The sunken treasures of Greece: From World War II wrecks to technicolour fish, some of the best sights in Messinia sit beneath the waves
- Diving trips from the tiny village of Pylos start at €60 per person
- Highlights include sunken World War II wrecks and tropical fish
- The Bay of Navarino has 89 wrecks in total, including ancient Spartan
The
wreck lay a few metres from the beach. Hidden away in a small rocky
cove, the Greek merchantman sat, broken-backed, on the seabed where
Italian bombs had deposited it more than 70 years before.
I’d
been apprehensive, not liking the idea of scuba-diving with skeletons.
'No, no', Yannis, my deeply-tanned curly-haired guide had insisted.
'There’s nothing more down there than nuts and bolts and the odd bit of rotted cargo.'
As I was about to discover, there was far more down there than that.
I
had arrived a few days earlier, touching down at Messinia's Kalamata
airport after a particularly grim 5am red-eye from Gatwick.
I’d
stumbled out of the typically tiny airport to be confronted by a flat
concrete car park blotted with bollards and a whiff of hot tar and
thyme.
Back
in Greece for the first time in years, I was headed for a place called
Costa Navarino, a tiny clump of hotels perched on a round bay that had,
over the years, been fought over by the Spartans, Persians, Turks,
British and latterly, the Italians.
But
while this might have been the stomping ground of Spartans Leonidas,
Helen, latterly of Troy, and Menelaus, there was very little that was
Spartan about it.
I
was staying at the Westin, one two hotels at Costa Navarino, a pretty
spot that sprawls across 346 acres of scrub and thyme dotted land that,
along with a seashell-shaped beach, also includes a golf course and an
on-site olive grove.
It’s
not cheap but neither are the rooms: mine boasted a large private pool,
trails of shocking pink bougainvillea and a bedroom the size of the
average London flat.
Private: Each suite has a private pool and stunning sea views
Tempting
though spending most of my time ensconced beside the pool was – and
believe me, that’s what most do – I had a date with a diving instructor
to attend.
Greece,
although much-loved as a sun-dappled family holiday destination, isn’t
known for its diving. In reality, there’s plenty to see beneath the
Grecian waves, whether shoals of tropical fish or the wrecked seabed
remains of the many cultures and peoples who have passed through.
Navarino
Bay, a scallop-shaped stretch of gleaming cobalt water freckled with
azure patches of coral is no exception. The bay has been the site of
several naval battles, the first in 426BC when an Athenian fleet
destroyed a defending Spartan fleet in a bloody encounter.
More
recently, a combined fleet of British, Russian and French ships joined
forces to defeat a Turkish-Egyptian war group in the bay during the
Greek War of Independence. Later, during the Second World War, Navarino
Bay was the site of Italian attacks on Greek shipping – among them the
ship I was about to see, 30ft below the waves of the bay.
One
of 89 wrecks that litter the sea bed, the Greek merchantman was the
victim of an Italian bombing strike, albeit a spectacularly cack-handed
one.
Having
managed to miss the ship on its first run and instead destroying a
rocky outcrop, the rubble of which can still be seen, the bomber was
forced to circle around – providing the Greek crew with ample time to
jump ship.
The
second run hit the target, breaking the ship’s back and consigning it
to a watery grave. The fishermen who risked their lives to save the
sailors returned to Navarino Bay’s main harbour of Pylos to a heroes’
welcome.
Today,
the men of Pylos, a picturesque little village set around a honey-stone
square dotted with cafes, are largely employed in the tourist trade –
including as dive masters. One such was Yannis, a genial six-footer with
curly hair and a penchant for cigarettes who ferried us out into
Navarino Bay. The ship we were heading for was tucked away in a quiet
cove, a scalloped spot surrounded by asperous rocks blotched with lichen
set above a small stretch of bright white sand.
It
was from there that we headed into the sea – no backwards roll off the
side of the boat here – and plunged into an underwater world of trailing
seaweed and fish in every shade from delicate blush pink to bright
nasturtium yellow.
Then
the wreck itself hoved into view, dappled with sunshine from above and
rusting gently in its watery grave. Salt encrustations thickened its
rails and bows, while brightly coloured fish dipped in and out of its
portholes.
Broken-backed,
it sat in two pieces with debris scattered around the seabed around it.
A compass. A coil of rope. A mysterious collection of cans, burst open
with their contents gone. All the essentials, in short, for life aboard
ship.
Stunning: Navarino Bay is dotted with beaches, including the scallop-shaped Voidokilia Beach
Further
out, the debris gave way to rocks and fish and as the land sloped away,
to delicate shells and vast grassy stretches of seaweed.
Small
clumps of coral littered the seabed, as did chunks of rock gouged by
the sea from the sloping cliffs of the cove. A starfish. A purple conch.
A school of transparent, tiny fish. It wasn’t the vivid world of the
Caribbean or the Red Sea but it was beautiful: a shimmering symphony of
azure, palest pink and lemon yellow.
Back
on the boat, we took a detour on the way back to Pylos to inspect a
smattering of Spartan graffiti etched onto the pink rock of another
small cove – a reminder, if ever there was one, of the long history of
this spot.
Ancient
villages and an even older landscape surround Costa Navarino, a harsh,
barren and ultimately beautiful place pocked with olive groves that
still looks very much as it would have to the Spartans.
Diving
in Greece might not have the glamour of the Caribbean but for beauty,
history and some of the best food in the world, it’s hard to beat. And
getting there takes less than four hours - even if you do have to brave
early morning easyJet. Can’t say fairer than that.
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