Boat excursion again
With time to kill before our 2015 flight tonight to Vienna, we had decided to repeat an excursion to Navagio Beach but this time from Porto Vromi so that we took in slightly different spots from the trip we did two days ago from Agios Nikolaos.
We had paid up yesterday for the trip but it was an open ticket for use at any time today.
We checked-out from the hotel and left our bags with them before starting our drive around 0930 to Porto Vromi with adequate time to spare before the 1100 boat departure.
Navagio Beach
First up was Navagio Beach. It was busy when we arrived but when the other boats cleared off, we had the place all to ourselves to photograph the site without obstruction.
Again, the sun was only illuminating part of the wreck, as with our first visit. Damn! Even though we had left the port an hour later, it as a much shorter cruise to get to Navagio Beach. Even the slightly longer daylight hours two days later didn’t help.
Navagio Beach again.
Caves
From Navagio, we visited the local Blue Caves and some other caves as well.
The boat was bigger than the previous one we had two days ago. The captain was a young man but again very talented. As we visited the caves, he not only entered and backed out of them, he did a 360 degree turn in one of them!
These caves were less impressive than the ones at the northern tip of the island. But again, it was the boating skills that wowed us more.
The captain’s skill in getting in and out of caves, and even turning in one of them was impressive.
White Beach
We pulled into a bay with stunning water and a white beach, on which there was some rock fall. There were other boats and people there already, so we moved on to another one that was just as nice, called White Beach.
This was where we had our first swim of the day, with an allocated time of 20 mins. The turquoise water was absolutely crystal clear and refreshing. Like the beach that we had approached, there was some rockfall and we were warned to stay away from the cliff face.
I reckon the risk of rockfall was higher here than at Navagio Beach and the “no landing” policy is more to avoid overcrowding on the site and maintain a civilised experience.
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- We didn’t stop at this beach.
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- View on the way.
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- White Beach where we swam and were allowed to walk on, as long as we didn’t go close to the cliff face. Despite evidence of rockfall.
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- White Beach where we swam and were allowed to walk on, as long as we didn’t go close to the cliff face. Despite evidence of rockfall.
Agios Ionnio
During our return journey, we overshot Porto Vromi intentionally and anchored off a rocky island that didn’t look too appealing. It took a few moments before I realised how clear and stunning the water was again. Here, I had my second swim of the day, again with 20 mins allowed.
Porto Stineti
Lastly, we pulled into Porto Stineti, which was also accessible by car but with very limited parking. This was a long narrow inlet with stunning clear turquoise waters again, similar to Porto Limnionas yesterday.
I swam nearly all the way to the end of the inlet where I could see the inlet narrow to a very small beach.
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- Agios Ionnio.
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- Porto Stineti.
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- Porto Stineti is a narrow inlet with excellent swimming.
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- Poseidon’s face in the rock.
Leaving Zakynthos
It was 1410 when we returned to Porto Vromi. I washed up in the fresh water shower and we commenced our drive uphill, stopping at the junction with the main road for lunch at a nice taverna popular with Chinese guests.
We made it back to the hotel around 1630 to change into more presentable clothes. After a short rest, we pulled into Lidl to get some snacks before returning the car opposite the airport at 1730.
Flying Wizz Air again
Due to air traffic control, our Wizz Air A32neo coming from Vienna was late and our 2015 departure to Vienna was further delayed for the same reason.
Unlike my very first flight a few years ago on Wizz Air from Baku to Budapest, my flights from Vienna to Zakynthos and back have been very pleasant and professionally-handled. The explanations for the delay were well-communicated. Again, the cabin crew were good with people with special needs. They were also good with underage passengers trying to buy alcohol and how they checked with a very pregnant woman, as to how advanced she was with her pregnancy.
Arriving in Vienna
We landed in Vienna only 45 mins late at 2215. We walked briskly to the train station, having done a dry run of the route and also the ticket machine.
We had 8 mins to spare till the 2249 train which got us to the Rioca Hotel about 30 mins before the staff signed-off at midnight (upon which we would have to get our keys from a locked box, with additional risk of things going wrong).
The Brazilian-owned and Brazilian-themed hotel was very nice. It was decorated in lush tropical style. We had a room with a kitchenette and a small dining table. While more than what we were willing to spend, it was excellent value for money by Vienna standards.