0Aprovechando al máximo la playa

Most peo­ple visi­ting Cre­te for a holi­day will be plan­ning to visit the beach. The­re isn’t much nee­ded for a quick dip in the sea other than swim­wear and a towel, but the­re are other things you might want to think about taking to enhan­ce the expe­rien­ce, espe­cially if you plan to spend lots of time on the beach

Agua congelada

Después de una hora en la playa, or an acci­den­tal mouth­ful of sea­wa­ter I’m always ready for some cold fresh water. In typi­cal Cre­tan sum­mer tem­pe­ra­tu­res it’s also impor­tant for your health to hydra­te regu­larly. Para el agua más refrescante ponemos un medio lleno 2 litre bottle of water in the free­zer over­night slo­ped slightly upward (descansa en algo) entonces el cuello es claro. Al día siguiente, rellénelo de una botella nueva., y luego poner el nuevo, y ahora medio lleno, bottle in the free­zer in pla­ce of the one you just remo­ved. The one you just remo­ved is now half-ice and half water. By the time you’­ve tra­ve­lled to the beach and have had a bathe or a laze for a few minu­tes most of the ice will have mel­ted and the water will be ice-cold.

Gafas de protección, Máscara & Tubo respirador

The water on Cre­te is beau­ti­fully clean and clear so snor­ke­lling and diving are highly recom­men­ded. If you only have gog­gles the­se add plenty of fun, but a full snor­kel, máscara, and flip­pers is even bet­ter. I recom­mend taking some cheap tooth­pas­te to clean the insi­de of your mask to pre­vent it stea­ming up.

Cubeta & Pala

If you have kids a buc­ket and spa­de are essen­tial, but even adults can have fun — may­be you want to dig a big hole and bury your mate in it for a funny pho­to. The buc­ket will also pro­ve use­ful if you want to try your hand at cat­ching any sea crea­tu­res but remem­ber to put them back afterwards.

Bread & una red

Si quieres ver (y o atrapar) lo mejor que puedes hacer es llevarte un poco de pan viejo. Chuck a little into the sea and the­re will soon be a lar­ge num­ber of fish enjo­ying it. If you want to have a go at cat­ching any then you’ll need a net, but the­y’­re usually fas­ter than you, so without the bread you’­re unli­kely to have much suc­cess. Some bea­ches have rock pools whe­re you can catch little fish, Caracoles, camarón, and baby crabs but you should put them back very soon — a small buc­ket of water will very quickly warm up and your cat­ches will die in minu­tes in the overhea­ted (and deoxy­ge­na­ted) water.

Cámara a prueba de agua

You might already have a came­ra or pho­ne with came­ra that you take to the beach, but a water­proof action cam (como un go pro) es mucho más seguro y también puedes ir al mar contigo. The­re are plenty of little 4k action cams onli­ne for a lot less than a GoPro.

Silla de campamento

If you like to spend a few hours rela­xing on the beach then it is nice to be able to sit. Some bea­ches have sun­beds but you usually have to pay for the­se, and many of the nicest bea­ches are off-the-bea­ten-track and so don’t have any faci­li­ties. A little camp chair or stool makes it much easier and nicer to sit on the beach whilst reading a book or lis­te­ning to a podcast.

Beach ‘mat’

Simi­lar to a camp chair, a pad­ded beach mat is much nicer to lie on than a towel, and also frees up your towel for use as a pillow whilst sun­bathing and reading.

Carpa desplegable

We first took a pop-up tent to Cre­te when we took my eldest child, quien era un mero 6 semanas de edad en el momento! It was essen­tial that she was fully pro­tec­ted from the UV, and also that her mother had some pri­vacy for fee­ding her. The tent pro­ved immen­sely use­ful not just for child pro­tec­tion but also as a spa­ce to keep keys, pho­nes, libros, water, etc fuera del sol, fuera del viento, and out of the way of any blo­wing sand. Ours is only about 1m squa­re and just over 1m high, but it twists to fold up into a bag and beco­mes the size of a small-ish bicy­cle wheel. This means it can just about be squee­zed into a lar­ge suitcase.

Zapatos de agua

Water-safe shoes are really use­ful for 2 razones. Firstly becau­se the sand on most bea­ches will be hot enough to burn your feet for most of the day in sum­mer, so some foot­wear is essen­tial. Whilst san­dals and flip-flops do a per­fectly good job on the beach, es muy útil poder mantener los zapatos puestos cuando llegas al agua, espe­cially if the ground is rocky under the sea as many of the clea­rest bea­ches are. Water shoes will also pro­tect you from acci­den­tally step­ping on an ane­mo­ne which can be painful.

Lilo

Un lilo es agradable para flotar perezosamente si el mar está en calma, pero no te alejes y te alejes! It can also be a lot of fun to battle over with friends — tip­ping each other off. Don’t make the mis­ta­ke of lying on it on the beach though as you are almost cer­tain to pun­ctu­re it.

Frisbee, murciélago & juego de pelota

No mat­ter who you’­re at the beach with, once the most inten­se heat has drop­ped off in the later after­noon it’s great to be able to play some games on the beach. The­re are lots of types of water-proof balls and friz­bees that float that can be thrown around or a bat and ball set.