Landing in an airport with SUP bags and not the usual multiple heavy hard case camera bags felt amazing. Knowing this wasn’t a work trip but a holiday and an adventure. The anticipation of not knowing quite exactly where we were going, what we would end up doing, where we would stay – the spontaneity felt incredible.
We started the journey in Lefkada, literally dumped by a taxi with our SUP and dry bags and that was it, the reality kicked in. We were off! We stocked up on a few last minute essentials; straw hats for shade, batteries for our torches, map of the islands, a couple of sarongs we could use as bed sheets, fishing line to tow off the back of the SUPs and a quick cold glass of lemonade – we were ready. The only thing stopping us was the wind; it was picking up and getting pretty windy – not ideal for our first day. However we were in luck as it was blowing in exactly the right direction to blow us downwind to where we were aiming to camp for our first night – Nikiana. We passed yachts asking if we were ok and wanted a tow or a lift as they seemed to think we were struggling in the breeze, however we were loving it! After quite a search we found somewhere to camp for the night and soon enough had our tent up and were lying under the trees with the smell of pine and citronella mozzy spray, legs pretty achy from the first day of paddling, eating tinned tuna, slicing avocado, listening to the sound of the crickets.
