Tag 86 - The perfect trip before the return flight / Blutopia 👍

Heeeeey guys

Last night something really great came up! Dimitris from the diving tour provider Blutopia confirmed to us that we can go on a snorkeling trip to the Marine Park on our last day. This, even though they didn't have any other bookings and usually only go out with four people or more.

This morning we got up, had breakfast, and were already super excited about the trip. However, we found out that the meeting point is outside the area where we are allowed to drive with our quad. That's right, we were only allowed to drive within a certain area on the island with the quad... We called Dimitris and told him about the problem. No problem: we agreed on a meeting point within our zone and were taken from there to the base at the harbor. We were picked up at a gas station that was easy to find by a very friendly Greek couple. Later we found out that they were the parents of our skipper :).

At the base, we were greeted very kindly by Konstantina (Dimitris' partner) and shortly afterwards we went on the boat. From the very first moment, we felt comfortable and the chemistry between all of us was great. The atmosphere was very familiar, personal, and cozy. We were told a lot about various organisms that we didn't know about - despite our diving experience.

We stopped at a huge fish farm where young fish are kept until they are marketable after 1.5 years. A lot was explained here too and every question was answered. Then we were allowed to feed the young fish. They are still very energetic and curious - really cute! :)

When we put our hands in the water, the fish started nibbling on our fingers - but never hard, so it didn't hurt. Then we actually got into the 10-meter deep pool and snorkeled with the animals! They came very close, some even swam into us, and when we stayed very still, they nibbled on our hands and feet :)).

It was really indescribable! When we went underwater... Fish everywhere! So beautiful to see!

After snorkeling in the pool, we snorkeled a bit in the sea. Konstantina showed us lionfish, Dimitris introduced us to various types of sea urchins.

On the boat, we got really sweet and juicy melons, and there was plenty of water to drink.

After that, we were allowed to snorkel with the fully grown, marketable fish. That was also simply amazing! They behaved completely differently from the young fish. Much calmer and more cautious. But they also came very, very close when we went underwater.

Then we slowly made our way back. Both of them took a lot of time for us and we were out for at least 45 minutes longer than agreed.

Before the return journey, we promised to return with the camper - we are really looking forward to going diving with them :)).

Dimitris' parents drove us back to the quad and told us here and there about fruit cultivation on the island and what we must not miss on our next visit :).

At this point, a very, very big thank you to Blutopia for the great day!

We drove directly to the rental station with the quad and reached our hotel at 5:30 pm. We had previously extended our room... until 6 pm... We asked the lady at the reception very nicely if we could stay a bit longer as we had just returned. She allowed us to stay in the room until 8 pm! Great! We took a shower, got ready, had dinner at 8 pm, and at 8:45 pm we were picked up by a coach.

At the airport, there was another endlessly long line at check-in. We quickly researched how to check in online with our provider and actually: we had exactly 5 minutes left! Done! So we could go to another counter where there were only three people in front of us.

Great :)

Our flight was delayed again: 40 minutes. Otherwise, everything went smoothly. We knew that there wouldn't be much to eat on the plane, so we organized two really delicious sandwiches and something to drink.

We had a great seat: 1D and 1E with plenty of legroom. The best part was that no one sat next to us :).

In Scotland, everything went great! We quickly got our luggage and were back at our camper in no time. We were very relieved to see that it was absolutely undamaged.

We topped up the water quickly and after about 30 minutes of driving, we found a place to catch up on sleep. It's now 4:30 am here, in Rhodes it's already 6:30 am - we really deserved the sleep :).

So, today it means: see you later :)