One of the bonuses of living on a Greek island is having visitors over and getting to be a tourist at home. Last week I took time off from my normal routine to show an old uni friend around the place.

One trip we did was run by the people at Waterhoppers, a glass bottom boat trip to see a shipwreck. I had no idea what to expect as this is new this year.

We headed down the island early in the morning to meet up with the boat at the Atrium Prestige hotel near Plimiri. Tracy was there in the cave office to give us our tickets and take us down to meet the boat.

Tracy in her cave

After a short walk across the pebbles and sand we were on board and ready to go. Tracy saw us off and we went around the headland into the bay at Plimiri beach. On the way we met the crew and learnt about the wreck.

A cargo ship that ran aground in 1981, the wreck of the Giannoula K is huge, one of the masts can be just seen sticking out of the water. Laying at an angle on the sea bed 22 metres below, it’s still virtually intact. The wreck is now a small reef and you never know what you may see. The group before us saw barracuda, lots of smaller fish were swimming around on our trip.

A mast just sticking out of the water

It takes about 10 minutes to reach the wreck site. Once there it was amazing the amount of detail we could see.

The water is amazingly clear

Everyone was either glued to the window in the middle of the boat or looking over the side.

We were constantly clicking away with our cameras and phones. It was a clear Greek blue day perfect for being on the water.

oops I pushed the wrong button

The staff on board provided water and a great big slice of water melon.

My first slice of water melon this summer

Then we headed back to the shore. Lasting about an hour the trip was great and I’d definitely recommend it, you can find them on facebook here.

Once there you can also make use of the hotel facilities and pool.

Swimming pool at the Atrium Palace hotel Rhodes

We decided to head off for lunch at one of my favourite fish tavernas, Antonios on the beach at Gennadi.

A little piece of heaven

There are other glass bottom boat trips you can take on the island, but this is the only one I know of that visits a shipwreck. We all had a fun and interesting morning and I’ll take other visitors on the trip. For those who are experienced you can also book diving trips to the wreck.

There was still lots of the day left for swimming, it turned a little surreal for us in the afternoon witnessing a photo shoot at a little chapel, but that’s for another post!