We settle in the boat, the two girls on the back seat, myself and the captain at the front. He edges out from the harbour and then floors the throttle. The boat surges forward and spray goes everywhere. I look behind to see Junior with a big grin. Speed, the way to her heart.
The captain soon indicates that I can take over at the helm. I wasn't expecting this but who am I to say no. The hat has to come off though as standing up my head is above the windshield and we are going too fast for my hat to stay on. I rapidly realisethat the reason I have been allowed to rake the controls is less for my enjoyment and more so our captain can light a massive cigar! But he's a nice guy and we get talking. First off, how did he come to be here? Turns out that he is from Belgium and before moving here he was a bodyguard at the Egyptian Embassy. And also for the Australian Embassy. Strange for a bodyguard to have amscuba diving centre so where did he learn to dive. Well that would be when he was in the Belgian version of the commandos. I rapidly decide I'm not going to tell him not to smoke anymore. And Jacque soon becomes, in our minds, Captain Jack.
We get to talking about dolphins as we are hoping to see them again. There is a possibility but we don't raise our hopes too high. But this sets him off on one of many stories. He is no green warrior but he does care about the world around us. And he recounts a trip shortly after he moved here. He had two Norwegians on the boat for a trip similar to the one we are on. Suddenly he heard a couple of bangs. Unlike most people Captain Jack decides to investigate. He finds two fisherman shooting at columns with rifles (that's the fishermen who have the rifles not the dolphins). Unlike most people who, faced by rifles, would keep their distance, instead Captain Jack sees red. He heads his boat straight for theirs, pulls alongside, jumps into their boat, grabs the rifle and then huts them with the rifle butt a few times before breaking the rifle in half then calmly getting back into his boat and setting back off. One can only begin to imagine the faces of the two Norwegians at this point!
Captain Jack is very good about making sure we put on the suncream and have regular drinks, and points out the sights as we go along. On the return trip he stops the boat in a small cove and lets us go for a swim and a snorkel. Junior has some flippers that he has provided, and we all have a bit of a swim around. After a while he calls us back and we get back on board (not the most elegant of sights in my case but none-the-less!). However we only go about two minutes and two coves more before he stops again. This time it's all rather deeper. But nearby is a 2000 year old village under the sea, approximately 10 metres under to be exact. Captan Jack suggests we all swim over there and we set off. The water is deep and the waves are big. Initially Junior is holding on to my hand tightly so I'm trying to swim with one hand. We go over some rocks, the waves taking us up over them and then back down so that they are just under my chest. We get passed those and swim towards the deeped waters. Now you remember a few sentences ago I said that Junior had flippers. These meant that she could swim quite fast. And soon, instead of trailing behind me squeezing my hand to death, she is in front of me and almost pulling me along. Then she's only holding one finger. Then that's it, she's off after Captain Jack and I am left behind.
Captain Jack stops. We gather around him, treading water. Next thing he's diving down. With the masks we can watch him disappearing into the depths. Once down there, at the bottom, he's searching around. I'm amazed how far he has gone and how long he stays down there. And when he comes back, in his hands he's holding the base of a vase and the handle of a jug. From 2000 years ago. A momentary glimpse of history.
We head back to the boat again. I'm struggling to keep up with Junior who seems to have decided that Captain Jack is the better bet. Suddenly he's off again though, diving down. And this time he returns with sea urchin shells that he gives to Junior, warning her that they are delicate and suggesting that we spray them with hair spray to maintain their colour and strengthen them.
Finally we are back at Skala Prinos. Time to get out of the boat and wade back to shore. Almost out the shoreline and J gets her foot stuck in the mud. She promptly falls over when trying to get her foot out. Junior and I cannot help but laugh. Which was completely the wrong response and we are both very very sorry that we laughed! {but between you and me, it was funny!}
A trip that was supposed to be three hours long has been four hours but Captain Jack doesn't charge anything more. And he gets one of his team to drive us back to the hotel rather than us having to get the bus. Plus he arranges to pick us up for the SCUBA in two days time.
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