Matala

Took the car via Heraklion to Gortys, Phaestos, Hagia Triada, and finally to Matala. It was Sunday so, as we should have expected, it was particularly busy. Anyway for a cool off and quick swim round it was ok. The sand was really really hot and its a good idea to use the boardwalks that run across the beach. Yas discovered that her Croc shoes - a sort of lightweight plastic clog with holes - were good at trapping the burning sand and hurting her feet. My wet wet-suit boots were supremely comfortable however.

Anyway I found her a shady spot near the caves to have a rest and off I went. Further around the headland- it was good to be away from all the beach noise- I found some sponges and a very deep red starfish lodged in a hole. I did a few dives over a ledge near the headland and there masses of those were lots of those brown/black fish with the forked tail fins just hanging about. There was a bit of swell here, but nothing horrible, and I arrived at some big rocks and a nice deep section with a cave, that could have been interesting to explore. There was some bloke spearfishing here, and saw him dive before I started back.

Underwater it had been like Ferma to begin with - very few plants. But although it was early afternoon and despite all the people there were lots of fish about. There were salp, gobies, shanny, and a clutch of decorated wrasse feeding on some broken urchins; the wrasse shortly joined by a tompot blenny. I think there were needlefish too.

Not much else to say about Matala, it's a very popular beach in the summer but is also a nesting site for turtles and their protection society has a kiosk here. It's famous too for the Roman burial chambers cut into the rock that were used by the hippies.