{"id":2062,"date":"2016-10-17T06:36:38","date_gmt":"2016-10-17T12:36:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/triciakarsay.com\/guatemala\/?p=2062"},"modified":"2017-01-08T13:05:43","modified_gmt":"2017-01-08T19:05:43","slug":"shipwreck-beach-location-for-cocoon-iii-cruising-the-greek-isles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/triciakarsay.com\/guatemala\/shipwreck-beach-location-for-cocoon-iii-cruising-the-greek-isles\/","title":{"rendered":"Shipwreck Beach, Location for “Cocoon III, Cruising the Greek Isles”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Late September in Greece is definitely the time to visit. \u00a0Unless you like crowds and high prices and crappy service.\u00a0\u00a0I have only been to Greece in the highest seasons and I still wanted to return again and again and again, so if that’s when you can go, definitely go! But if you can swing a trip in September, I would highly recommend it. \u00a0Weather is still beautiful, even more beautiful because Athens isn’t oppressively hot, ships\u00a0are empty, everything is just a little cheaper and most of the tourists have gone home. \u00a0Well, most of the tourists under the age of 80 have gone home.<\/p>\n

These past few weeks, I got a fast-forward glimpse\u00a0of what my life\u00a0might be like as an octogenarian and I like it! Yes, I’ll probably have a new hip or two, and might have to wear some ugly off-white platform shoes (but you have seen my man shoes, right? so that will be an easy transition) and I might need help, ummm more help, getting in and out of a dinghy, but I am still going to be traveling, dammit! \u00a0I took a few\u00a0boat trips and an island tour\u00a0and\u00a0I was probably one of the youngest travelers. \u00a0There were a few couples in their late 30s or 40s, me, and then mostly 70 and 80+ year olds. And we all went on a magical Cocoon trip to Zakynthos.<\/p>\n

\"skala_shipwreck\"<\/a>

Even though Google Maps says you can, unless you’re Jesus, you can’t walk from Skala to Navagio Beach, but this seems to be the closest to the route our boat took, we stopped at the beach first and visited Ayios Nikolaos afterwards.<\/p><\/div>\n

Named after the son of the Dardanos (son of Zeus and founder of Troy), Zakynthos (commonly referred to as\u00a0Zante, its Italian name), is an island in the Ionian Sea very close to Kefalonia. \u00a0When I was first looking for places to stay, I was toying with staying there, but so happy I found the little beach-pebble\u00a0house in Skala, because I am truly in love with Kefalonia. \u00a0But I still wanted to visit so I booked a day trip on the Hermes with\u00a0Captain\u00a0Kostis<\/a>. \u00a0Kefalonia already seemed to be emptying and this was one of Captain Kostis’ last cruises of the season. \u00a0I was surprised to see a line at the beach to board the boat and I was even more surprised to see the amount of people with canes and walkers and orthopedic shoes.<\/p>\n

We all loaded up and set out for our 6 hour tour. \u00a0Our first stop was Shipwreck Beach (or Paralia Navagio<\/em>,\u00a0\u03c0\u03b1\u03c1\u03b1\u03bb\u03af\u03b1 \u03bd\u03b1\u03c5\u03ac\u03b3\u03b9\u03bf,<\/em>\u00a0in Greek). Also referred to as Smuggler’s Cove, the white sand and pebble beach is located\u00a0on the northwest coast of Zakynthos and\u00a0can only be reached by boat and apparently, base jumping. \u00a0We had a great first mate, a Scottish guy\u00a0named Mike,\u00a0who could have also been Greek, very sarcastic and funny and\u00a0he\u00a0gave us the lowdown on the\u00a0MV<\/em> Panagiotis. \u00a0<\/i>The Scottish-built ship ran aground on this stunning beach in 1980, allegedly suspected and chased by the Greek Navy for smuggling cigarettes and booze. \u00a0This a fun, quick little read from the Captain of the MV Panagiotis<\/em>\u00a0in defense of these false accusations if you’re interested\u00a0http:\/\/zantewreck.com\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n

We were the second boat to arrive so there were only a handful of people already on the beach. \u00a0A base jumper was just gliding in as we disembarked, man I wish I had the skill to do that! \u00a0I think I have the guts, but I know my eye\/hand coordination would certainly land me in the sea or, even worse, smashed against a cliff. \u00a0A very experienced base jumper died here a few years ago so I’ll save my guts for something else. \u00a0Always google extreme sports-related deaths\u00a0by\u00a0location when you think “I could do that!”.<\/p>\n

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