Cruising holidays in the North Aegean, Greece
The Aegean Sea and especially the marine protected areas such as in the Northern Sporades are abound with interesting marine life, besides the obvious but enthralling dolphins and whales, dozens of rare and protected species can be found here. The marine nature reserve around Alonissos is called NMPANS and was created to avoid the extinction of the local colony of Mediterranean Monk Seals. In most parts sailing yachts are welcome but with respect to certain islands you will need to keep a distance of 2 nautical miles, to not disturb the colony, which in the case of seals should actually be called a herd, a pod or a rookery!Yet, all the pristine landscape and most of the coasts are totally accessible for tourists travelling either by bareboats or by luxurious and fully crewed super yachts. Most of these sailing holidays will start out from the nearby Skiathos marina, but among those splendid super yachts you will unfortunately see few gulets; the former local wooden ships which now serve as elegant cruise yachts with full air-conditioning and chef cooks on board. Most of the luxury gulets can be found near Bodrum and mainly serve the Dodecanese islands (Kos, Rhodes, Symi) and the Turquoise coasts of Turkey. Note, that the Greeks call these gulets: motorsailers or motor sailers !
The photo shows a magnificent specimen of a sea urchin, which we caught
in Panormos bay on Skopelos, Northern Sporades, Greece. Shown is the bottom part, its mouth with the five hollow teeth, which is known as Aristotle's lantern
. This sobriquet name comes from Aristotle's precise description in his History of Animals
.
