Life can be quite funny sometimes. The things we plan don’t happen and the things that happen are never quite planned. Somehow in the span of a few days, I landed in boiling hot Kefalonia greeted by a friendly Greek man holding an A4 sized sheet of paper with my name on it. I waited for my taxi at the arrivals lounge, enjoying the heat of the afternoon sun.
Luckily, I found inexpensive flights to Greece on a week's notice. I had woken up at 2am, caught a train and then a plane but my journey to the destination was still incomplete. I was driven to the port of Sami, to catch a ferry across to the tiny Ionian island, Ithaca. 12 hours of travelling had been compensated by eating a gorgeous Greek salad in the sun. I felt tired but excited at the prospect of kayaking in the Ionian Sea.
Why did I choose such an arduous journey for kayaking? My friend Adriana spends the summer on the island kayaking and swimming, so it was a great excuse to see her in her happy place. I arrived into the village of Vathy around 4pm, after around 13 hours of travel. My fatigue disappeared when I saw Adriana and of course we decided to hit the beach immediately instead of relaxing! We plotted and planned an overnight kayaking trip around the island, stopping at various beaches for swims.
I’ve been to Ithaca before but I’ve never paddled around this beautiful island. I felt a bit nervous, wondering about my ability as we carried the kayaks from the shop and put them into the bay. The bay in Vathy was flat as a pancake until a very fast boat created some big waves close to the harbour walls. I sat there holding my kayak on a small jetty, waiting for the bouncing to stop and laughing inside at how quickly things can change on the water.
In a few minutes, the water regained its original state of calm and we were off in our kayaks. It was a very hot day, so being out at sea provided initial relief but the initial paddle strokes felt hard without my much lighter carbon-fibreglass paddle. We bobbed along the coastline and paddled east, picking up bits of plastic that somehow always ends up in the sea.
This area is popular with cruise liners making their way from Italy. We met several of these, going much faster than cruising speed and creating big waves for us on an otherwise calm day. The first few waves were so big they made me a bit dizzy. It was definitely time to rehydrate.
We spent two days kayaking from beach to beach, stopping at each one for a swim and much needed respite from the sun. We stopped at Gidaki beach which is about an hour away from Vathy in a boat. The water was many brilliant shades of turquoise and the sun rays reflected on the water like tiny diamonds. My shoulders and elbows creaked during the first swim probably out of pure shock!
After a brief swim stop at Filiatro, we paddled our kayaks back to Gidaki beach which was our stop for the night. There were huge tuna in the distance that were hunting around dusk that provided entertainment and distraction from blood thirsty wasps. The cicadas finally finished their concerto, the tuna finished hunting, the wasps went to bed and so did we.
We had breakfast with crickets and set off on a short journey to another wonderful beach. The beach had a lot of shade from pine trees, much unlike the other beaches that tend to have no shade at all. The water was calm and beautiful, our view of the mountains obscured by a slightly hideous large boat. There was a temptation to do some rolling practice, but the prospect of swimming in the sea was more enticing. We both enjoyed the cool water on our sun kissed skin and carried on paddling to our next beach-Skinos.
The bay was beautiful but the water was full of dead mosquitos so swimming through those was a lot less fun. We decided to seek shade and get some lunch and after a hearty lunch of greek salad with freshly baked bread, it was time to head back to Vathy.
I felt a sense of zen after this mini kayaking trip, where all we cared about was eating, swimming and sleeping. The warm sea helped and I’d love to combine swimming with kayaking on longer trips in the UK. Swimming after kayaking is like stretching after running but (possibly) more enjoyable. Its hard to convince people to stop for a swim after a long day out at sea, especially if the weather hasn't been friendly. Hoping to try this soon though, once the weather returns to its less stormy self in a few days :-).
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