If anything, the must-do thing when you are a tourist to Zakynthos is to join a round-the-island cruise so that you can go home and tell your friends and neighbours that you have seen some of the most beautiful seas in Europe. The scenery off the west coast of Zakynthos is quintessentially the kind of holiday paradise image Greece is keen to promote to the world: turquoise-blue sea with white cliffs, lush green natures, and postcard-perfect coves and secluded bays untouched by modern tourism.
Although all tour agencies in the resort towns sell tickets for the boat trip, sometimes with slight differences in terms of price, there is actually only one company operating the round-the-island trip from the habour of Zakynthos Town using a big boat with a 5m long plank. Which means no matter from which travel agency you book the boat trip, as long as they tell you the boat they use is departing from Zakynthos and has a 5m long plank, you can almost be sure that everybody will end up on the same boat.
Indeed that was what happened to me when I boarded the tour boat; it seems the whole tourist population on Zakynthos were on this boat that morning. By the time the free shuttle bus that picked tourists up from their hotels in the region of Alykes and Alikanas arrived at the habour of Zakynthos Town, all the good places on the boat were already taken by tourists from other resort regions of the island. So I had to find whatever place I could on the boat and try to enjoy the views of Zakynthos' impressive coastlines amid all the bodies.
Depending on the wind direction and the current, the captain would decide shortly before departure whether the cruise would tour the island in a clockwise or anti-clockwise direction. On that day it was decided that the tour would start in a clockwise direction, which means the boat would sail first towards west of the island before turning round the northernmost point of Zakynthos and head south towards Alikanas and Zakynthos Town.
The first point of attraction on the western coast of Zakynthos is the world-renown National Marine Park of Zakynthos, which is also home to a variety of protected marine life, including the endangered loggerhead sea turtle species, Caretta Caretta. Anyone remembers the world's most famous bookie Paul the Octopus, who used to live in an aquarium in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, whose exploits included correctly foretelling the results of several football matches in a row during the 2010 World Cup? Well, a large part of the incomes generated by Paul the Octopus's commercial activities and guest appearances in advertisements were donated to this marine park to finance the protection of his loggerhead sea turtle friends living near Zakynthos. Nice job, Paul.
The sea within the vicinity of the Marine Park has one of the most amazing colours of all sea I have ever seen. Little wonder that caretta caretta turtles decide to make it their home here and lay their eggs on the beautiful soft white sandy beaches in this part of the Mediterranean. As the boat we travelled in is too big to get close to the turtles' breeding ground, we could only slowly sail and observe the surroundings from a distance. If you are interested in an encounter with the sea turtles at a close range, you would need to go to Laganas and join a special sea turtle-watching guided tour from there, where tourists can travel in small boats with glass bottom to better observe the loggerhead sea turtles. Quite a large number of visitors from Europe actually choose to come to Zakynthos for holidays because of their interest in watching the caretta caretta, and in souvenir shops all over the island, merchandises with the logo of cute baby caretta caretta turtles swimming happiy in the sea can be found on virtually everything from slippers, T-shirts to ashtrays and keychains. And the island is proud to encourage the positioning of its tourism image on the basis of its reputation as a nature-friendly paradise destination to attract those who are into eco-tourism. As soon as one gets off the plane and steps into the Arrivals Hall of the airport of Zakynthos, one would not fail to take notice of the giant pictures of the various wonderful marine creatures in their natural habitats
It is a pity we could not see any turtles in the waters because of the distance although it was supposed to be the breeding season. After a brief stop, the boat continued to sail towards the next destination, a series of beautiful natural caves and hidden coves where people can jump from the boat into the invitingly beautiful crystal-clear sea for a swim. As the outside temperature began to soar, it was really great to be able to swim in such pristine waters.
More blue caves on the way to Shipwreck Bay, the No.1 Landmark of the Island of Zakynthos. The captain of the boat reminded us that the Calypso Deep, the deepest point of the Mediterranean Sea with a depth of 5267m and where the African Plate slides under the Eurasian Plate, is located not too far away in the sea south of the island of Zakynthos. With the faultlines so close to its doorsteps, little wonder that the Ionian Sea and the Ionian Islands are amongst the most seismically active zone in the world.
One thing to note: the colours of the water seem to change from one second to the next. And the colour of the sky too; one moment it was sunny with blue sky, the next it became cloudy and overcasted. Luckily it did not rain.
The good news is, by the time the boat approached the entrance to the fabled Shipwreck Bay, one of the most photographed places in the whole Hellas, the weather god had decided it was enough for the day with the grey clouds, and the sky was sunny and bright once more. The quality of the sandy beach in the bay is indeed top of the range, with fine, soft white sands and waters so pristine and blue, the images look as though they come out directly from the pages of the Travel & Leisure special edition about the top beaches of the world. If Eiffel Tower represents Paris and the Big Ben is symbol of London, then the image of the Shipwreck Bay, with the rusty hull of an abandoned ship that had shipwrecked on this beach decades ago and whose contents had long been emptied lying on its own on the lonely sandy white beach, is the registered trademark of Zakynthos. The image appears on tourist brochures, posters, postcards, magzines, even TV shows. As soon as the view of the giant wreck appears in the horizon, the whole boat begins to rock with excitement, with everybody on board taking off their clothes and getting ready to jump off the 5m long plank at the rear end of the boat to explore one of the most famous attractions in the whole of Greece.
Ideally, this is how a nice swim and a memorable afternoon on the beach of the Shipwreck Bay should look lik, with just your sweethearts or close friends, accompanied by the sound of the slow beating waves and a gentle breeze, as you watch the little boats anchored in the bay swaying according to the rhythm of the sea ...
Too bad such romantic descriptions only appear in the centrefolds of Travel & Leisure: the Top 10 Beaches in the World. Like many other things in life, reality is often thousands of light years away from expectations. Below is the harsh truth as soon as the boatload of day-trippers from the Round-the-Island Cruise touched down at the scenic beach:
Now you know why those bays and beaches of the Caribbean Islands always appear so photo-perfect in the pages of Vogue and other lifestyle magzines. That was because the photographers took the photos not just at the right place, but also at the right time. If they had taken those photos five-minutes after a cruise-load full of day-trippers had just descended on shore, I am sure you would not want to pay a premium for staying at one of the 5-star villas on the Caribbean Islands. Next time, better rent a small boat and come to the Shipwreck Bay and be sure to avoid running into the day-trippers.
Once we had seen the highlights of the tour - the Blue Caves and the Shipwreck Bay - it was all downhill from there, as everything else that came the way en route back to Zakynthos Town paled by comparison. The cliffs are not as impressive, the coves are less spectacular, even the sea on the east coast of the island had seemed to lack that certain magical allure. In addition, after almost an hour's stay at the Shipwreck Bay, everybody on board was subdued after all the swimming, sunbathing etc. As the sun began to set and the breeze from the sea started to turn chilly, it was time to return to the land.
Copyrights@2012. All text and photos by YC Cheng. All Rights Reserved.
Copyrights@2012. All text and photos by YC Cheng. All Rights Reserved.
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