After a few minutes of trolling through the marina’s tight channels, they reached the more open area of the bay and increased speed slightly. Tommy still kept it low because of the warning signs. The last thing they needed was to tick off any of the local authorities when they were so close to their goal.
Sean busily looked over the map on his phone screen. He’d been sure to charge the device on the plane so he would have plenty of battery life during their search for the mysterious island. He compared the image on the screen to a map he’d dug out of another storage box in the cabin of the boat. Spreading it out on a small table behind the driver’s console, he was able to analyze the two maps at the same time, verifying the direction they would need to go once they reached the open sea. While Sean had never had any real experience in nautical navigation, he could read a map and use a compass. As long as they had those two things, reaching their destination shouldn’t be a problem. The boat, like most Sean had been on, had a compass built in to the dashboard, so he had everything he needed.
The day turned out to be a good one for cruising on the sea. The sun shone brightly in the pale blue Mediterranean sky. An occasional fluffy cloud or two drifted by, doing nothing to take away from the perfection of the day. The sea’s white caps drew closer as the boat neared the harbor’s entry. Tommy kept a watchful eye on the depth finder to make sure he was staying safely in the channel. The last thing they needed was to run aground before even getting out to sea.
His diligence paid off, and a few minutes later they were plowing ahead at nearly full speed into the crashing waves. The bow of the ship rose and dipped dramatically with each wave they encountered. Sean had to look up from the map to keep from getting queasy. He didn’t usually get sea sick, but it had been a while since he’d been on water like this. Up ahead, the waves began to diminish as they got farther out from the shore.
“Am I going the right way?” Tommy asked loudly, almost shouting above the noise of the water and the boat’s engine.
Sean checked the compass and the map. He’d drawn a line on the paper to chart the direction they needed to go. “Yeah. Keep heading west. When we reach Mathraki, we will have to alter course slightly and go southwest.”
Tommy acknowledge the information with a nod and double-checked the compass to make sure he was staying on course. Up ahead, he noticed a land mass jutting up from the sea on the right.
“Is that the one?” he asked, thinking they hadn’t gone the requisite distance yet.
“No,” Sean said shaking his head. “That’s Diaplo. It’s the one right in front of you.”
Out in the open water, the ride was much smoother, though still nothing like the lakes back home in Tennessee and Georgia. With the ride becoming less bumpy, Sean was able to return his attention to the map, taking a long inventory of the island’s terrain they’d be visiting.
Six miles off the northeastern coast of Corfu, the island of Mathraki jutted up out of the Ionian Sea. Sean took a second to admire the surrounding view. He glanced back at the island of Corfu, growing smaller as they got farther away, its mountains rising majestically in the distance. The Ionian Sea boasted unique geography, with several rocky islands dotting the blue waters. Most of them seemed to be inhabited; even the smaller ones had fishing villages planted firmly along the shores. A ferry lumbered through the water on their left. Its deck was loaded with people, many of whom were taking pictures and staring out at the scenery. More tourists, Sean thought.
Ten minutes passed, and Mathraki loomed larger and larger in front of them. Off the port bow, Sean noticed a small land mass rising up out of the sea. He took a quick glance down at the map to recheck his bearings.
“You’re going to want to bear south toward that island over there,” Sean said, pointing at the giant tree-topped rock about a mile away on their left.
Tommy nodded and steered the boat in a sweeping turn, leaving Mathraki on the starboard side and lining up the bow with the small land mass Sean pointed out. He moved the throttle forward a little and increased their speed. Being out of the choppy part of the water, Tommy felt more comfortable going a little faster.
They reached the crystal-blue waters surrounding the small island in less than four minutes. Tommy throttled down the engine and let it coast toward the sandy shore. He continued to watch the depth gauge to make sure they didn’t hit a reef as he guided the vessel slowly into a small cove. The island couldn’t have been more than a square mile or two in size. It featured a white sandy beach wrapped by steep, rocky cliffs. Off to the left, the horseshoe-shaped cove straightened out to a flatter beach with a thicket of trees, thick brush, and grass. In the middle of the island, a short plateau rose above the sea, giving the top of the land mass what was sure to be an enviable view of the surrounding area.
Sean stared at the sight with wide eyes, steadying his balance with a hand on one of the nearby rails. “This part of the world is so awesome,” he said, almost to himself. “If we read that map from the mountain correctly, Julius Caesar was here a few thousand years ago, looking at this very sight.”
“It is pretty incredible,” Tommy agreed as he adjusted the wheel back and forth, keeping the boat on a firm course. “I think we should probably weigh anchor over there in that cove. From there we can swim over to the beach and check out the island by foot.”
“Sounds good,” Sean said with a nod. He moved across the deck to the back where they’d stowed the cargo bin containing the scuba gear.
He opened the hatch and removed two pairs of fins, then laid them on the deck before closing the lid. They wouldn’t need the dive gear just yet. First, they would need to scope out the terrain and find the point of entry for the underwater cavern.
Tommy turned off the main engine and hit a switch on the dashboard that triggered the anchor on the starboard side of the bow. The heavy metal object descended rapidly into the water, plunking into the liquid with a small splash. When the chain went slack, Tommy halted the anchor motor and retracted it a few inches.
“Okay,” he said, “we should be good here.”
He put his hands on his hips and took a second to gaze out at the view. The mountains of Corfu appeared much larger from the sea. A large, white yacht was motoring slowly out of the harbor where they’d been less than half an hour ago. The ship was enormous, though he couldn’t guess its length from so far away. The fact that Tommy was able to see it from such a distance underscored the vessel’s mass.
“I wonder who owns that thing,” he said as he stared at the opulent yacht.
Sean had removed his pants and replaced them with swimming trunks. He was sitting on one of the aft seats and attaching one of the fins when Tommy mentioned the white ship. He glanced up and scanned the distant coast for a second before catching a glimpse of what his friend was talking about. “I don’t know, but whoever it is has money, that’s for sure. More money than they know what to do with.”
Tommy snorted a short laugh. “Looks to me like they know exactly what to do with it. Buy a ridiculously large boat.”
Sean grinned at his friend’s comment. “Fair enough.”
Tommy stood by the seat across from Sean and quickly changed into his swimming suit. “I figure we’ll start on that beach over there,” he said and pointed to the flat area on the left side of the island. “Then we can work our way up and over the plateau and down the other side.”