A bit of malarkey near Arki

Something a little different was on the cards for today, a 5 island boat trip. This meant a 9am alarm to get us all up, except for Lily and Allegra who had already finished doing their exercise by that time. Such dedication, they certainly put Jess and I to shame, we had started with such high hopes for our daily holiday routine but did not have the dedication to last. Anyway, we all had our breakfast and got our suncream on and were ready to go. We walked the long 3 minute walk to the port and boarded the boat, then we had around 30 minutes to wait for our departure time.
While sitting around we were just chatting and I can’t remember why but Ruby declared the the word for fear of palindromes is aibohphobia (this was news to me and turns out to be a made up word). I think it was just because she likes to show off her vast knowledge of useless facts. This led into a general discussion on palindromes where we named a few and then I asked if anyone knew what is the longest (real) palindrome, mostly because I like to show off my vast knowledge of useless facts. Everyone paused for a moment to give some thought to this poser, not Jess though who quick as a flash blurted the answer; ‘minute’. I am not sure she understood the game we were playing but it did give us all a good laugh The actual answer for those who have not lost interest already is ‘redivider’. After all that excitement it was time for us to leave.
The first stop was after about 30 minutes and we all had fun jumping off the boat although we were stopped in deep water and I don’t feel that confident in my swimming to go too far, but Jess, Ruby and Allegra swam off through a cave/tunnel and reported back that it was very impressive. Then it was back on the boat to head for our second stop which was completely different, a very stony beach where we could just chill for a bit. While walking along the beach we passed a bit of rubbish, not a ridiculous amount but some. Then there was a plastic bag with some empty cans so Jess picked this up and managed to fill it while we walked the beach, as well as finding a 5 litre plastic carton and so we gathered it all and then swam it back to the boat so it could be put in the bin. Not a huge thing, but every little helps and it’s a shame when there is any rubbish in such a beautiful place.
Back on the boat again and we got a bit of lunch, a sandwich which was tasty, washed down by what we agreed was probably watered down wine. But it was early in the day so that was fine. Another very amazing spot followed for stop three, I think you are probably getting the idea by now. Another swim was enjoyed by Jess and I although the girls stayed on the boat for this one.
The next stop was a small village port with a few tavernas which was nice although we were surprised to find out we would be there for over 2 hours. So we sat in one of the tavernas to have a bit of a snack and a drink which was all very enjoyable. Lily did not want to stray too far at this point because she wanted to watch the F1 race that was about to start and didn’t want to leave the wifi. So Ruby sat with her while rest of us went and had a 2026 swim in a little beach not too far from the port. It was getting close to time to leave so we headed back, but saw some signs for a mini-market, Jess and I went in search of this while the twins went to meet their sisters. The mini-market was closer to a cupboard than a shop but since on our entrance the old lady shopkeeper had got out of her seat outside to come and serve us, we felt obliged to buy something. We found a pack of biscuits and a carton of juice and thought this would do. The price was €3.30 which she showed us on the calculator, she obviously didn’t speak English. I indicated that I would like to pay by card. Now she may not have spoken English but she was an excellent communicator in the international language of the eye roll and she flashed a very disdainful look at us. I searched my wallet for a solution but had nothing apart from a €50 note and on getting this out we were the recipient of a second disdainful eye roll, this one was accompanied by a little snort I think. By this stage we could have just given up, we didn’t need either of the purchases, but the shopkeeper was not going to give up on satisfying her customers so she made a phone call and had a conversation with someone, I think I picked up the Greek words for ‘card’, ‘idiots’ and ‘fu**** tourists’, but in the end we we were able to use cash and we got our change.
It was back on the boat for one last stop which was good fun, plenty of jumping off the boat and messing around and I managed to conquer my fear of diving from the front of the boat which was a bit higher than the side. After that it was time to head back to port with some Zorba the Greek blaring on the speakers.
A lazy dinner, a birthday song for Steve (the old man) and some football to watch, with England winning the Euro 2025 final rounded off what had been a very fun day.Read more