Saturday, May 21, 2011

"Lipsi" cliff jumping

Once we were back on the boat, we quickly pulled up anchor and headed out. It was around 1:00pm and we wanted to try and make it to the next island, Lipsi.  We were told of a ‘secret’ place on a small uninhabited island near the island of Lipsi. It has an entrance 1 meter under the water near a cave, and opens inside to a huge pool where there is cliff jumping.  It sounded to us like Count of Monte Cristo, so of course, we had to try and find it, even though it was a ‘needle in a haystack’ mission.
We made our way toward the chain of islands, hoping to find the spot.  The breeze had picked up and it was really choppy near the bay we were told to look, and trying to hold our position managed to twist the dinghy line around our propeller. This stalled the engine and our inflatable dinghy was held under the stern of the boat, looking like it was going to burst.  So, Levi quickly jumped in the water with a knife and swam under and cut the line free, all the while we were rolling around in the waves.  Never a dull moment! 
So, we found a calm spot and anchored Mehari and then Levi, Emma and I took the dinghy and scouted around.  We did find a few very cool caves, and found a low spot we could hike up and maybe see it from higher ground.       We’d found it!     We didn't end up having to dive to get to it, and it was more accessible from the other side of the island and so we went back to Mehari and motored around and re-anchored. It was an absolute gorgeous setting and there was cliff jumping.  The pool had a nice sandy bottom right below the highest spot, 30+ feet high.  Levi and I hiked up there and looked at the jump for a bit before we decided we had to do it!  We’d talked each other into it, it was phenomenal! If you’ve never jumped from cliffs before, you have what feels like an hour to think as you fall!  The water was cold but with the adrenaline I didn’t even feel anything!  After a while, Rachel hiked up to look down at what we jumped off and after looking at it long enough, she decided she had to try it.  She spent a bit working up the courage all the while telling me, ‘I don’t think I can do it!’ I said, ‘you don’t have to!’ ……….Then just before she left, she jumped!  She screamed all the way down, and was really glad she did it!  Good Job Rach!!  WE also found the spot where you can swim out of the pool, through an underwater cave and into the main ocean.  It was absolutely amazing and Levi and I took turns and did it a few times. It was a bit strange swimming under the rocks into a cave and hoping it comes out on the other side!
We all had a blast swimming around in the big private swimming pool, all to ourselves. It was a very special day!
On the waves,
Hems  

4 comments:

John said...

What a thrill!!!!!

Anonymous said...

Just Beautiful....Mom & Dad

Yoha said...

Wow Levi you sound like real life Rambo jumping and diving holding a knife between your teeth... almost as awesome as Me....

Anonymous said...

wow! what an adventure...sounds awesome!