Alonissos

Hello feature-self 👋. Alonissos is awesome! Go back there.

flying over the alps

Tucked away on this little Greek island is slice of paradise. This being my first time to Greece I can’t speak for the entire country or all it’s islands, but this one is the best!

Diving

Masha originally heard about this island before we started diving. We’ve luck to thank, it has great diving. Located on a large marine park much of the water near this island is protected leading to great underwater nature.

dive boat

Last week of May is still off-season for Alonissos so the dive center was not busy. We enjoyed a calm well organized experienced. Left a good review here.

chilling pre dive

I go into detail for each dive in my dive log:

• Reef of Mourtias North Side
• Reef of Mourtias South Side
• Agios Georgios West Wall
• Cape of Rousoum

suited up

As part of the week we also completed a PADI enriched air diver course. Ironically there gas mixing setup was not ready so we’ve not actually tried nitrox yet. But when we do I’m confident we’ll handle it fine. Looking forward to some added no-deco time in our upcoming dives.

calm waters

I hope we comeback someday and dive the wrecks in the area. Particularly the Peristera Shipwreck, which dates back to 5th century BC.

Seashepherd

Alonissos is pretty small. After a few days you recognize most of the faces. One such face we got to know belonged the captain of the Emanuel Bronner. A nice gentleman visiting the island, along with his crew, to protect the Monk seals.

A rare type of seal. Now endangered. The Monk seals are known to live and reproduce on the island Piperi near Alonissos. The waters surrounding the island comprise Zone A1 of the marine park. A no go zone only accessible by science/conservation boats. Beyond that are Zones A, B, and C each with less restrictions. Diving only being allowed in zone C.

my shot of the emanuel bronner

The protected waters also mean the fish populations thrive. Attracting fisherman. Coast guard boats patrol the waters and deter them but it’s not 100% effective. To assist in the the nonprofit / pirate organization Seashepherds sent the Emanuel Bronner to assist. The speedy vessel equipped with night vision will be out there at night this summer insuring nobody disturbs the Monk seal habitat.

seashepherd website profile

Growing up I remember watching Whale Wars with my mom. The reality TV show follows the founder of Seashephers through some crazy adventures fighting Japanese whaling ships. Glad to see first had the organization is still around and making a difference.

Accommodation

our apartment

From the port it’s a short drive or hike up the hill to the old village where we stayed. We were the lucky first guests of the season at the beautiful Konstantina Studios. Highly recommended, the owner was very nice.

view from apartment

Waking up to this view everyday, 👌🖼, we ate greek yogurt on the balcony. Steps away from the apartment were serval restaurants, a mini market, and a few tourist shops.

Food

My favorite dishes of the trip:

• Greek salad
  • Good feta cheese, tomatoes, olives, unions. Simple, light, and delicious.
• Greek yogurt
  • We don’t like to eat out every meal on vacation so self prepared breakfast is normal. Fruit were sourced from the produce shop in the port. Honey or jam from the woman’s collective shop also in the port. Then we combined those with nuts and thick thick greek yogurt from the mini market.
• Moussaka
  • Think lasagna but instead of noodles it’s potato. Perfect for my gluten allergy.

out on the town

Of all the restaurants in the old town, yes I think we tried them all 😋, Demi’s was my favorite. The chef came out and sat with us sharing some cooking secrets and good stories.

Rental boat adventure

audio log

captain shears

marine park map

triton wreck

wreck snorkeling

amber jacks near wreck

water accessible cave

cave swimming

hidden beach beauty

hidden beach horror

hidden beach 7mm wetsuit

Island Impressions

The photos speak for themselves. The island is clean, beautiful, and pack with charm.

fresh fruit

brick, white, blue

patitiri village beach

red door

dinner in old town

lunch in old town

shades

old town walk

studying russian with a view

prepared beach

Fishing

This year we have also got into fishing. Along with a friend of ours we purchased fishing rods. Now when either couple goes on a trip by the sea we share gear.

casting

calm bay

Unfortunately we are still beginners and didn’t catch anything this trip.

view and tackle

Still it was worth while to get out and explore places you might not other wise see except for fishing.

Bye

All and all a great trip. I highly recommend Greece and in particular the beautiful island of Alonissos.

good bye alonissos