Sapienza

Sapienza is a natural beauty and a boat trip to this island is one of the highlights of Messinia! It is located opposite Methoni, is washed by the Ionian Sea and since 1986 it has been protected as a "Monument of Nature". You can explore the uninhabited island, go snorkelling around ancient shipwrecks, or just spend some time on the island’s beautiful beaches.

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Sapienza is a natural beauty and a boat trip to the island is one of the highlights of Messinia! 
You can explore the uninhabited island opposite Methoni, go snorkelling around ancient shipwrecks, or just spend some time on the island’s beautiful beaches.

The Messinian Oinousses are a group of small islands that have been included in the Natura 2000 Network together with Cape Akritas. Sapienza, at 9 sq. km, is the second largest island in the group and has been a "Listed Natural Monument" since 1986.
98% of Sapienza is covered by vegetation -bushes, holly, vines, oaks, and gorse that reaches up to 12 meters high! You can also see kri-kri (wild goats), wild mouflon sheep, partridges and pheasants, etc.

The anchorage at Sapienza, Porto Logos, is an enclosed bay that made an ideal refuge for the fleets approaching the castle of Methoni. From the cove, you can follow a path heading southwest on a slope where the vegetation is not as high. At the top there is a 9.5 m high stone octagonal lighthouse which was built by the British navy in 1885. It’s been updated and since 1989 it has been operating with an automatic photovoltaic system. 

In the middle of the island is Spartolakka, a few acres which are bare of vegetation. If you go up the forest path you can look down on it from above, and see that it has an unusual brown-yellow colour thanks to the layers of pollen that have accumulated there over thousands of years.
You can spend the rest of your time in Sapienza swimming and sunbathing. Ammos, the beach on the island, is simply amazing and with its transparent green waters it is difficult to believe you’re not in the Caribbean! Above Ammos you can see the peak of Sapienza which is called Foveri (terrible) even although it is only 219 m high!

You can take a boat trip from Methoni or Foinikounta to Sapienza. However, if you can, it is worthwhile renting your own boat so you can sail round the island and enjoy the beaches and landscape at your own pace.
You can also go to the much-photographed rocky island, Dyo Aderfia (two brothers), by boat. Seen from above, the island looks like a heart.

The shipwrecks near Sapienza
On the seabed near the northern cape of Sapienza, at a depth of 10 m, fishermen first spotted the Column Shipreck, in 1920. Systematic excavation began in the late 1970s by the Ephorate of Maritime Antiquities. The columns are scattered over an area of about 30 square metres. The sunken vessel probably dates at the Roman period. One 8 m column was found intact. The columns are made of red granite of the same quality as the column found inside the fortress of Methoni. According to the study of the finds, the columns must have come from a building that was demolished or collapsed and the sunken ship carried only part of the whole.
At a relatively short distance from this wreck is another one, of the Sarcophagi, found at a depth of 15 m. Three intact stone sarcophagi measuring 2,20 x 0,80 m were found, while another was apparently cut up when the ship sank. They are decorated in relief with floral motifs, bucrania and drums. The wreck dates back to the 3rd century. Similar wrecks have been found on the seabed of Syros and in the sea area between Tinos and Andros.
You may see both wrecks by snorkelling. 

Did you know that

The deepest point in the Mediterranean, known as the "Oinoussa well", is to the south of the Messinian Oinousses. The sea is 5,121 m deep at this point, and it is the focus of the NESTOR experiment (Neutrino Extended Submarine Telescope with Oceanographic Research).

Location

Find the destination on the interactive map below.