The next morning saw us tackling some sizable waves (for a sea kayak anyway) on our way out. Of course, for Andrew and Ryan it was a piece of cake but I found the swell intimidating at first. At no point did I ever feel I might capsize though and with Ryan’s well practiced assisted beach landings and launchings, I was soon happy in the water. This section of the coastline is wonderfully wild and remote. A hiking trail traverses the shoreline and apart from the small villages en route, there is little sign of civilization. We stopped for a coffee break at a great little taverna on the water’s edge on a stretch of beautiful beach with glorious milky blue water. The taverna appears out of nowhere, alongside a Byzantine chapel – Agios Pavlos – chapel of St Paul. Legend has it that St Paul was shipwrecked here en route to Rome and this beautiful little church has been in use ever since. Typically, it is filled with icons and mementos left by visitors, along with a place where you can light a candle and say a prayer. It’s a very special place and was one of the highlights of the trip for me. From there we headed to our lunch stop at a taverna perched above the lovely little beach of MaraMara – named for the marble rock formations. Here we sampled a local dish – the Sfakia cheese pie, a roti like flatbread stuffed with feta cheese. As usual, accompanied by a greek salad – a chunky mix of cucumber, sun riped tomatoes, red onion and a slab of feta cheese and herbs, drizzled with local olive oil – so simple and so delicious that we ate one every day for a week! A couple of cliff jumps later and it was a short paddle from here to our overnight stop of Loutro. This extremely pretty little village is typically Cretan, with whitewashed walls and blue trim. Busy tavernas line the water’s edge and the ruins of an imposing Turkish fortress overlook the bay. This fortress gives a clue to Crete’s turbulent past – through time immemorial, its strategic importance in the Mediterranean, at the intersection of Europe, Africa and Asia, has made it a sought after prize. It has been invaded by the Ottoman Empire, who imposed the Islamic religion for over 300 years, the Venetians who imposed Roman Catholicism and, in WW2, had the dubious distinction of being the site of the first German paratrooper invasion. Although the Germans did succeed in winning the battle, the resistance by the allied troops (mainly from Australia and New Zealand), together with the legendary local guerilla forces meant that the invaders suffered heavy losses. The irony is that nowadays, the island is extremely popular with German tourists who are welcomed with the hospitality that the Cretans are well known for. Our hotel in Loutro also bore the stamp of history - The Daskalogiannis - named after a local hero who appeased one of the Ottoman leaders to save his countrymen and was executed for his trouble! As with most of our accommodation, it was simple and just what you needed after a hard day’s paddling and sipping cappuccinos – clean and neat with a lovely sea view and a terrace to hang your wet paddling gear out. All of our rooms had french doors leading to a terrace or balcony and we slept with the doors open to the breeze each night. Each of the places we stayed at was also owner run and managed – invariably, the person that greeted and served you was the owner or his son, and the cook was his wife – definitely no mass tourism here. We met some real characters, including Pavlos and his African Grey parrot, Coco, whom he refused to sell to a Greek celebrity who had fallen in love with the bird, despite an exorbitant offer. We also met another Pavlos (are you spotting a trend here?) who offered us copious amounts of Raki (the local firewater), made from his own grapes and bearing his bearded image on the label – of all the Raki we tasted, his was the most vicious.

 

The weather was great all week – apparently typical for this time of year – days a lovely 28 degrees and nights warm enough that we slept under just a sheet. Later in the summer, it can get very hot and all of the rooms have aircon. The water was also great and, in fact, another highlight of the trip for me – absolutely clear and the most gorgeous deep aquamarine blue. It was warm enough to swim comfortably for ages but cool enough to refresh. The only downside to the long history of human habitation of the island is that most of the fish seem to have disappeared, and the birds along with them - we got quite excited when we saw 8 seagulls at once! There are plenty of tiny fish in the shallows though and the clear water makes snorkeling a must!

From Loutro, we paddled across to Sfakia, to meet up with Rick again. He was bringing along another 3 people who would be joining us for the exploratory part of our trip – the first known circumnavigation of the island of Gavdos by sea kayak! Gavdos lies about 37 km south of Crete and is officially the southern most part of Europe. It is traditionally believed to be the legendary island of Ogygia where the nymph, Calypso, held Odysseus captive for 7 years. The island has long been popular with tourists seeking a more remote Greek island experience and the twice weekly car-ferry carries travelers equipped with backpacks and camping gear – ready to explore the island’s remote beaches and trails, sometimes for a few weeks at a time. Free camping is permitted on the island and there is none of the organized ‘sunbeds and umbrellas’ brand of tourism here as yet. It seems that the government is trying to upgrade the tourism offering on the island though - the little port is being improved and some new tavernas and accommodation have been built. It’s still unspoilt though and there are few roads and no hotels. Our group consisted of John and Carol from Seattle, Detracy, a travel writer and expert on all things Greek from San Diego, ourselves and Rick and Ryan from NWP.  We set off after lunch and paddled into a headwind for an hour or so before landing on a wide sandy beach, stowing our boats and making our way to our accommodation on the hill overlooking the sea. The van had come over on the ferry with us and within 10 minutes, we were reunited with our bags – the joys of paddling in the civilized world! We soon headed off to find a good sundowners spot and, naturally, headed for the highest point of the island – the lighthouse, Faros. It was built by the French in the 19^th century, whilst Crete was still under Turkish rule and then bombed during WW2. It has just been beautifully restored into a museum with displays about its’ design and history and boast some beautiful stonework – something we saw a lot of on this island. Rick and Ryan laid out an impressive array of alcohol, from Raki to Ouzo (aniseed flavoured liqueur) to Retsina (resinated wine – a very acquired taste) to Mythos, the local beer, a Cretan sparkling wine and not forgetting a bottle of Jack. This had the effect of drawing out the lighthouse keeper’s girlfriend, a young French woman from Bordeaux who has lived on this secluded island for the last 2 years with her partner, a native Gavdovian. Although she was disappointed that the sparkling wine was not real champagne she joined us for a drink and her boyfriend took us for an impromptu tour of the lighthouse. After that we headed to Maria’s tavern where I had a delicious meal of fried ‘pieces of pork’ and chips.