Kayaking the length of the Mani

Athens Airport or Kalamata Airport is the meeting point. One of our sea kayak leaders meets you on arrival and drives you to a seaside hotel in Kalamata, in time for an afternoon by the water.

Dinner tonight is the briefing, at a restaurant near the hotel: the six legs one by one, the three camps, what travels in the van and what stays in the boat. Questions about fitness or kit are best asked here, over the first plate. Pack a small dry bag before bed; tomorrow starts on the beach.

Kit fitting comes first, on the beach in Kalamata, before about 18 km south-east to Kardamyli. A sea kayak leader sets the pace, and this is the day the teaching starts: strokes, steering, landing. The first 7 km follow small coves to the lighthouse at Kitries; after it the shore turns rougher. Lunch is a picnic on a sandy beach, with time to snorkel. Camp is at Kardamyli and the guides cook dinner. Bring a hat and a long-sleeved layer: there is no shade on the water.

Kardamyli’s old harbour is the launch for the shortest leg of the trip, about 11 km to Agios Nikolaos. Our leaders take you into the sea caves along the way, some by kayak and some on foot from the shingle. Stoupa and Kalogria beach pass on the left. The day ends at the port in Agios Nikolaos with a seaside guesthouse, a shower and a group dinner. Water shoes help in the caves entered on foot, where the rock is sharp and wet underfoot.

From Agios Nikolaos the line runs about 19 km south to Limeni, along a drier, rougher coast with fewer places to land. Katafygi cave is the stop: an old underground river bed, the river now reaching the sea about 200 m away. Further on are the salt pits at Chotasia, cut into the rock. Limeni’s houses stand at the water’s edge, and camp is above the village, with dinner cooked there. Fill both water bottles before the launch: landings are few until Limeni.

Morning is breakfast on Limeni beach, then about 18 km south under cliffs to Mezapos. We pass the Diros Caves from the sea rather than stop: the day’s distance leaves no room for a visit, and the cliffs are why you came. Lunch is a picnic at a small inlet, with masks for a snorkel. Camp tonight is in the sheltered bay at Mezapos, and dinner is cooked at camp. Pack your dry bags before bed, because day six is an early start.

Giorgos Kontargiris or the leading guide briefs the hardest day on the beach at Mezapos before an early launch. Cavo Grosso is about 10 km of continuous cliff with no real exit point, so the group paddles close and steady. The coves of Ohia come after the cliff, then the run into Gerolimenas, about 16 km in all. Dinner is at a taverna in Gerolimenas and the night is in a guesthouse. Eat a full breakfast: there is nowhere to stop under the cliff.

Vathia’s tower houses come into view on the last southward leg, about 18 km from Gerolimenas round Cape Tenaro. Lunch is a picnic on the beach at Marmari. Past the sea cave that myth made a gate to Hades, the group rounds the cape lighthouse and turns north for the first time, finishing early in the afternoon. The van drives everyone back to Kalamata, and the evening is free at the hotel. Keep a dry layer in the van: you land wet.

Coffee from the cezve and a buffet breakfast at the hotel close the trip, before the transfer to Athens Airport or Kalamata Airport. Seven breakfasts, six picnic lunches and six dinners lie behind you, along with about 100 km of coast. Give us your flight time when you book and we set the transfer to it. Pack the paddling kit you brought into the bottom of the case: it will still be damp.