Swimming in Amorgos

Even though there are quite a few beaches in Amorgos, we only used one, Maltezi beach, mainly because we were told that this is the only organised beach on the island and we just have to have shade. 

You can walk there, quite a long walk, which normally we would love to do, but not in such heat, so we took a boat to get there - that a treat in itself. There are two boats taking people to the beach from and to Katapola, alternating every half hour, and we used both. This one was much more fun

but so was this, particularly on the way back when sometimes it would be empty except for us

and sometimes the boats would return heavy with passengers.

We loved the boat ride which also gave us an opportunity to see some more of the island

Maltesi is not far from Katapola, so soon, we would see this little church which is situated in the bay next to where the beach is

and there it is. It's a small bay, half of it is an organised beach 

It was easy to find an umbrella and loungers as it never gets busy - not in the beginning of September anyway

 

This was our view on our right

and it was always fun seeing the boats arriving.

You can see how small the area of the organised bit is

and here,

This was the view on our left. This is the second part of the beach which has been left unspoilt,

wild countryside,

and people who did not want shade and did not want to pay would settle here.

I loved just lying on the lounger, looking at the crystal clear water, the mountains across,

it's like meditating.

We swam a lot but not as much as we usually do. That's because the water was freezing. Freezing. I would swim along and I would think, 'it feels I am in a bucket of ice'. 

We would swim along the bay, then come to these rocks and swim to the other side, to the next bay, where the little church is

This is the second bay, with the church on the point, and a beach at the end of it. I took the photograph from the boat, as I don't use my underwater camera anymore.

This is where Ken had his accident and hung on to the rock at the end.

And then we would take the boat back

past the church and the cemetery

and eventually we would get a good view of Katapola.