Swimming in Poros

We took the local bus, seen here at night, to get to Kanali beach. The bus is free and runs from the morning  (with a break during siesta hours) until after midnight.

It runs every 20 minutes and is used extensively by the locals.

A five minute walk would take us to the narrow strait that divides the two islands, Sphairia and Kalaureaia that make up the island of Poros. The locals call it the Canal. On the left of the end of the canal in this photograph is Kanali beach. 

Poros beaches are not spectacularly good as in some other islands, but we did have some nice swims here. Not really sandy, just pebbles and we would have found it very difficult without our swimming shoes which we use when we go to beaches like these.

Nice views from our loungers.

In the afternoons it would get a bit rough and that was fun

A good-sized bay but not too big

It's an organised beach, so that one can get adequate shade, and the prices were not too steep as in some other islands.

The taverna on the beach is good - nice views of the sea, and fairly good food.

One thing I liked about it is that it never got too busy so that we were able to get an umbrella in the first row - I like having uninterrupted views of the sea

It's a family beach - lots of kids having fun with their canoes








I like swimming fairly long distances, so, endless expanses of water get a bit boring.  So, I like swimming around rocks and caves, or, in our own beach getting to the net and back, which gives me a purpose. But, the best are rocks and caves, and this is why I loved swimming in Therma in Ikaria and Sarakiniko in Milos . 

What I did in Kanali was I swam up to the rocks in the picture, explored all around the rocks, went inside the shallow caves - it was such fun. Exploring, no one else around, just wonderful.

I also saw something I have not seen before. Hanging from a rock was what looked like the root of a tree. But, I am not sure, it's just I don't know what else it could have been. It is very long.  It looked like the lower part of a white giant: the hips were embedded in the rock at the top of the cliff and the two long white legs were reaching to the bottom rocks, like roots or feet.  One of them looked like it had a bent knee. I find it difficult to explain, it was such an odd thing that I had never seen before. 

On two occasions, we went to the taverna that's on the beach for lunch after our swim.

The place I really wanted to go and swim, which I had been looking forward to, and which had been my favourite place during our last trip, was this bay, the Russian bay.

It was spectacular due to the backdrop ruin of a 19th century Russian naval base. 

When Greece was occupied by the Ottoman Empire, Russia secured free shipping for its navy and this bay was one of their bases. When Russian activity declined so did the base and the abandoned buildings were left to decay.



So we went again, on our second full day. but did not stay.

They have replaced the umbrellas and the beds, and unfortunately with the new ones you hardly get any shade. The umbrellas aren't that good, but it's the beds that are the problem. They are so heavy that it's hard to move them - on the other beaches, we constantly move the beds following where the shade goes as the sun moves.  We do not like sitting in the sun and it's not good for you, so we had no choice but to call another taxi (there is no other way of getting there unless one has a car) and went to Kanali again.

It's a lovely bay, and I remember loving swimming there, but we cannot sit on a beach without shade. On the way to Kanali, we looked at the other beaches on the way, but they were all very busy, so we decided to stick to Kanali for the rest of our stay.

Sarakiniko in Milos

The bus dropped us off and we found ourselves in this otherworldly, lunar landscape. The contrast between the blinding white and the dark blue, just amazing.

We had planned our visit to Sarakiniko for early in the morning as we knew it would get very busy, but still, as you can see, lots of people had had the same thought as us.

This was my third visit to Sarakiniko, but wow! even though I knew what to expect, it hit me again, the sheer beauty, otherness, appeal, of this fantastic place. Like nowhere else on earth.

Named after the Saracen pirates who once used it as a hideout, Sarakiniko bay is coastline wilderness at its more alluring.

Its unique structure, the varied expanse, and the gorgeous azure, emerald and turquoise water in stark contrast with the bright white rock, create a unique experience.

The bright white rock formations were created by several layers of sea and land organisms' fossils on the volcanic rock over several millennia. The wind and sea then sculpted the rocks that were created by the fossil layering into the bizarre and other worldly shapes that make this place so unique.

Adding to the sense of drama there's a partly-exposed shipwreck on the right of this rock elevation but we did not visit that part of the beach this time.

Instead we climbed down this steep rock formation

to reach the tiny sandy beach which has a deep channel that's perfect for swimming and which we did several times

with lots of room to spread out on the rocks

Carved on the rock by the water channel are a number of caves, and near them stand two trees - the only shade on the whole of this area. I realised when I was processing my photos that I did not take any pictures of the trees, but this is where we headed on arrival and left our stuff under one of the trees.

We then went for our first swim.

In the distance, perched on top of the tip of a rock we could see this person looking out at sea.

It's the formations on the rock that I find truly incredible

Sculpture

After our swim we decided to walk to the other bay

blinding whiteness

from here we could see the narrow strip we had just swam in. Ah! I just noticed - you can see the two trees in this photograph.

and already, as you can see, lots more people had arrived

we reached the top 

and this is what was below.

We descended, walked past people lying on the rocks

and reached the pool

just gorgeous

Last time we were here, I swam from the deep channel where we swam earlier, round the coast, and arrived here, to this pool. Could not do it this time because the sea was a bit rough, and there's so many rocks and currents all around in the open sea  that it was not advisable. I was so looking forward to that swim, but never mind, next time.

This narrow strip was the only place where it was possible to cross over to the other side, and we did that 

as we wanted to look at the open sea and why so many people were assembled there

good views of the open sea

Some people were watching and the more daring were cliff jumping off the rocks into the deep waters below. Here, she's ready to jump

He's mid-air

this one's almost there

and this one has just touched water, head first.

We walked around for a bit - I marvelled at those six holes on the ground

and all the other amazing formations

and then walked back towards the deep channel

as we wanted to have another swim at this stage

and kept looking around

just stunning

And then it was time to explore the caves

Once you get inside it's pitch black. Last time as we were walking along, there was a big drop and we both fell. Ken lost his shoe and we could not find it in the dark. Fortunately, someone came along, used the light on his phone and found Ken's shoe. This time we were prepared, Ken had brought his phone along.

As you can see, we were not on our own this time

Apparently the caves were used by pirates who brought their ships here, and hid in the caves to rest before venturing out again

It is very mysterious and exciting being in these caves

It got very dark and Ken turned the light on his mobile. 'Take care, there is a dip here', he said, as I spectacularly fell again. No wonder though. The 'dip' was over half a metre deep and I just fell on my bum.

We decided to exit. It was time for our bus anyway.

So, from the dark to the very bright

We left Sarakiniko

Hopefully we will be back soon

as it's too beautiful

and hopefully I will have better luck with the caves next time.