Zante Greece May 2003 - Part II

Last Updated: Jan 13, 2007 @ 09.16

Greece - Zante Boat Trip - We decided to hit the high seas, and take a boat trip. We went up the coast in search of turtles, beaches, and ... actually, we weren't really searching for anything. It was just a good excuse to get on the water, and have a good day out.

On our trip, we will see:

In this picture, we are just leaving the harbour... While you're looking at the pictures, see if you can find the most famous person on the boat. Give you a hint... He's a singer ... more of a 70's/80's singer, but sold out BC Place (or was it GM Place) in Van in the 90's.

In all the holiday brocures, you always seem packed beaches, white houses, and old men drinking ozzo. On Zante, (other than the main party strip), the island seemed fairly relaxed, and quite unpopulated.

Under cover of the foggie mist, these are the first (two) pictures of the mainland.

The island's coastline contained mainly caves, rather than sandy beaches.

The island seems relatively uninhabited, with the odd outpost here and there.

This house was in the process of being built. I'd definately like to come and visit it in a couple years.

We didn't know why, but we were racing the boat in front of us. Due to a later start from the dock, we were running a little behind schedule.

There were a lot of caves along the coast (won't comment on them all) but this one was kind of interesting. It appears to have it's own covered beach.

It appears that this cave is right under this big house. Now, I'm thinking, if that was my house, why not make the cave into a Bat Cave (Da nA na na na DA NA! Bat Man!). It looks deep enough, and I'm sure you could tie your boat in here. Or ... actually, it looks like there's already sand in there, so you may have your own private beach. Nice for some.

The next handful of pics are just of the shoreline. Taken, because I was there.

This poor guy couldn't afford a beach, and had to brave the rocky coastline. Actually, I think he's fishing. Tough life, eh?

This is about as close to the mainland that we were able to get on this trip.

Still looking for the famous rock star?

This is a little better shot. Unfortunately I didn't want to hound the person, so I was only able to take a couple casual pictures. 'Some guys have all the luck', don't they? Being on the front of the boat... Course, I'm betting he's 'complain'ing about getting wet from the waves coming through the anchor cover. Since he's in cognoto, he's not looking for any 'fame', like 'some guys'.

The next handful of pictures are of the hills, islands, and waterfront along our trip.

One of the selling points of the trip was "The Shipwreck". Legend has it that the boat was full of cigarettes and other bounty, when it encountered a storm. When it tried to duck into this bay, the storm was too strong, and it was pushed onto the beach. For weeks, there was cargo all around the island, and the Coast Guard were easily able to find the offending boat. As you can see, the escape also wasn't easy, as it is pretty much sheer cliffs all around the beach. I think the crew were able to escape, however, their bosses weren't too impressed that they shipwrecked the boat and were probably chasing the turtles fairly soon after the event.

The cliffs around the beach were pretty unforgiving.

We were fortunate to have a couple ships escorting us, just incase of a freak storm.

Ever tried to parallel park a boat?

Getting a little deeper into the harbour.

The other boats start to unload.

Closer ... closer ...

On any boat trip I've ever been on, you walk onto the pier, some sort of link, such as a walkway or plank is extended, and you board. As you notice, there is no pier. So, this poor guy had to jump off the back of the boat, and swim to shore. OK, I guess that's not a bad part of a job (beats my job) but the guy that is overboard and the captain, were having a screaming match for about 15 mins before we landed. Not sure what was said, but both people weren't backing down.

Now if you remember, I said that we had a wean on the way... To get off the boat, you basically had to leap off the boat, and fight uphill (the shore was very steep) against the tide and waves. There were a couple people to help you scramble off the boat, but you were destined to get your bottom half soaked.

After a long day of ... well, sitting, I had decided to brave the coastal waters of the Med and have a quick dip. It was one of those "once you're in" scenerios. It wasn't really that warm, and the current was quite strong. But, once you were a couple feet out, it was quite pleasant.

Did I mention that it wasn't that warm? Hence, on this part of the beach, I was the only brave soul.

As you can see, the majority had opted for the beach.

You don't really notice it in the next couple of pics, but in the middle of the boat, there is a 6 foot crease.

What do you think? A little sanding, coat of paint, and she'll be on the high seas again!

This seems like a picture from "Paradise Lost", or from one of those travel brocures.

It is such a beautiful beach, but I'd bet nobody would stop if it wasn't for the shipwreck.

Hiding behind this island is the shipwreck beach. Looking from this side, they were actually quite lucky to end up on the shore instead of spearheading these cliffs.

Here we are, trying to catch our pesky rivals again. Damn them and their faster boat!

The next handful (or large bunch) are of the coastline. Rather than me trying to describe each picture, I'll let you scroll down, and admire each of them in your own time.

Some of the caves are quite shallow, however, some are a lot deeper. During the war, their subs used to hide in the caves.

The captain was showing his knowledge of the caves, and showing his expert parking skills.

And, there is even room for a little dingy after you've parked your yaught or sub.

Whoops!!!!! Too close!

There - we're safe now... amazing how fast reverse works. We did leave a little red paint on the side of the cave, but nobody will notice.

I'll leave you to your own devices for a min...

The coast here is quite rocky, which is not what you'd find in most brocures. However, if you have your own boat, you can find some nice, uninhabitated gems along your journey. There's only two boats at this beach, so you can pretty much have free reign.

Here we are getting closer to the port.

This almost looks like you could almost punch a hole through these thin little cliffs, and make your own island! Wait 10 years, and nature will do that for you.

And we're getting closer to the burbs of the town of Zante.

And then the wonderful scenery is ruined by this...

They stopped the boat so that we could feed the fish. You were also welcome to get off and go for a swim, but it was kinda cold, and I was tried from the previous swim. I just decided to watch the other people feed the fishes.

Mini feeding frenzy! Splash!

Here is Kim enjoying the rest. It was a long day of holiday making, and general fun-ness.

Last chance for anyone that hasn't guessed our mystery Rock Star. If you didn't guess Rod Stewart, then it's not your fault. This pics are taken from farish away, and who'dda thunked he'd have been on our boat.

Although Zante is home to a lot of turtles, we actually didn't expect to see one on this trip (since it was a quite a big ship). But this is one of two that we actually saw. The captain shut down the engines, but, sadly, he only stuck around for about 30 seconds. Just long enough to take one picture, but not a second.

Here is the town of Zante. It's quite funny to have an island with the same name as the major city. I guess that would be like Victoria being on Victoria island.

This is the smaller harbour, with a wee little lighthouse. We'll be going to the right, to the bigger harbour, with a wee lighthouse.

On the left is the bell tower and in the middle is the cathedral. Unfortunately, we didn't have time for either, but they were quite nice from the outside.

And, this is just a little right from the above bell tower/cathedral pic.

Here is a wide angle of the waterfront. Sorry that you can see the seams, but I was using Paint Shop Pro instead of Corel, and I wasn't able to play as much with the end product as I'd have hoped.

Press your left/right arrow keys to see the entire pic.

And, one more pic looking right of the one above. I think that yaught just on the left side had been turned into a restuarant (incase you can't find a good place to eat).

As this is a normal harbour, you also have the regular harbour activities, like gravel loading, boat repairs, etc. This just has a nicer setting than other harbours.

Our voyage has unfortunately ended. I'm not exactly sure what this means, but from what I can pick out, it says "Nato ... blah blah" and then has the Russian hammer and cicle. I wonder if this is saying that someone isn't too happy with Greece helping in Nato.

End Of Part II