Rock of Kynops
The Rock of Kynops refers to a strange looking rock jutting out of the sea in Petra Bay believed to be the petrified body of a satanical wizard by the name of Kynops destroyed during spiritual combat between Kynops and St. John the Theologian. The story of this combat is attributed to the saint's disciple, Prochorus, and contained in an ancient manuscript still kept hidden in the monastery on Patmos island.
Today some 200-300 metres from the point where the big ships now dock at Skala, in the dock itself, there exists a red (or orange) buoy to mark the spot where, just beneath the surface, is a submerged rock that, some people say, is man-shaped and represents the petrified magician.
The locals share the story that during World War II, the Italians sent divers down to dynamite the rock. After several attempts with an extraordinary amount of explosives nothing would have any affect. Fisherman say that octopus caught near the rock are inedible.
