We got all of our equipment ready on the short 10 minute boat ride out to the dive site, called Eastreef. I was paired with a nice German couple, Elias and Rebekka, who seemed about my age. After a brief skills check in the water with the instructor (so they could make sure I knew what I was doing) we were off. Diving here was nothing like diving the Great Barrier Reef since it had so much less color and life (fish and corals). It was still cool though! the water was quite a bit colder than the GBR so we had to wear decently thick wetsuits. The water visibility was really good though. The landscape was quite rocky and we were diving alongside some large cliffs.
We dove for 52 minutes and only went down to a depth of 18 meters but we saw quite a bit. There were lots of little fish that I don't know the name of but they were very colorful. They had yellow vertical stripes with patches of green and blue as well. We also saw some very old pottery along the sea floor which is probably hundreds if not thousands of years old. The most notable things we saw were a school of barracuda (although they were much smaller barracuda than I've seen before) and we also saw two moray eels poking their heads out of their caves. That was kinda creepy! You could see their teeth and they were flexing their jaws at us rather threateningly.
So overall a successful dive! Matt was able to snorkel a bit while we dove and he said he had a good time as well and saw lots of fish. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures since I no longer have an under-water camera.
After getting back to shore and getting all my equipment put away we decided to head to a beach. We went to Vassilikos peninsula which has a lot of beaches. We started off by going to Banana Beach but it was clearly on the windward side of the island so it was windy and rather cold! We didn't even want to get out so we ate our packed lunches in the car. Then we decided to try the other side of the peninsula and went to Daphni Beach which was much better. Although we had to go over a mountain and down windy steep roads to get there we made it eventually. The beach was really nice with lots of free sun beds. It was far less windy and warmer over there so we grabbed some beds and took naps. Eventually we made our way to the water and waded in a bit and enjoyed the scenery. The steep cliffs dropping down into the sea is just so beautiful, and there was also another small island not far off the coast.
For dinner we decided to drive across to the west side of the island so we could watch the sunset. We went to a great spot called Machali's Sunset Taverna in Kampi. Wow, it was so beautiful! The place itself was adorable with all stone and flowers. And it was set on a high cliff overlooking the water and cliffs on the other side. The sunset was absolutely gorgeous.
For dinner Matt tried souvlaki which was a meat skewer, and I tried a traditional Greek pasta dish called pastitsio what had beef and noodles with a bichamel sauce. We also tried a local beer and wine which was good as well. Then they served us some traditional cakes for dessert. What a nice meal!
On the way home from dinner Matt mentioned that most of the island's nightlife was in the neighboring town. I just looked at him blankly and was thinking, "What? Why?" By "nightlife" I thought he meant nocturnal animals and I was trying to puzzle out why they would all be in the next town. Apparently he meant the bars and nightclubs. Oh. Someone has been on safari for too long...
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