Wildlife photography sailing holiday in Greece

COUNTRY:
Greece
LOCATION:
Cyclades
DEPARTURES:
Departures in April and May 2013
PRICE:
From 780 (7 days) excluding flights
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MORE INFO:
We can arrange flights from the UK
VOUCHERS:
Gift vouchers can be used with this holiday
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Wildlife photography sailing holiday in Greece

Wildlife photography sailing holiday in Greece

How Wildlife photography sailing holiday in Greece makes a difference

Environment

This wildlife photography course has an eco focus. It informs our guests about the endemic species that they will encounter while sailing around Greece. It will teach them how to approach wildlife and why not to use flash when taking pictures of animals.

To become a good wildlife photographer it’s essential that you appreciate and understand the beings that you come face to face with. If you understand them, you know where to find them, how to approach them in order not to scare them and disrupt their life, how to observe their behaviours and capture a unique picture showing to the rest of the world their magic.

In general with all our trips, we’re trying through our activities to encourage travellers to approach places they visits with greater understanding and respect. A few of our activities and actions related to wildlife:

- We organise wildlife tours which combine sailing and discovering endemic species. Under the guidance of our experienced biologist, people are introduced to tens of endemic species, both from the animal and plant kingdoms which exist only in this small corner of the globe. Guests leave with a different approach towards wildlife and aware of the dangers they face and how to minimise them.
- We organise visits at the two national marine parks in Greece, in Zakynthos and Alonisos, where the two most important NGOs for the protection of the loggerhead turtle Caretta caretta and the Mediterranean monk seal Monachus monachus are based. Our guests are briefed on their work and how they can get involved and support them.
- We watch and monitor dolphins & other cetaceans by far away without disturbing them, adhering to the ACCOBAMS guidelines for commercial cetacean-watching activities in the Mediterranean Sea.

When our sailing boat, is not chartered, we sail around cleaning beaches, recycling or giving a helping hand to researchers and organisations in their efforts to collect data in order to study and protect the environment and wildlife.

Community

Our base has become the island of Syros where most of the maintenance work is carried out. We employ locals for all the jobs concerning the boat. We buy materials for the maintenance of the boat from local shops. We encourage guests to visit and try the local cuisine and purchase local goods wherever we go in order to get a taste of the local culture and also support the local community.

Wildlife photography sailing holiday in Greece

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How we choose the provider of Wildlife photography sailing holiday in Greece

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Wildlife photography sailing holiday in Greece

Reviewed 29 Apr 2013 by Cindy Meagher1 star rating

1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your holiday?


The actual sailing experience.

2. What tips would you give other travellers booking this holiday?


We were interested in snorkeling. We expected that the sailboat would take us to locations that we could snorkel right off the boat. Instead we were taken to marinas in the various islands and were expected to make our own way to the snorkeling sites by either walking (carrying all our gear) or renting a car and driving. When we did go to a place to snorkel (renting a car and driving ourselves) we found the water much colder than expected and the marine life scarce. After the one snorkeling experience we decided it wasn't worth the effort. If you are looking for spending time in the water snorkeling I would not advise booking this trip.

3. Did you feel that your holiday benefited local people, reduced environmental impacts or supported conservation?


We purchased food from the local restaurants and grocery stores which would benefit the local island population. I don't know how we would consider this as reducing environmental impact (other than using the wind power for the major means of transportation).

4. Finally, how would you rate your holiday overall?


The Greek Islands were beautiful. We were disappointed with the ability to spend time in the water and the variety of marine life we saw. The captain was an expert sailor. The communication between the captain and the guests needs improvement. As guests we like to be informed of what we will be doing on a daily basis (anticipated times of departure etc). We had issues with the captain being unavailable and we needed access to hot water for showers on the boat. The captain did not want us to touch anything on the boat and if we wanted a shower he needed to turn on the hot water for us. We did not even ask for a shower every day-trying to conserve water. However on 2 occasions when we wanted to shower we could not because the captain was not available to turn on the hot water.
We did not have a cellphone with us. It has been our experience on other vessels that if we leave the vessel to go ashore we are supplied with some type of communication device (cellphone with a number programmed in or a walkie talkie) so we can communicate with a crew member if we need something. Communication was an issue on this trip.

Read the operator's response here:

We are very glad you enjoyed the sailing and the Greek islands but quite sad that didn't enjoy snorkeling at this time of year (April) as you wished to. As we advised you before booking the trip "...in the end of April the water is not very warm as in the summer. When it's sunny you can even swim in february, March but the water is cold. If you wish to stay longer in the water and snorkel it will be better to use use our diving suits, boots and fins which are available to you for free of course." It's best if our guests use our equipment which are more appropriate for the weather conditions in the Med as it's not as hot as in the tropics.

We also have a presentation on the biodiversity and marine life that we show all our guests interested in snorkeling and diving and if you had accepted this offer as well as our recommendations on where to snorkel we believe that you would have been very pleased with marine life you would have encountered.

Finally regarding diving straight from the yacht, there are important issues we have to consider that you may not realize such as the safety of our guests. If our guests, for example, are not comfortable getting in and out of the yacht while we are docked, we are going to recommend snorkeling from the beach and will not have them jumping from or climbing up the ladder to the yacht.

Finally we would like to stress that if you have any issues or wishes please address them during the trip. We are very eager to please our guests but if you don't talk to us or say anything we cannot act.

Wish you all the best and hope you have some good memories of sailing and the Greek islands although you didn't snorkel as much as you wanted

Reviewed 14 Jun 2011 by Robert Burton4 star rating

1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your holiday?


Walking on the deserted islands.

2. What tips would you give other travellers booking this holiday?


have plenty of 'layers' it can be quite cold even in June.

3. Did you feel that your holiday benefited local people, and minimized impacts on the environment?


To some extent.

4. Finally, how would you rate your holiday overall?


Very enjoyable.
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