Tides: kayaking the Ionian coast

I’ve always favored the shorter, shyer siblings of extreme sports. I opt for tree-climbing, for example, over rock climbing, sledding over snowboarding, and bike commuting over serious cycling. So when the possibility of a 3-day sea kayaking trip presented itself, I paused. The intensity sounded like my level, but three days was pushing it. Luckily, I like pushing it. I signed up.

The first day, I met the rest of the group in Tirana. The other tourists were two American girls from New York. Danni was visiting her sister Molly in the Peace Corps here. The guide Armandi is from here, as well as his girlfriend Marcella. Everyone in the group was super athletic. Danni reminded me of my own sister Gina. They both have a collection of photos of themselves in advanced yoga poses all over the world. My arms were suddenly looking very twiggy.

We arrived to Queparoi, the starting point, after dark and spent the first of three nights camping on the beach under the stars. The next morning, we packed everything we had into the kayaks and took off. We paddled the calm waters for about 6 hours, stopping at some great little white pebble cove beaches. Boat access only, nobody else in sight. The coast’s rocky cliffs and translucent turquoise waters have a Balearic feel, minus the traces of mass tourism.

By day three, we had spent three nights sleeping under the stars on the beaches and we’d covered over 25 kilometers. Surprisingly, I had kept up with the athleticism of the group, but I was losing steam. The last few kilometers caught us off-guard with rough sea conditions. Turquoise turned dark blue with white caps. Those last few hours were the longest of the trip, made possible by Armandi’s mad guide skills and the large dose of adrenaline that I wasn’t sure would be included or not. Bottom line: living out of a kayak is the good life for exactly three days.






Me, Molly, and Danni





kayak fuel











Armandi, Marcella, me, and beach bonfire