Alykanas - 50 degrees & anchors away!

“Let’s go to see the turtles!” Great idea.

So, Tony, the local fixer in Alykanas, arranges for us to nip to Laganas and hop onto a short trip around the bay for the lads to see the turtles close-up. Fab.

No problem. Well. Two problems.

The day we go it becomes quite warm. There’s a heatwave. By the afternoon it hits 50 degrees, 40-odd in the shade. Then when we arrive at Laganas we get on our boat to discover we’re on the wrong trip. He’s inadvertently booked us onto the 3 hour special to Keri caves and the home of the giant flag. Shade needed, badly.

They started to swim towards the boat, as the crew swept into panic-mode. It was no longer a 20 metre doddle as the boat drifted further out from the island. More people arrived back and were pulled aboard, but still my eldest appeared to be getting nowhere, despite his efforts. He was nine. Life-buoys stared appearing in the water and my smiles at his struggles to return began to turn to frowns and a little trepidation. He was doing fine, but hardly a match for a drifting cruiser. Several fellow-passengers were now openly expressing concern. Mum got back and clambered aboard worried. That was it. I jumped overboard and swam towards one of the buoys and then on towards my son. We were the last in the water now, so they could restart the engines and move the vessel slowly towards us. My son soon made it to the life-buoy and was glad to have a rest on it! Soon we made it back to the boat, where the crew were now beaming at their success in recovering all their fares. Relief all round.

That’s Greece. You never know when something unpleasant is going to occur. Excitement? Adventure? Or just plain dangerous? Always keep your wits about you over there.

The rest of the journey? Who cares? We just sat on deck in the shade taking in the spectacular coastline, but only thinking about alternative consequences. By the way, the Keri flag is the largest in Greece.

When we got back to Alykanas, Tony said, “Sorry I booked you on the wrong trip. Everything ok?”

First stop is………the turtles (chelones or caretta caretta, as the locals say). We definitely see them but the boat is so big it’s a miracle it doesn’t plough through them! Off we go to Marathonissi Island, a beautiful spot, shaped like a giant turtle. The boat moors off the beach near a secluded cove with a hidden cave. There are numerous other small craft nearby and many visitors sitting on the rocks. One of the crew ties the rope onto a sharp protruding rock to anchor the boat while we all jump off to swim to the cove. Refreshing in that heat!

It’s a bit of a hike to the shore but only about 20 metres. Back and fo we go until it’s almost time to leave. My eldest decides to take his mother for a look around the cave. Most people now are back on board ready to go to the Keri Caves. Suddenly, there’s a loud bang and a whipping noise, just like a Clint Eastwood movie.

We all turn to look toward the shore where the crack came from. It was the mooring-rope, which had snapped with a bang from the rocks. Fortunately, it had not struck anyone on the shore or sitting on the rocks. But, that wasn’t the problem. Now the boat was drifting, with no engine power. It was impossible to turn them on with bodies swimming close to the boat. Worse we were drifting away from the shore and two of mine were stuck there!