Following a rest day notable for cold weather and a howling wind (blog post to follow) it was great to be back on the water with the promise of Sun. For this paddle trip Rod and I were joined by Alexia, one of Rod's daughters, Nicholas, his nephew and two Greek teachers on holiday, George and Olga, who had their own double kayak. Today's trip along the south coast was to take us from the beach at Psathi to the jewel of Milos' coast, the sea arches at Kleftiko and back, a distance of 17km.
I paddled through a small arch t the left of Psathi as the others got ready then we headed west in a calm sea with some residual swell from the southerlies of the last few days. It is impossible to recount every sea cave we explored or entered on this trip or the even greater number we paddled past as there were simply too many of them!
A few highlights stand out though. One, a seasonal bat cave was long, large and dark due to a dogleg in it. We used torches to probe the inner chamber whilst sloshing about in the reflected swell. No bats were present at this time of year though. Another one with a twin rocky smaller entrances was called the dragon's cave by Alexia. Further along the coast we could spy one of the sea stacks at Kleftiko in the distance and a massive loading facility from a adjacent mineral mine closer.
We paddled beneath the loaders and noticed caves beside them. Soon we found another set of cave with multiple entrances that cut through from one side of a small outcrop to another. I spent some time paddling through, around and connecting back through passages, an amazing experience.
The Sun had been toying with us as we paddled towards Kleftiko, finally emerging just as we arrived to illuminate the white rock and volcanic ash of the arches. I delighted in paddling through the arches, caves and tunnels in a variety of directions. The water was stunningly clear and sunlit. Eventually I caught up with the others who had landed at a narrow, impermanent beach at the base of the cliff where we had lunch and relaxed.
After lunch I had time for some more weaving through the caves and arches before starting our return leg. Olga and George soon set their kayak sail to make the most of the tailwind. Alexia decided she wanted to splash me with her paddle and start a water fight. I resisted, for now...
We bypassed most of the caves on the return leg but Rod encouraged me to run a rock gauntlet. He and Alexia made it successfully through in their double. Nicholas then tried but got his angle and timing wrong, coming to grief and capsizing as a wave caught him in the sucky channel. Luckily I was close behind so was able to get him to swim back holding his kayak whilst I grabbed his paddle and hand-towed the boat. Once out of the immediate danger zone we emptied his boat and he was able to reenter. Turned out that this was the first time he had capsized other than in training. All went well.
Shortly after this we paddled toward a narrow tunnel that I had noticed on the outbound leg but ignored due to the swell through it. Fortunately this had dropped just enough for us to now give it a go. Rod cautioned that getting the correct line was critical and went first. They got through on the back of a wave and it looked relatively benign. I followed and and successful negotiated the narrow entrance when I felt myself picked up and suddenly surging through the slot less than 1m wide. The constriction in the channel meant I was accelerating the whole way through, popping out the other end and narrowly missing Rod and Alexia waiting there. What a buzz! Rod decided he needed another go so I waited there and filmed them coming through. Luckily they caught the same sort of wave as me so came through at great speed, just missing me.
Once we were in sight and closer to the pull out spot I finally relented and gave Alexia the water fight she was after. She lost. Hopefully now she has a better appreciation of the correct technique for employing paddles in a water fight.
All up an amazing day's paddle with some incredible caves, tunnels and arches plus sun.
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