Tour Program: Inn to Inn Sea Kayaking on Crete with The Northwest Passage
Type of Tour: Adventure Travel - this program is self-described as Level One, or "Easy". ( If your own fitness level is a "Zero", as mine was, your results may vary, but perhaps not in the way you might expect. See "What I actually did on this trip" below. )
Price: List price excluding airfare is US $2,495; a last minute internet special on their website offered 10% off.
Tour Dates: In 2006, the remaining tour dates are September 11-18, September 19-26, and September 28-October 5, 2006. Hint: airfares are often substantially lower for departures after September 15th
Company: The Northwest Passage. They've been going to Crete for 25 years; owner Rick Sweitzer was also the first to offer commercial tours to the North and South Poles; after that, managing adventures in warm, polar bear-free Crete is a snap. They also offer kayaking, cycling, and hiking tours on Lesbos and Corfu as well as Crete.
Destinations and Sightseeing: Small coastal villages along Southwestern Crete; archaeological sites including the Minoan palaces of Knossos and Phaistos, Venetian fortresses at Frangocastello and Loutro; the historic monastery of Mons Preveli; the Samaria Gorge;Iraklion (Heraklion) Museum, various beaches both nude and less so. But the main focus is on kayaking and, to a lesser extent, hiking.
Shopping: Probably not a trip for the more serious shopper, though the village of Matala offers some fun folkart shopping and Plakias provides an evening of more upscale browsing with a good selection of jewelry and fine art objects.
Accommodations: Small hotels - "inns" - in lovely villages. All of these were charming, clean, good-sized rooms, with views of either the sea or the dramatic cliffs of Crete.
Food: All breakfasts are included, and all but one dinner; lunches and your beverages at all meals - save the welcome drinks the first night - are on your own. The food is abundant and tasty; however, options are limited if someone doesn't particularly like healthy, nutritious, delicious Greek food. Who are you? What are you doing traveling in Greece?
Nightlife: Most participants, after a long day at sea or hiking, skipped the discos and bars, but these were available at most spots along the way for the more intrepid.
Pacing: Excellent. Though the kayaking is challenging, beach breaks for cappuccino or a snack break up the time and keep the energy up. The longer days on the water, such as the 18- and 25-mile stretches, offer several opt-out van points for those who only want to paddle part of the way, or who wish to combine paddling with scenic hiking. The sections of the trip covered by road include stops at picturesque locations for ice cream and coffee.
This was just a short coffee stop for us, but like all the inns and restaurants on this tour, it was chosen carefully to provide the best combination of food and ambiance possible.
Participant Mix: The group I was with stretched in age from the mid-twenties to the mid-sixties, with an about even mix of married couples and singles. Past participants have included kids (minimum age seven) and active octogenarians.
Previous Experience: Helpful but not required; all the kayaking instruction you need is provided. While the trip is primarily designed for the active traveler, that certainly wasn't the case with me.
Quality of Instruction/Leadership: Outstanding.
On my trip, the staffers were Rick Sweitzer, the founder and executive director of The Northwest Passage and an experienced mountaineer, kayaker, and polar expedition leader; Mike Agostinelli, an American Canoe Association-licensed training instructor, former Emergency Medical Technician, and current Personal Trainer and Licensed Massage Therapist. (His day job? He's a Fire Department Chief); and new Northwest Passage Director Adam Walsh.
Staff to Participant Ratio: Never less than one to five; on our trip, there were three expert staffers and a driver/guide for eleven participants.
What to pack: The list of recommended equipment includes a dry bag for stowing your personal items in the kayak, a headlamp for exploring the sea caves, waterproof windbreaker, etc. What I needed desperately? Three pairs of shorts instead of two so I could count on a dry pair for kayaking in the morning. Whatever your plans, this should be a one-bag trip for all but the most paranoid. See my how-to articles on packing light for Greece.
What Your Guide planned to do on this trip:
Ride in the van through the Cretan countryside. Sit on the beach. Take photographs. Explore local archaeological sites. Get massaged. In the morning, orange juice in hand, from a picturesque balcony or pier, I would wave at the sea kayakers as they paddled out to sea. In the evening, cocktail in hand, I would wave at the sea kayakers as they returned. I would give them all a similarly warm send off and greeting for their hikes up and down the steep Cretan cliffs, though I thought I might give the all-downhill 11-mile Samaria Gorge hike a try.
No, things aren't turning ugly on "Survivor - Crete". Instructors Mike Agostinelli and Adam Walsh of The Northwest Passage discuss the finer points of high fashion on the high seas. "What're you looking at? It's a kayak skirt - they make me wear this!"
What Your Guide actually did on this trip:
I kayaked over a hundred miles of coastal Crete, ending up one of three out of our group of eleven to cover every bit of the kayaking route, including an eight mile journey across the open ocean. Who knew that I had an inner sea kayaker yearning to be liberated?
I scrambled up treacherous (to me, anyway) Cretan cliffs, first with abundant help expert help, then with nothing but my walking stick. I saw beautiful scenery, enhanced by a wet May that brought the famous Cretan wildflowers out in an incredible display that had even native Cretans stunned by the color and variety.
And, in what we decided to call the "exercise" in the surf off the coast at Frangocastello, I learned why they call this "adventure travel".
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At one moment of loss of nerve ... I wasn't made to feel like a burden to the group but more like just one part of a necessary group project - sort of like getting Frodo to Mordor.
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Confronted by the most expert and supportive staff that could be imagined, long-held concepts of my own limitations melted away like morning dew in the intense Greek sun. Yet I was never pressured, only reassured and helped if I showed any impulse, no matter how small, to stretch or challenge myself.
At one moment of loss of nerve, when I turned back a short way into a sunset hike, I was confronted by a trio of incredibly positive, friendly faces - two staffers and an equally adept fellow participant - determined to get me to the top of the bluff. I wasn't made to feel like a burden to the group but more like just one part of a necessary group project - sort of like getting Frodo to Mordor.
For me, traveling with The Northwest Passage was the kind of rite of passage that travel should be: an unforgettable expansion of mind, body, and spirit.
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My Sea Kayaking Trip Journal > Page 5
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