Kayaking in Cyprus

I have spent 7 weeks on and off since November at Dhekelia in Cyprus to train soldiers from 1 SCOTS in kayaking. The regiment is currently spending its last few weeks, of a 6 month posting, at Nicosia as part of the UN peacekeepers on the island. As part of their time in Cyprus the soldiers are going throu adventerous training with a choice of mountain biking, climbing and kayaking.

I had the privilage to work with them for 4 weeks in November, 2 weeks in February and now spending another 2 weeks here. The isleand has been proven to bee a fantastic place for watersport. The coastline between Dhekelia and Cape Greco is particularly beautiful, with many lime stone cliffs and caves. Since the soldiers were free to choose the activity they were mostly very keen to learn new skills and have a bit of a "down" time for a week. They also walked away with a K2F (Kayak 2 Star Foundation) qualification.

I would love to come back to work for other units on Cyprus. However, the word is that the british part of the UN mission in Cyprus is probably coming to an end soon. This would be a bit of a shame, not just for me but also for the squaddies posted out here.