markathbauer: Kayaking fools…hiking? not so much

Mark and I have gotten back into the grind of work in order to afford our travel fetish. After spending all our time on the new house in 2012, we managed to get away a bit more this year. Kayaking at home led us to think we could manage a bit more difficult kayak trips. We started in Santa Barbara in June and kayaked around a number of the Channel Islands off shore. We stayed on a small boat, sleeping on berths in the hold with 10 other people. The boat took us from island to island in the rough sea. There were small craft advisories the whole time, wind, and lots of waves and "haystacks" created by waves hitting the cliffs and coming back to meet incoming waves. Think skiing moguls but in a boat. It was a TON of fun, weaving along the coast and into and out of cool caves (think low ceiling, helmets ... and bats); we never dumped in the rough water. We were very proud of ourselves! When we came home, there was an "adventure" advertised on a website we visit often --"come kayak and hike the south coast of Crete!." Gee, we’re awesome, we can do this! So we signed up for 8 days in October of kayaking the Libyan Sea and hiking cliffs. The trip was on a part of the coast roads don't reach - the only way in is by boat or foot. We stayed in small inns in tiny villages. It was very cultured kayaking. We would take off in the morning for an hour or two, stop at a small taverna for cappuccino and snorkeling, with 300 or so goats, then move another hour or two to find lunch in a similar place, then another hour or so to dinner (think raki) and lodging for the night. Only one day of waves with a following sea that basically let us surf to our next destination. We paddled through caves, into long narrow fjords, partied nightly and, tried to hike. I found that going downhill for 12 miles - the first three straight down, was no longer in my resume - or itinerary? My left leg gave out and would not support me after about a mile. I hobbled on one leg and two hiking polls back to the top and got a ride to a village 2 hours away where I could catch a boat to our inn at the base of the long Samaria Gorge hike. I showed up about an hour earlier than Mark. He was exhausted so it was a very good thing I didn't try to do the remaining 11 1/2 miles down. We were the oldest in our group of 6 (plus 3 guides), the best kayakers, and the worst hikers! We opted out of the other hikes and spent our time in the boats practicing rolls and rescues. I am wondering about our next kayak (no hiking) trip...gotta get these in while we still can! We finished off the trip with some days in Heraklion, Chania (wine glasses) and Athens. Greece has improved greatly in the 40 years since we were last there! They had greenery, more than grilled goat on the menu, and very fun times. Jamas! Wine glasses in Chania sunset