Deb: On arrival on Naxos (1st June already!), we then discovered that we can't get the ferry on Wednesday, as we had expected. Well, we could have, but it would have taken 6 ½ hours! So we have now arranged to stay until Thursday, in the same accommodation, and are taking a ferry that "only" takes 4 hours. That won’t be too bad (hopefully) as if the weather is sunny, it just means sitting on deck and taking the sun in for a while.

Sunday was hot and sunny, so Naxos looked even better! We had a look at the protara (gateway) to Apollo, which is on a small promontory. It was only ever a gateway however, as it wasn’t finished. A huge monument, nevertheless, and very photogenic as the white marble looks good against the deep blue sky and sea. Had a mooch around for a bit (lots of shops!). Alan off diving tomorrow and i will be investigating having a haircut!

Monday – I managed to convey “trim” to the hairdresser, who was lovely. Only cost 10 euros and i got a free home made sweet with it! Much relief that she didn’t overdo the trim!

Tuesday, we did a drive around the island which was slightly disappointing, as the “traditional” villages was full of villagers who must have “traditionally” grabbed strangers by the arm to try and flog them something. Not very authentic i presume! We did visit some ancient sites which were interesting, especially an ancient marble quarry (you see huge slabs of it in the countryside) and a really old temple. Had a pleasant lunch in a local taverna which must have been low on stocks, as the young waiter firstly ran to the bakers for the bread, then legged it in the opposite direction to the greengrocer for the aubergine (fried aubergine – yummy). We were joking about it when we paid for the bill, only to see him dash to the next door taverna for some change! How Greek- totally disorganised!

It was very very hot, even high up. In spite of some reservations about the day, the scenery was spectacular and it was good to see something of the island other than its beaches!

Alan: So another brand new island and an interesting one as well. Naxos town is clearly a year-round community, not reliant on tourism. Spread around the island are a number of high quality beaches (with accommodation used by package tours and independent travellers). The interior has a number of beautiful and interesting villages (a few of which are perhaps a little too geared up to selling “products from traditional looms” to people on bus tours), a decent number of prehistoric sites and is quite mountainous, which made for a decent day in a hire car.

Overall there is a lot do on Naxos which has made for a fairly hectic few days. I also managed to arrange my first dives of the trip with Blue Fin Divers in Agios Prokopios. Both boat dives (that fact is important later) the first one was pleasant after a few months out of the water. A flat sea, jumping in at only five metres then a tour round an area with plenty of fish, the odd eel and a number of decent swim-throughs. Only two other (paying) divers who were both experienced so we managed the full route (no one running out of air) then back to the boat and dive centre for some surface time before dive number two. This was to be a wreck dive, the Marriane. Our dive leader entertained with its history, it was an old cargo ship that was sunk as an insurance scam. Unfortunately the first time round the captain missed the reef he was aiming at so had circle for second go when he did manage to hit it to applause from the crew (just before they jumped into the lifeboat!). The ship stuck on the reef blocking sight of the small lighthouse behind it so eventually they dynamited it. The front section broke up and is scattered around but the rear section sank and remained intact. Still only two other divers with me (plus dive leader and assistant), but not the same ones, a couple of less experienced guys joined me for the afternoon. The sea was a bit less flat, but nothing untoward, as we again dropped in at five metres and then finned towards the main part of the wreck. This was indeed an impressive sight and made me wish I had been able to carry my camera, but not as much a later. Leaving the wreck we headed back, two of the group returning to the boat as air was running low. We toured the area for quite a while and then headed back to the boat ourselves. I noticed the other diver signal he was down to 50 bar and the leader gave him the OK so I guessed we were near the boat. A few more minutes passed and I began to suspect we were actually searching for the boat, not just heading back to it. This theory proved to be correct when our guide popped up to the surface for a quick look and adjusted our course accordingly. A few more minutes and we saw the anchor lines, everyone was fine and safety stops had been completed along the way so we surfaced by the boat. Now bear in mind that when you are floating by the side of a RIB, you can’t see into the boat. The two divers who had left us where safely on board, I waited for the dive leader to join them then handed up my weight belt. I then removed my BCD expecting some to take it from me and haul it into the boat. In fact no one seemed very interested in my buddy or me as the dive leader and assistant chattered in Greek and eventually they clipped our gear to the outside of the RIB. Wondering what on earth was going on I hauled myself on to the side of the RIB intending to climb in only to see it was pretty much full of water. Ah, that’s why they were ignoring us.

Phone calls were being made to shore along with attempts to bail, which given the amount of water in the RIB was pretty much an attempt to empty the sea. We were informed another boat was on its way out to us (we were all on the RIB by now but it didn’t make much difference TBH) and sure enough the dive centre owner appeared with the guys from the water sports centre to take us in. Our dive leader and the owner stayed with the RIB so we wondered if they felt they should go down with it. Classic on the way back in, the water sports man suggested the complete package should have been the trip out, the dive, the boat sinking and then they picked us up on the banana to take us back in J. Oh how I wished I had my camera.