lifeuards

floates for kids to use on the beach

If you let your kids float in the water remember to keep an eye on them ALL THE TIME. It is so easy to quietly float out of reach from the beach - and suddenly they are 200 meters from the beach and in panic.

No there are not lifeguards at beaches .... unless at some "resort" hotels they decide to have a lifeguard at the beach immediately in front of their places. But all the beaches are open to public and no, lifeguards are not their thing. Same way that many mountain roads do not have massive barrier rails. Greeks are aware that you are responsible for yourselves. I've never read anything about lots of Greeks drowning .... I guess they all learn how to swim early in life. A perfect country for learning to swim early in the sea ... because there is no tide, thus no surf. I know USA kids who always summer on NJ shore or Fire Island, NY, and nver learned to swim because of the surf.

Janet, thank you for the info, i myself learned how to swim when i lived on the shore of the Black Sea. perfect place to learn, clean water, no surf but lifeguards were always available.

You will probably find that the beaches will have shops and tavernas so you can probably find some beach toys and floats.
You do know that Santorini beaches are not sand they are pumice pebbles and are extremely hot. The water tends to drop off fast and deep.

I purchased both RoughGuide and Lonely Planet for Crete, and at least one of those books made a special point of mentioning which beaches would be good with kids. Particular criteria were gently sloping seafloors that extended out for a distance, sand, lack of strong currents, facilities. Perhaps their guides to the islands would have similar information. You might want to try those guidebooks as a resource.
BTW for those looking at Crete, Elafonisi is such a beach. It has two huge, shallow, bowl-shaped areas which are completely isolated from the open sea.

A perfect country for learning to swim early in the sea ... because there is no tide, thus no surf.

Really?!?!? Time to alert the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea that Greece is gravity-free!!!

Help me here, your refference to gravity is reffering to tides? Isnt that the moon? As some one living with some of the largest tides - 10 metres, i had always understood the Med to have tiny tides, say half a metre and so regularly gets discribed as tide free. Or have i got the wrong end of the stick.....

It was a poor attempt at humor, I admit. Yes, the moon. The tides are not as strong, it's true. That said, I've been to the beach enough to know that sometimes a small child wouldn't be safe in the water without an adult close by to keep him upright when the water is lively.

Lee you are right!! small children must be watched at all times!