building an Island in Xerocampus

On extremely short notice my Brother managed to get an extra day off work and so joined the family for the weekend here in Crete.  Given the line of work that he is in and the hours he puts in it is a very rare occasion that he actually makes it over to the island. On this occasion he pulled it off.

He wanted to go for a swim, and my Mum wanted to take him somewhere that he hadn’t been before … so after a minor debate we settled for Xerocampus. Given that we live on an old volcanic rock, a majority of our beaches – at this end of the island - are dark brown in colour, however Xerocampus beach is sort of white.  With a slight stretch of the imagination, it’s as if you have been transported to a West Indian island.  The water is almost always crystal clear and the off white sand gives it a turquoise look, even now at what you would call the end of the season when the clear blue skies can no longer be guaranteed (we have had at least 3 clouds this month!) the water still looks inviting.

We packed up the whole family, excluding two very disappointed dogs, into the car and drove to the beach. This beach is on the south coast and is a little bit on the remote side. There are two ways of getting there from Sitia.  One is to head south as if you were going to Makri Gialos but in the middle of the island take the road to Zeros which will eventually take you to Xerocampus. The other way is to take the road to Palikastro and then over to Zakros where you will find the signs to Xerocampus.

My Brother, like most members of my family, is completely incapable of sitting still for longer than 30 seconds, when a beach is added to the situation the 30 seconds seem to become 15!  He decided, in all his wisdom, to make himself an island. He is as strong as an ox and within no time at all and to the great amusement of the rest of the family, had set about building the foundations of his island in the form of some rather large rocks. The Island then became a bridge and half an hour later had extended to one of the small rocky outcrops a few metres from the shore. Mission complete my Brother was ready to eat!

The beaches in Xerocampus are fairly safe for swimming, there are no strong currents and the water is quite shallow to start with, making it a good place to take young children. There are plenty of rocky outcrops to have a look at so take a mask and snorkel. There are also plenty of little coves if you would like a bit of privacy and at the same time the main beach is very long and open so take a sunshade.

This year was the first that I have seen sunbeds for rent on the beach, they are next to a small café where you can pick up a light refreshment or two. There are tavernas in Xerocampus but I would recommend taking an icebox with some snacks and water.  With the beaches slightly lacking in shade I would recommend an umbrella or at least a ton of sun cream, if like me, you have fair skin.

In September the beaches sprout lilies directly from the sand. It is well worth the trip just to see the beach covered in lilies. Though please don’t pick them, let everyone else have a look at them too.  

Dynomites last weekend ...

Dynomite and my husband returned from their gallivant around the island with sore heads, sore livers and an apparent disdain for all things alcoholic, after two hours of whinging and wining and a good sleep they were back in the game! A very nice vodka cocktail was whipped up and we all sat down to watch the Olympic opening ceremony which I must admit, even if I am British, was ‘rather smashing and a jolly good show!’

The next day was the last that we would have the little Vitara, and so we decided to go on a mission to a place which you can only get to if you have a 4x4 or a boat. Husband dearest, fired up Google Earth and loaded the GPS – he likes his toys and loves his GPS – we filled the car up with all the beach gear and snorkeling equipment and headed over to the other side of the island.

The GPS chose the route and the road went from black top two lanes, to black top one lane, to cement one lane, to gravel road one lane, to gravel track with a hideous drop on one side and finally to riverbed with what appeared to be a track. The drive although quite bumpy, and at some point it was well … interesting, was in all fairness very pretty, it took us through rolling olive groves, down a narrow valley around a sea facing cliff and eventually to a very cute and quite small pebble beach. 

The beach was different from most of the beaches we have already visited, everywhere you looked there were caves. It felt as if at some point in time, the area could have been home to a settlement of troglodytes. Some of the caves you had to swim to, others you had to climb up to, most of them were at least 30 square meters and had clearly been recently used as camp spots given the fire pits which we found.

The snorkeling was quite good there were plenty of underwater caves to explore and for the first time in a while there were fish! They were small fish, but they were there. 

We chilled on the beach for a while and then headed over the mountains to the white sanded beach of Xerocampus. Xerocampus is a little secret, it is hidden away by the mountains on the South East coast. Driving down to the beach you can be forgiven for thinking that you are on a Caribbean island the only difference being that there are acacias lining the beaches rather than palm trees, the sand is white and the beach disappears into the water very slowly so it’s good for young kids. The water is crystal clear, I think we had over 50 meters visibility.

The other thing which Xerocampus has is a natural salt pan which you can walk onto and collect sea salt. To be honest the best time for this is the end of August when the water has evaporated leaving behind large salt crystals, I went over to have a look at the progress of the salt and unfortunately it wasn’t quite ready for collection yet.  

Eventually we where all sunbathed out and headed for home.

Xerocampus is well signposted. You can reach it by heading for Zakros from the north coast and continuing around to the white sand beaches or you can head over the mountains from either Goudaras on the south coast of Papaginadas in the middle of the island. There are a few tavernas in the area for lunch and for the first time, this year there are a few sunbeds on part of the beach. You can also rent rooms and small villas if you want to hang around longer though the town is lacking a bank, pharmacy and reasonable sized supermarket so you may want to shop before you head over there.

The first beach requires a 4x4 if you want to drive, or a boat. It will take you the best part of an hour to descend to once you are on the cement road, there is no cell phone reception in the valley and the beach is quite narrow. It is a good place for snorkeling or camping over night and is sheltered from the north wind, though I would not recommend this beach if the south wind is blowing. See the maps below on how to reach the beach. 

To get there drive to the mountain village of Ziros – drive through Ziros heading towards Xerocampus you will see signs for Kalo Chorio this a an extremely small village, more of a hamlet than anything else. The roads are concrete and squeeze between the houses, you will get to a fork in the road almost in the middle of the village, take a right here and keep heading down the mountain towards Agia Irini. Along this road you will reach one more fork in the now gravel track where you will have options for Xerocampus or a track which leads down the mountain, take the track down the mountain towards the sea. You will eventually reach a thin metal gate which is tied together with a piece of string, open the gate and drive through though be sure to close the gate and secure it both ways as it’s is keeping the sheep and goats in. Not long after the gate you will find the beach.

the tiny beach

We found a new spot, which you’re, all going to love. You need a 4x4 to get down to it or you can park the car on the road and walk down. You will have to do some mountain goating and the rocks are a little bit loose but it will be well worth it.

Hanging out on the south coast just under 2kms from the kapsa monastery driving towards Goudaras is a small ravine. From the road it doesn’t look that appealing as someone has decided to empty their skip at the top. However if you drive a further 100m you will see a track heading towards the water leave your car here or engage four wheel drive and follow the track. The track will take you to the edge of a small cliff, which you will be able to climb down. For this beach I don’t recommend that you take small children as it is not the easiest decent and could be a bit much for them. Once your down you will find a very small private stone beach. The breeze comes down the mountain and the cliffs protect the water keeping it nice and calm, there are plenty of over hangs meaning that there will always be shade somewhere … the best of both worlds.

We clambered our way down to the beach to go for a swim, there where quite a few fish they where small but they were there. Other wise there was the underwater landscape was quite interesting, there are plenty of caves in the surrounding rocks, though please be careful, some of them you can swim into others should be given a wide birth

 The under water fights!! 

 How to get there - This is taken from google earth showing the road from Makri Gialos to Goudaras