Nature

Last week I sailed onto an inland sea. It is a fairly large inland sea in the mainland of Greece, and it is famous for the various species, mainly birds, that live there. To enter this inland sea I had to pass through a narrow channel, approximately 50 meters wide, in between shoals. I was running a bit late so dusk met up with me. Only two of the eight lit bouys was actually working, and the leadinglights, visible on the charts were tather invisible in real life. Leading lights, are an navigational aid. When the two lights are viewed directly underneath each other, the vessel is steering exactly the right course. There was a current running, zo it became quite a difficult task to stay inside the channel!

Various rivers end in the inland sea, so the water is brackish.

If nature is going to be as beautiful en colorful as the skies were upon entering the inland sea, it is going to be a great experience.

Land fringing the channel.

Because it was already dark when I passed the channel I decided to berth in de Marina. Nice and easy. It was also possible to berth alongside the town quay (free of charge) but I could hear the loud music and saw the ferris wheel turn. I was in need of a quiet night, so the Marina, on the other side of the water, it was. One of the marineros in the helped me berth Madame Curie, and actually came on board to assist me in tightning the lines. What a great service. After enjoying a dessert in the marina restaurant I returned to my boat. I was nog completely sattified with the way she was berthed, so I decided to change this at eleven o'clock at night. I was very surprised that I could not pull Madame Curie forward!! After months of no tide or currents, there was a strong current in the Marina. In the Mediterrenean the difference between high and low water is neglectable, and as a result there are almost no currents. The only thing I could achieve in this strong current was berth Madame Curie a bit at an angle, but well of the pier. The next morning the friendly marinero helped me straighten de boat out again.

Now let's change the subject to nature. I left the Marina very early in the morning. The marinero told me that there would not be a strong current at that momen. It was still almost calm, misty and very mysterieus.

Inland sea.

Inmediately I saw a large school of dolphins. They were performing al sorts of acrobatic tricks for me. This is the first time I have actualy seen the dolphins jump in the mediterrenean!!! There was only a small downside, they were only visible through my binoculars. No chance of taking pictures.

As you can see in the chart, I crossed the inland sea in various ways. On the nothern end there are swap an wetland areas. These are really beautiful.

I saw various small fish jump out of the water.



A fair rowing distance to Madame Curie.



My faithful dinghy.

Afterward I was treated to two special encounters. The first one was with a large number of jelly fish. Everywhere I looked in the very calm water I could see the jelly fish. Apparantly they thrive in brackish water. There were so many I decided not to go for a swim.



Very clear water.





But the best exhibition of nature was saved till the last moment. As I retrieved my anchor I saw a large bird swimming in the distance. I decided to engine over, just to see what kind of bird it was. I had my camera and binoculars ready. Slowly I approached the animal. A pelican!!! I definetly need a picture of this. Success!!



Take off!!!



Airborn.

What else did I see? Well 3x a turtle, but boy they are fast! Many fish, accompanied by fishermen in small fishing boats. And many many mosquitos. I have never been stuck that many times in my life. Eventhough I had put on repellant, slept under a bednet, I still had to take medication not to go crazy from the itch.

Typical greek fishing boat.

Despite the mosquitos and the smell (unlike salt water, brackish water does smell) I would certainly recommend this inland sea!