A Zakynthos turtles Marathonisi and Keri Caves boat tour leaves the south coast of the island, crosses Laganas Bay to look for loggerhead sea turtles and stops to swim at a small island and at sea caves. For other trips, the full range of tours in Greece is one click away.
This page covers what the tour includes, how the boat trip from Agios Sostis runs, Laganas Bay and the National Marine Park, the loggerhead sea turtle, Marathonisi, the Keri Caves and the questions travellers ask.
What does a Zakynthos turtles Marathonisi and Keri Caves boat tour include?
A Zakynthos turtles Marathonisi and Keri Caves boat tour crosses Laganas Bay in search of loggerhead sea turtles. It then adds one swim at Marathonisi and one swim at the Keri Caves. The boats start from Agios Sostis, a small harbour on the south coast of Zakynthos.
The turtle search comes first on every route we read. One operator sends a glass-bottom boat with covered seating. Passengers look down through the glass floor when a turtle swims under the hull. The same operator calls this boat steadier than a speedboat. The speedboat is faster and gets deeper into the caves.
Boat size is the other difference. A second operator runs boats that carry 9 to 34 passengers. It says that, unlike larger boats, these dock right on the beach at Marathonisi and even enter the caves. A group can reserve a whole boat and choose when and where to stop.
Each operator listing names a swim at Marathonisi and a swim at the Keri Caves. One operator adds that how far you swim into the caves depends on the sea state that day. Turtles are wild animals, so no listing can make a sighting certain. No two operators sell the same Zakynthos turtles Marathonisi and Keri Caves boat tour.
Extras vary too. The first operator includes hotel pickup within 10 km of Agios Sostis, which covers Laganas, Kalamaki and Lithakia. A third operator offers premium packages with towels, snacks, a cool box with water and soft drinks. Check what your Zakynthos turtles Marathonisi and Keri Caves boat tour covers before you choose.
How does the boat trip from Agios Sostis run?
A Zakynthos turtles Marathonisi and Keri Caves boat tour from Agios Sostis lasts 3 to 4 hours, by operator. The boat crosses Laganas Bay for turtles, then stops to swim at Marathonisi and at the Keri Caves.
Three operators describe the same order for a Zakynthos turtles Marathonisi and Keri Caves boat tour. The boat leaves the small harbour near Laganas and sails through the bay to spot turtles. It makes a swim stop at Marathonisi. A second swim stop follows at the Keri Caves.
The first operator puts its caves first, and Marathonisi gets the longest stay.
The length of a Zakynthos turtles Marathonisi and Keri Caves boat tour differs by operator. The first operator gives 3 to 3.5 hours with pickup included. The second states a 3-hour excursion. The third says its trip lasts 3 hours. Extra hours can be added to that one. A fourth runs a 4-hour trip with 3 to 4 swim stops, sea conditions permitting.
Departure times depend on the operator and the season. In low season the second operator runs two departures a day. They leave at 11 in the morning and 2 in the afternoon. In high season it runs three, leaving at 9 in the morning, at noon and at 3 in the afternoon.
The second operator asks guests to reserve. The fourth operator leaves at 9 in the morning in July and August. A second boat follows at 1 in the afternoon. Times like these shape how you plan a Zakynthos turtles Marathonisi and Keri Caves boat tour around your day.
Be at the harbour early. The fourth operator asks guests to come at least 20 minutes ahead and to find a yellow flag. Its boat takes a maximum of 25 passengers. Tour availability depends on weather and sea conditions.
Sea state matters. One operator says the cave swim depends on it. Another says access to its farthest stops depends on sea conditions. Your Zakynthos turtles Marathonisi and Keri Caves boat tour follows the same rule.
What are Laganas Bay and the National Marine Park of Zakynthos?
Laganas Bay is a wide bay along the southern shore of the island. A national marine park guards its waters and beaches. A Zakynthos turtles Marathonisi and Keri Caves boat tour crosses this park, as the operators describe the route.
Its protected area measures 135 square kilometres. The park was founded in December, late in the nineteen nineties. It is the first national park set up to protect sea turtles in the Mediterranean. Mediterranean monk seals also have a resident population along the western shore of Zakynthos.
A Zakynthos turtles Marathonisi and Keri Caves boat tour looks for loggerheads here. Six beaches around the bay serve as nesting grounds. Together they measure about 5 kilometres. One beach, Sekania, ranks among the world’s top spots for loggerhead nest numbers.
A Zakynthos turtles Marathonisi and Keri Caves boat tour crosses the park. Each year it shelters 900 to 2,000 nests, which on average is eighty percent of the Mediterranean loggerhead total. The largest nesting site in the Mediterranean lies on Zakynthos.
Rules protect the bay. The marine part has three zones, called A, B and C. Fishing is strictly prohibited in each one. A boating ban covers the waters off the nesting beaches. Speedboats that break it put the turtles in danger.
One operator states that boats on a Zakynthos turtles Marathonisi and Keri Caves boat tour must keep their distance. The park also wrote a code of conduct for ecotourism, with separate codes for sightseeing, walking and marine excursions. Sand dunes, submerged reefs and seagrass meadows of Posidonia oceanica add further habitats.
What is the loggerhead sea turtle?
Caretta caretta, the loggerhead sea turtle, is a marine reptile. No other hard-shelled turtle grows larger. It is the animal that a Zakynthos turtles Marathonisi and Keri Caves boat tour looks for in Laganas Bay.
A Zakynthos turtles Marathonisi and Keri Caves boat tour is about a large reptile. An adult has a shell between 70 and 95 centimetres long. It weighs 135 kilograms on average, and the heaviest adults reach about 200 kilograms. Mediterranean loggerheads are smaller than Atlantic ones. The turtle cannot pull its head or flippers inside the shell.
A loggerhead eats both plants and animals. Its main food is bottom-dwelling invertebrates, among them whelks, conchs and bivalves. Strong jaws crush the prey. It spends up to 85 percent of its day under the surface. A sighting on a Zakynthos turtles Marathonisi and Keri Caves boat tour is therefore a matter of luck.
A female first lays eggs between the ages of 17 and 33. Between late spring and August she climbs ashore after dark and digs an egg chamber in the sand. The work takes one to two hours. She nests in the dark, so a Zakynthos turtles Marathonisi and Keri Caves boat tour meets her at sea.
A clutch holds about 112 eggs on average. The female returns every 12 to 17 days. After about four clutches she takes a break from laying for two to three years. A wild loggerhead lives 47 to 67 years. The eggs incubate for about 80 days. Warm nests produce females, and cooler nests produce males.
A newborn turtle is about 4.6 centimetres long and about 20 grams in weight. It crawls toward the bright line of the horizon above the water. Artificial light on a beach can lead it the wrong way. Each survivor grows into the adult that a Zakynthos turtles Marathonisi and Keri Caves boat tour looks for at sea.
What is Marathonisi, the Turtle Island of Zakynthos?
Marathonisi is a small, uninhabited island off Zakynthos. It gives a Zakynthos turtles Marathonisi and Keri Caves boat tour its swim stop on a sandy beach. The island lies inside the National Marine Park, and loggerhead turtles nest there.
Wikipedia states that people lived on the island until the Second World War. Today the island belongs to the marine park, a protected area under the Natura programme. The same article calls it a reproduction site of the Caretta caretta sea turtle. A Zakynthos turtles Marathonisi and Keri Caves boat tour stops here.
The name Turtle Island comes from the shape. One operator describes a round shell, with a thin strip of land running toward Keri. From the lighthouse above Keri, or from a boat in the bay, the outline looks like a swimming turtle. A Zakynthos turtles Marathonisi and Keri Caves boat tour shows you this shape from the water.
The time ashore is short. One operator, with a glass-bottom boat, gives about an hour to swim off the beach. Another lists a stop of about 30 minutes. A third says its small boats dock right on the beach for one hour. Each Zakynthos turtles Marathonisi and Keri Caves boat tour follows the timing of its own operator.
Only a small part of the beach is open to visitors, and the rest is a protected nesting zone. The park lists six nesting beaches in the bay, and Marathonissi islet is one of them. Females come ashore after dark to lay eggs, and they do so between late spring and August.
One operator lists the rules for the protected areas. Umbrellas, chairs and lights are not allowed there. No one is allowed to touch turtles or nests. Wikipedia adds turquoise water, beaches and sea caves around the islet. Visitors on a Zakynthos turtles Marathonisi and Keri Caves boat tour follow these rules.
What are the Keri Caves and the Keri coast?
The Keri Caves are sea caves and arches along the south-west shore of Zakynthos, near Keri village. On a Zakynthos turtles Marathonisi and Keri Caves boat tour, the boat stops there for a swim.
Keri, a village at the southern end of Zakynthos, spreads over a hillside by the Ionian Sea. From Keri, Lithakia is 6 km to the north, and Zakynthos town is 15 km to the north-east. The community also takes in Apelati, Limni Keriou and Marathias. The island’s southernmost point, Cape Marathia, belongs to it too.
The coast here is steep. The Keri cliffs rise over 300 metres from the sea. A lighthouse seven metres tall, built in nineteen twenty-five, stands on top. Wikipedia adds that rock formations, arches among them, run along the west coast between Keri and Cape Skinari. A Zakynthos turtles Marathonisi and Keri Caves boat tour passes this wall of rock.
The swim is the point of the stop. On a Zakynthos turtles Marathonisi and Keri Caves boat tour, one operator’s glass-bottom boat runs under the arches. It gives a thirty-minute swim below the arches. The same operator says a speedboat gets deeper into the caves.
Other operators describe the stop of a Zakynthos turtles Marathonisi and Keri Caves boat tour in their own words. One drops anchor at the Keri Caves for a swim. Another lists a second swim stop among rock formations and sea caves on the Marathia coastline. A third says its small and medium boats can enter the caves.
Keri also has a lake. The marine park includes the wetland of Keri Lake, according to Wikipedia. In ancient times, Athens drew tar for its ships from a lake bed, today named Lake Keri. Workers used myrtle branches tied to poles.
What else do travellers ask about a Zakynthos turtles Marathonisi and Keri Caves boat tour?
What is Cameo Islet on the route?
One operator’s Zakynthos turtles Marathonisi and Keri Caves boat tour makes a photo stop at Cameo Islet. The boat reaches it after crossing the National Marine Park in search of turtles.
That operator says an earthquake formed the islet in the seventeenth century. After the photos, the boat runs on to the Keri Caves for the swim beneath the arches.
Do longer trips reach Mizithres twin rocks and Eros Cave?
Another operator runs a four-hour boat trip with extra stops. On that trip, Mizithres twin rocks is the third swim stop. Pisines natural pools and Eros Cave come after it, but only if sea conditions allow.
The operator calls Eros Cave a cave with a secret passage that opens onto deep blue water. A Zakynthos turtles Marathonisi and Keri Caves boat tour of this kind needs a calm sea.
What is Laganas, the resort town beside the bay?
On the southeast coast of Zakynthos sits Laganas, a seaside village. A large part of it is national park, set up to protect turtles. The Zakynthos turtles Marathonisi and Keri Caves boat tour looks for loggerheads in the bay in front of it.
It used to be a calm fishing village. Now it holds over 100 bars and clubs, and its busiest months are June, July and August.
Its name comes from “lagini”, the Greek word for jug. That points back to the pottery once made in the nearby areas of Lithakia and Kalamaki.
How do cruise passengers reach Agios Sostis?
One operator puts Agios Sostis about 15 km from the Zakynthos cruise port. By taxi or private transfer, the ride lasts 25 to 30 minutes, depending on traffic.
It recommends a private transfer, so the Zakynthos turtles Marathonisi and Keri Caves boat tour starts on time.
With a rental car, follow the signs to Laganas and then on to Agios Sostis. Parking is close to the marina. Arrive at the harbour at least 20 minutes before departure, says that operator.
What do I need to bring and wear on the boat?
For its Zakynthos turtles Marathonisi and Keri Caves boat tour, one operator lists sunscreen, sunglasses and a sun hat. It does not provide snorkelling gear, so bring your own if you want it.
Cave swims on a Zakynthos turtles Marathonisi and Keri Caves boat tour depend on the sea state. How far in the boat swims changes with the day.