

You can see our boats on the beach below, and Skorpios Island in the distance

Such a cool little village

We continued along the coast of the island, and looked for a beach to set up. Finally we found one that was directly across from the Bat Cave. 

The next morning we backtracked along our previous route, heading back towards Agiofili Beach. Along the way we figured We'd explore one of the bays we skipped over previously.

Of course we had to stop into the Bat Cave again

Second coffee and a snorkel

Our second visit to Sivota

We are a bit more haggard looking than our first visit to this town, haha

Passing by houses in Sivota

Thats me in the distance. At this point I was feeling a bit delirious with heat stroke, so I was paddling as fast as I could to get to the beach and get in the water water to cool down. Robbie took this pic as I motored away from them

Busy beach today, with several tour boats showing up

By sundown we had the place to ourselves again

Last morning of our trip. Its only a 30 minute paddle back to Vasiliki. 

Another one in the books!

On the drive back to Athens, we went a different route so we could see the site of Delphi, which was once considered the center of the universe

Back in Athens, we stayed at a hotel called "Acropolis View Hotel". They weren't kidding. There is a bar on the roof of the hotel, so we went up for a few drinks on our last night before flying home in the morning.

2021 is supposed to be the year for another big international paddling trip, but it is looking less and less likely given the pandemic we are in. So maybe it will be a paddling trip in Newfoundland. There could be worse places to paddle thats for sure.....but I don't think we will be doing much snorkeling. 

Stay safe everyone

Brian

Colinet Island

Last summer, I took a work colleague on an overnight trip to Colinet Island. He is from Ontario, and was very interested in paddling here, so it was a great excuse for me to get out for a trip. On Friday evening I took him around Spread Eagle and over into Chapel Arm in search of whales, which we did see some minke and a fin whale.

Saturday morning we headed to Admirals Beach St Mary's Bay to paddle across to Colinet Island. I brought along a handline to try for a cod but we had no luck. Saw lots of seals, eagles and another pilot whale. Camped for the night on the southern end of the island, had awesome food and scotch with iceberg ice. Awoke at 6am to torrential rain, which made for a damp breakfast. Lots of sea caves to explore on the way back in the pouring rain.

PS. Funny story, I put my hand in shit when sitting down on the beach to eat my supper. You can't really tell for sure if its shit or not until you put it up to your nose and smell it. Then there is no mistaking it.

 
Anyways, it was a great trip. Here are some photos, sorry it took me so long to share them!

My wife and I recently did a trip to the southwest USA (Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Colorado). We visited some of the major national parks in those states and had an amazing trip. We spent a few days in Las Vegas on the way back. One of the fun activities we did was shoot an automatic belt fed machine gun from a helicopter with Gunship Helicopter Tours https://gunshiphelicopters.com/. It was incredible! I highly recommend it!

I'll post more pics later from our trip. No paddling, but amazing places in nature worth sharing for sure.

It Never Gets Old

For me, the coast line between Chance Cove and Rantem never gets old. I think its my favourite stretch of coast that I've ever paddled. One of the things I love about it is sharing it with someone who has never paddled there before. 

Last month, on a gorgeous day I took my buddy Rob on a paddle there for the day. Trent was able to come along too, so it was a bit of a Baja paddle reunion, haha. Such a great day on the water, with whales, eagles and capelin rolling on the beaches. 

If only every day could be like this!

Ready to hit the water

Lots of caves

The tide was just right to get through this one

On the other side

Crystal clear water

More caves

Always eagles in sight on this paddle

The cliffs here are huge

The Doors

Checking out the capelin

Lots of capelin!

Seriously, a lot of capelin!

Tucking behind this sea stack

A minke whale

Belize Trip - Last Day on the Cayes

Our shuttle boat was scheduled to pick us up around 1pm, so we had one last morning to do some exploring. It was still a bit breezy out, but we had the shelter of Tobacco Range protecting us from the easterly winds. First we paddled up the eastern side of Coco Plum Range, which is dotted with resorts. Paddling past these really made me miss my family, as it looked like the perfect place for a family holiday.

Malcolms Caye

These small resorts looked very inviting

Some had nice sandy beaches, with SUP and kayaks

In between Coco Plum Caye and Tobacco Range is Manowar Caye, aka Bird Caye, which is a nesting area for frigate birds, so we made the short hop across into the wind to check it out. You can start to smell it from a distance, due to all the bird crap. Its also pretty loud.



Manowar Caye

The males have large red pouch that inflates like a balloon during mating season. They make these crazy noises too.



After leaving Manowar Caye, we paddled across to Tobacco Range. We had heard that manatees like to hang out around the southern end of the islands, so we headed there to check it out.

Looks like we are in the right place

We paddled around but had no luck. A catamaran came by, and they spotted one, so I paddled over and was just able to catch the top of one as he went down, although all I could see was a brown blob.

They had a much better vantage point from that height compared to us

After a while we gave up and it was time to head back to Malcolms Caye to wait for our pick up from Captain Balls.

All ready for pick up

While waiting, we were watching a group of men in boats digging up sand from the bottom and putting it into boats, and bringing it to resort nearby. After a while, a boat from the fisheries department showed up and they didn't look too happy. They ordered the men into their boat and left with them. I guess they weren't allowed to do that!

This didn't look like a fun job!

Our captain was right on time and dropped us off back on the main land at Island Expeditions. Our first order of business was to head to Riverside Café for a nice cooked meal and cold beer.

This couldn't have tasted any better after 8 days of dehydrated meals.

The next morning, we headed across the border into Guatemala to see the ruins of Tikal. More to follow on that later..

Belize Trip - Windy Days

We had to stick around Billy Hawk Caye for an additional day due to the winds. I must admit, there are worse places to spend a day land bound. Throughout the day we spent some time snorkeling on the lee side of the island, relaxing in the hammocks, eating, drinking and even playing a bit of volleyball.

Blow Ye Winds! This hammock served as our wind gauge for the day

The winds made quite the mess of the eastern side of the island

The following morning the small craft warning was lifted, so we decided to pack up and go for it. It was our second last day and our ride was going to meet us at Malcolm's Caye, about 10kms away. It was a sad good-bye to this Caye, what a special place. I really hope to come back someday with my family.

The longest open water crossing is only 'this big'

The crossing from Hangman's Caye to Malcolms has a few cayes along the way, which was great to stop and get out of the wind for a few minutes and take a break.

Rob taking a break at Ragged Caye

Another breezy day

Campsite at Malcolm's Caye

This fishing shack was right next to our campsite. Made for a great spot for cooking

We did some snorkeling around the sandbar next to the island that afternoon, saw some stingrays, and a lobster. It was our last full day on the cayes :(


More to come!