August 20th and 21st 2012
About 60 Kms East of Athens is my grandparents birthplace and the land and sea that I first explored as a youth; later a a naturalist. Southern Euboea - the distinctive southern end of Greece's second largest island; around the town of Karystos. I will refer to this place often in this blog because it is a point of reference for me.
Today I share some snap-shots taken by my friend Kyriakos Dikelas who runs a superb Diving Center in Karystos ( http://www.diveinevia.gr/). Do people dive frequently in Greece? (Well after so much fame as the sponge-diving center of the world and such a sea-faring tradition on would think so- but not...). Diving was made totally legal in Greece after 2006 - most people do not know this - a widespread ban was in place to supposedly protect antiquities. So this kind of recreation is new to us - and a lot of the sea is unexplored. Dimitri, my 15 year-old son and I got our Open Water Certification here this year - we are seasoned snorkelers - and he is a manic fisherman too...so it was about time!
We went on three shallow dives these days - first site is just East of the town of Karystos at the eastern end of the Bay at a place called Mantalia, near Bouros (12 m dive). Second site is beyond the Bay of Karystos in the more exposed shores to the Southwest, just across from the Petalii Islands, at Kalamitsia (19 m dive). We saw about 27 species of fish at the first site, 32 at the second (these are typical numbers seen during a sprint through these waters for half an hour or so). Visibility was good, but not great these days due to high winds and currents (visibility was about 25 meters I think - it is really clear in the Aegean - everyone should know).
As the years wear on, I realize the and calm one receives from spending more time underwater.
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