68JetAway The sea is so clear I can see starfi sh tiptoeing along the bottom
As the slowest paddler I’m promoted to pack leader. “This way no one gets left behind and there’s no competitive behaviour,” Russ explains. My strokes are awkward at fi rst and I’m constantly soaked to the skin, baked in the hot sun, then soaked again, but by mid morning I’m getting into my stride over a sea so clear I can see starfi sh tiptoeing along the bottom. Around midday we beach at Elafonissi, a Bountyisland islet with a shallow lagoon and pink sand, where we spend the afternoon snorkelling and sunbathing. At sunset we beach at Kedrodasos, an hour’s paddle away. We pitch tents in a deserted cove fringed with astringent-smelling eucalyptus trees and cook our fi rst castaway dinner: tinned tuna mixed with pasta boiled in water from one of the kayak’s 10-litre emergency bladders. Tongues loosened by fi relight, a few slugs of 60% proof raki and a wall-to-wall deco of stars, we compare our reasons for taking this trip. Laure, 22, from Lyon, confi des that she’s just split up with her partner and needs a challenge. Chris, 30, from Manchester says he’s an adrenalin junkie and needs his fi x. Jim and Andrea, both in their mid forties and from Liverpool, reveal they needed a sea change from their hectic lives running a hotel. As for Russ, our bleach-blond kayak instructor from Colorado, he set up his company, Nature Maniacs, to escape the ski slopes. “After years of teaching ski my feet were a mess – I don’t have that problem with kayaking.” I’m roused the next day by what I assume is someone throwing sand at the tent, but when I stagger outside I see the wind has whipped up and the waves out at sea are capped with white. Despite the blazing sun, Russ tells us to pull out our waterproof paddling cagoules. “Sounds ominous,” Andrea says nervously. A few strokes out and we’re battling through huge swells and wind gusts, called microbursts, that threaten to capsize us. The waves are barely more than a metre high but they seem huge from sea level. I remember the Minoan civilisation that fl ourished along this coastline was wiped out in 1450BC by a 20m-high tsunami wave provoked by the eruption of Santorini, a volcanic archipelago some 100km north of Crete. Luckily the sea calms within an hour and we can relax and enjoy our trip from Paleohora to Sougia. Cut off from the world by the Lefka Ori, a chain of mountains towering to 2,200m, the coastline here has no THE PIONEERS JET2HOLIDAYS.COM ‘Don’t use your paddle like a coffee spoon! Think of your kayak as a mermaid’s tail’ TRY IT KAYAK TIPS Kayaking is a great way to chill out on the sea, but novices should join a group and let the guide worry about the weather conditions, tides and currents. When you spend fi ve to seven hours paddling every day, you’re wet by the afternoon and whacked at night, so don’t bother packing any little black numbers. Instead, fi ll your pack with back-to-basics items such as quick-dry shorts, swimwear, sport sandals, a sun hat, a waterproof cagoule and lashings of suntan lotion. Jet2.com 69
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