Sea Kayaking in the Ionian Islands of Lefkada and Meganisi (Overnight Trip)

Henk paddling in the crystal clear water of the Ionian Sea

Greece, how you exceeded my expectations! When I first began brewing up plans to go kayaking in Greece (shout out to Doug!), I pictured steep coasts peppered with bright white houses and blue decorations. I had imagined that these dense developments would cover the Greek islands, and we would paddle from dense village to village, eating delicious Greek food and sipping red wine. So, when we began paddling away from the little town of Vasiliki on the Island of Lefkada, I was struck by how vast and natural the surrounding islands really were. Aside from some small villages in pocket beaches, we encountered undeveloped shorelines of steep cliffs, rocky/pebble-y beaches, and olive groves.

A note of thanks to Jeff for helping me brainstorm for this blog post - his memory is better than mine... 

Getting to Lefkada

Selfie stick photo of the group in Athens, after the kayaking trip.

Jeff met Henk and I in the Netherlands, and spent a day in Rotterdam before the three of us flew to Athens. Sara and Scott had a longer trip (3 flights?) from Richmond, Virginia. After a smooth trip, and a flawless meeting in the baggage claim (seriously, we arrived within 5 mins of each other), we squeezed into a compact rental car and headed towards the coast. It was a 5 hour drive to Vasiliki, along many new stretches of highway, and the drive was easy (other than the cramped quarters - quite a few tall folks in our group). It used to be the most deadly stretch of highway in Europe, but fortunately something has been done about that... 

Finding an overnight kayak rental in Greece...

It was quite a challenge to find kayak outfitters who would allow sea kayak rentals for self-guided overnight trips in Greece. In my extended search I only found two: Ionian Explorers in Vasiliki on Lefkada Island, and Enjoy Crete on Crete. Thanks to this blog post for pointing us in the right direction. Since a few members of the group had less experience on open sea (Crete), and since Lefkada was more accessible, we rented kayaks from George at Ionian Explorers.  

George was helpful from the start.  We communicated by email and I made a reservation a few months ahead of time (typical me, it was totally unnecessary in May). A 3-day kayak rental, including all paddling equipment and camping gear (excluding sleeping bags), was 135 euros/person, but he gave us the group rate of 120 euros/person. An excellent price! We paid a deposit ahead of time and he provided a useful document with what to expect, as well as a recommended packing list. 

When we arrived in Vasiliki, George invited us to stop by the evening before for the safety and navigation briefing. He allowed us to leave some gear overnight to make the morning walk easier (we left the car at the Airbnb). During the briefing he suggested a route, pointed to an unofficial backcountry campsite, and gave some local tips about where to picnic and sights to see.

Day 1: Vasiliki to Meganisi via Sivota Bay

​The next morning we met at the rental shop at 8am. We packed up our boats and were on the water by 9am. There was no wind and the sun was shining. We were excited!

Sara and the deep blue sea

The morning paddle went smoothly, except when I briefly overestimated the distance we'd covered and disappointed everyone by saying we were half as far as expected. We stopped for lunch at a private dock outside of Sivota.  Jeff paddled into town to get some beer (Alpha, it was buy 5 get one free!), snacks, and a hat for Sara.  After lunch we cut across the next bay and went to the blue cave where the bats were. 

At some point in the morning we realized the kayak paddles were not very high quality - there were foam hand grips which were not well attached to the paddle shaft, resulting in a bit of annoying sliding/rotating. Holding the main shaft left black residue on our palms. Otherwise, we were satisfied with the paddling equipment - nothing fancy, but did the job for a good price!

Henk paddling towards the cave entrance

Jeff in a narrow passage between two rocks

​The crossing from Lefkada to Meganisi was uneventful with the exception of seeing some interesting ships. On Meganisi, we began looking for George's Tavern and the "easy to find" campsite.  After a few passes up and down the coast, we realized George's Tavern was actually called "Il Paradiso," so we landed and asked the owner if we could have dinner there. Unfortunately, they were not (yet) open for the season, so tavern-George recommended we head to Spartochori instead. We also spent quite some time looking for the campsite, using the map and coordinates provided by rental-George, but couldn't find any land that wasn't fenced off with no trespassing signs. We gave up and paddled further north, where we eventually found a small olive grove hidden behind a small dirt road and some trees, with a nice landing spot for our boats. Nervous that we were trespassing, we carried the boats into the grove and hid them behind some trees. 

Setting up camp in our olive grove

We set up camp and quickly realized the tents were quite low quality (ripping very easily during set-up, even though we were careful). Once we set up camp, we started the (~1 hr) walk up the hill to the small town of Spartochori. It was quite a steep climb, and we were all sweating profusely. We encountered a large group of adorable goats crossing the road. When we arrived, we bought some cold drinks and ice cream before doing some grocery shopping. At check-out, I asked the cashier where we could find a taxi to take us back to our campsite after dinner (when it would be dark). The cashier handed me a card and said "I'm the taxi driver!" (the only one on the island). We couldn't believe our luck! 

We explored a bit and picked a restaurant for dinner (there were a few options), settling on Taverna Lakis.  The waiter was quite a character, suggesting that we would be gassy when we ordered the "Plakas Gigantes" (giant beans), and making plenty of other somewhat inappropriate comments. He quickly bonded with Jeff and introduced Jeff to another Greek man who lived in the same city in Colorado (but was back in Greece for the summer). Apparently he runs a Greek restaurant close to Jeff's office! Scott also bonded with the waitstaff, as was generally the case :)

After another tasty (albeit a little greasy) dinner, all 5 of us crammed in the taxi (a Passat) and got a bumpy ride back to the olive grove. The driver was quite confused when we told him to let us out at George's Taverna, but then commenced walking down the dirt road (we didn't want him to know we were stealth camping). 

View from the top of Meganisi

Date: Monday, May 21st
Distance: ~25 km (15.5 miles)
Duration: 8 hours (including various stops)
Weather: Sunny and warm

 Day 2: Exploring Meganisi (Spartochori and Vathy)

We awoke under the olive trees to another perfect sunny day.  Sara and Scott called out to say they were stuck in their tent. The zipper had become stuck and they were roasting inside. After yanking the zipper open, they finally emerged, but one of the two zippers was now broken. The other was also fully stuck, and we spent a half hour trying to get it un-stuck. Everyone gave it their best shot, using force and water and pocket knives. Finally Henk disappeared and came back with a piece of cord, which he threaded through the zipper and, as I poured water over the salt-crusted metal, elegantly tugged in the right direction and releasing the zipper! 

Rather than make our own breakfast, we decided to paddle to a nearby town for brunch (! how luxurious!). 

Three of our boats at the edge of the stealth campsite.

Henk paddling past a typical Greek coastline, filled with greenery and olive groves.

Porto Spilia (adjacent to Spartochori) was short paddle from our campsite (a.k.a. Casa de Olive). We quickly found a waterfront restaurant where Jeff, Henk, and I feasted on a spread of mostly lunch foods like stuffed peppers and grilled eggplants (picked out from a glass case and heated up).  Sara and Scott went for a more traditional brunch of eggs. And coffee, of course. Mmmmmm...

Jeff and Sara paddling on the north side of Meganisi

​Rather than brave the open water crossing to Skorpios, we continued around the island of Meganisi, finding a nice public beach at the mouth of Vathi Bay (called Pasoumaki Beach, as far as I can tell). After lounging in the sun and playing in the water for a couple hours (Henk and Scott practicing rescues), we continued east around the island. Here we had some gorgeous views of mountains on the mainland and broad expanses of open water. We watched as some sailboats drifted by and had a bit of a photo shoot with the beautiful background. 

Henk and the boats in Vathi, where we had dinner on the second evening.

We headed into Vathi for an early (and super delicious) dinner.  A group of feral cats roamed about, and Sara squealed with glee and photographed them. A short while later, I looked down to see one of them peeing, leg up, on my dry bag and phone. After that we warmed up to the restaurant dog, who kept the cats away... Jeff ordered the squid ink linguine with clams (a beautiful dish!), and we all enjoyed the free baklava after dinner.  Apparently not feeling full enough after a big dinner, we stopped for ice cream at a cafe near the kayaks. 

Jeff returning from an evening paddle around Thilia Island, where he found steep white cliffs on the southwest side.

The paddle back to the olive grove was a bit choppy on the north side of Meganisi, but calmed once we rounded the point on the west side. Jeff was yearning for more, so he tacked on a paddle around Thilia Island while the rest of the group went swimming or dried off and watched the sunset.

​Date: Tuesday, May 22nd
Distance: ~19 km (12 miles)
Duration: all day (including various stops)
Weather: Sunny and warm

Day 3: Meganisi to Poros Beach and Sivota Bay

​Day 3 was a relatively short, but eventful paddling day. After breaking camp, Jeff convinced us all to paddle around Thilia to check out some white cliffs before crossing the channel towards Lefkada. Soon after, the sky began to darken, and we decided to stop for a cup of coffee in Porou and wait for a shower to pass.  The sky cleared a bit, but dark clouds were still on the horizon. We repeatedly tried to contact George from the kayak rental for advice, but got no answer. On the way out of Porou Bay we heard thunder, so we briefly took shelter behind a headland. There was some debate about whether or not to continue, but we eventually pressed on around the headland and into Sivota. Henk had picked up a buoy he found drifting in the bay, and laid it next to a dumpster near the take-out. Within minutes, a man who had been watching us from his porch  scampered down to the dumpster and took the buoy with him - a successful salvage operation! We unpacked our boats and neatly sorted the gear in piles by the road. By this time, George had responded by text message, and a colleague of his arrived promptly to pick us up at the take-out. When he arrived, he quickly stashed all the gear back into the kayaks, which we left behind on the beach (presumably for later pick-up). At least we kept ourselves busy :) We rode back to Vasiliki on steep winding roads in a large van. 

Back at the rental shop, we relayed a few messages to George - that we were not able to contact him (he said he had called but that it immediately went to voicemail, which is possible since I had my phone on battery saver mode), that we had trouble finding the campsite (we looked at Google maps together and realized there was a misunderstanding about the location, and that the coordinates provided were not very accurate), that George's Tavern actually had another name (Il Paradiso) and was not yet open for the season, and that some of the camping gear was damaged (it was quite low quality). He welcomed our feedback and soon we were walking back to our Airbnb for a relaxing afternoon of hanging out.

At the take-out point in Sivota

Date: Wednesday, May 23rd
Distance: ~14 km (8.7 miles)
Duration: 4 hours (including breakfast stop)
Weather: Occasional showers + thunderstorms

Roadtrip, Vasiliki, and Athens

This is where the blog post becomes less of a useful kayaking trip post and more of a personal/goofy journal :)
Below are some of my favorite pictures from the non-kayaking part of our trip. We ate tons of delicious food and wandered all over Athens for a day.

Cat photos by Sara

There are a few things you can always count on Sara to take photos of: trees, tourist sites, and cats.  Below I present you with some of her best cat photos of the trip (trust me, I really had to make a selection). One of these cats peed on my leg in a restaurant. 

Selfie-stick photos by Henk

Henk is not a huge fan of photos. He tolerates them to make me happy, which I appreciate. So you can imagine my surprise when, while strolling the cobblestone roads of the Parthenon, he finds a fancy selfie stick on the ground and gleefully takes selfies for the duration of our time Athens. Below are a few of his finest works.