Having gone to sleep very quickly, our co-passengers decided to wake up early, so we were wide awake about 2 hours before reaching Paris! At least this gave Richard some time to finish Harry Potter, so Claire (who had finished it several days earlier) could finally talk about the ending!
Our trip across Paris and the Eurostar journey both passed without incident and finally it was time to say goodbye to Claire at Waterloo. A couple of hours later and we were finally home.
Obviously travelling by train/ferry made the journey much longer, but it was much more enjoyable - the journey actually felt like part of the holiday, rather than being a complete headache! So, if we go back to Vonitsa again (which seems distinctly possible - bad luck Joan!) we'd definitely travel the same way!
Sunday, 2 September 2007
Day 10
We arrived in Brindisi 90 minutes later than scheduled after a great night's sleep, but since our train wasn't until just before 2pm the late arrival didn't cause any concern! Unfortunately the shuttle bus doesn't go to the train station, so we were dropped off by the green clock again and had to make our own way to the train station.
We stopped off on the way for a quick breakfast at the AmericanBar - they served amazingly good pain au chocolat! Unfortunately we then got slightly lost - whilst walking to the ferry port seemed like a straight line, in the reverse direction there's actually a junction where you need to go to the right - of course, we went to the left. Richard left Elaine and Claire in what seemed like a nice park and went to find the station - unfortunately the park was completely fly infested so they were very happy when Richard returned a few minutes later, having located the station a couple of minutes' walk away!
After depositing our bags in the left luggage room (on platform 1, but in the opposite direction to the left luggage signs!) we had a walk round Brindisi - Elaine wanted to pick up some socks as her feet had been very cold on the sleeper on the way out. We spent some time sitting in a little square writing our article for Earthwatcher then had lunch at a small restaurant (which for some reason had a large London Underground poster on the wall!) and finally visited the local supermarket for supplies for the trip home.
The train station was a little chaotic as quite a few trains were running late - luckily (given that we had quite a tight connection at Milan) ours was on time. The journey up to Milan passed relatively quickly - whilst Richard and Claire did some more work on the article, Elaine finally managed to finish Harry Potter, so Richard got his chance to read it!
We made our connection at Milan with about 15 minutes to spare - our 6 berth couchette was again full, but the beds were already made and our fellow passengers quickly went to sleep.
We stopped off on the way for a quick breakfast at the AmericanBar - they served amazingly good pain au chocolat! Unfortunately we then got slightly lost - whilst walking to the ferry port seemed like a straight line, in the reverse direction there's actually a junction where you need to go to the right - of course, we went to the left. Richard left Elaine and Claire in what seemed like a nice park and went to find the station - unfortunately the park was completely fly infested so they were very happy when Richard returned a few minutes later, having located the station a couple of minutes' walk away!
After depositing our bags in the left luggage room (on platform 1, but in the opposite direction to the left luggage signs!) we had a walk round Brindisi - Elaine wanted to pick up some socks as her feet had been very cold on the sleeper on the way out. We spent some time sitting in a little square writing our article for Earthwatcher then had lunch at a small restaurant (which for some reason had a large London Underground poster on the wall!) and finally visited the local supermarket for supplies for the trip home.
The train station was a little chaotic as quite a few trains were running late - luckily (given that we had quite a tight connection at Milan) ours was on time. The journey up to Milan passed relatively quickly - whilst Richard and Claire did some more work on the article, Elaine finally managed to finish Harry Potter, so Richard got his chance to read it!
We made our connection at Milan with about 15 minutes to spare - our 6 berth couchette was again full, but the beds were already made and our fellow passengers quickly went to sleep.
Day 9
Our final morning in Vonitsa.
After saying goodbye to Taran and Lauren just before 8:30 (they were both catching the bus to Athens, then spending some more time in Greece) we left the house just before 9:30 to catch the bus to Lefkada.
On arrival in Lefkada, we managed to find the bus station (the bus from Vonitsa dropped us off at a random point some distance from the station!) and checked the time for the bus to Igoumentisa - 3:30pm, so we had quite some time to spend. Following Joan's recommendation, we caught another bus to Kathisma, a nice beach on the other side of Lefkada. We had a couple of hours relaxation, swimming in a much cleaner sea and reading (Elaine has almost finished the final Harry Potter book...) Then we caught the bus back to the main bus station just in time to catch the bus to Igoumentisa.
The journey to Igoumentisa was uneventful (a few last glimpses of the gulf as we went through Preveza) and we arrived there around 5:30pm. Our ferry wasn't until 11:30pm so again we had some time to kill - so we did a little taverna-hopping and had a nice last Greek dinner. Finally it was time to go to the ferry port - this was somewhat chaotic but eventually we found the right check-in desk and soon boarded the ferry and found our cabin - a little smaller than the outward journey, but still very comfortable. Again, we were asleep by the time the ferry left port!
After saying goodbye to Taran and Lauren just before 8:30 (they were both catching the bus to Athens, then spending some more time in Greece) we left the house just before 9:30 to catch the bus to Lefkada.
On arrival in Lefkada, we managed to find the bus station (the bus from Vonitsa dropped us off at a random point some distance from the station!) and checked the time for the bus to Igoumentisa - 3:30pm, so we had quite some time to spend. Following Joan's recommendation, we caught another bus to Kathisma, a nice beach on the other side of Lefkada. We had a couple of hours relaxation, swimming in a much cleaner sea and reading (Elaine has almost finished the final Harry Potter book...) Then we caught the bus back to the main bus station just in time to catch the bus to Igoumentisa.
The journey to Igoumentisa was uneventful (a few last glimpses of the gulf as we went through Preveza) and we arrived there around 5:30pm. Our ferry wasn't until 11:30pm so again we had some time to kill - so we did a little taverna-hopping and had a nice last Greek dinner. Finally it was time to go to the ferry port - this was somewhat chaotic but eventually we found the right check-in desk and soon boarded the ferry and found our cabin - a little smaller than the outward journey, but still very comfortable. Again, we were asleep by the time the ferry left port!
Day 8
Our last full day today - and our last boat trip. The sea was a bit rough today, so it was a bit harder to keep track of where the dolphins were, but we still had a great sighting - although Joan couldn't repeat yesterday's success with the skin sampling.
Claire was very pleased with the success of her air conditioning unit - our room was much cooler last night! In fact, it worked so well that the rest of the house and indeed the rest of Vonitsa were also much cooler!
After our last session of photo ID (grouping and initial matching from Day 6 - several hundred photos! - we managed to match 11 dolphins against the catalogue) Joan gave a brief presentation about the data collected this team - using the software to show where we went, where we saw dolphins etc. We then had our last dinner of the trip - Joan and Eli's turn to cook.
Claire was very pleased with the success of her air conditioning unit - our room was much cooler last night! In fact, it worked so well that the rest of the house and indeed the rest of Vonitsa were also much cooler!
After our last session of photo ID (grouping and initial matching from Day 6 - several hundred photos! - we managed to match 11 dolphins against the catalogue) Joan gave a brief presentation about the data collected this team - using the software to show where we went, where we saw dolphins etc. We then had our last dinner of the trip - Joan and Eli's turn to cook.
Monday, 27 August 2007
Day 7
We nearly didn't get a boat trip today - the boat refused to start, so we all traipsed back to the house whilst Joan tried to fix it. Joan quickly came up with an alternative plan to keep us volunteers happy - a trip to Lefkada - but one new battery later, the boat was as good as new! Cindy and friend kept us entertained for a while - coming really close until we had cameras ready, then disappearing completely until we put them away again!
Success at last - Joan managed to get a skin sample (although he missed a couple of relatively easy opportunities as well!). Another good sighting - lots of aerial behaviour, stationary behaviour, percussive behaviour, spy-hopping etc etc!
We had lunch out today - at Niko's (the rendezvous for the project) - a few traditional Greek starters again then pitas. Then we had an afternoon of completing the matching from yesterday...
Joan has been giving lectures and showing videos most evenings, but as we've seen most of them twice before we've carried on matching instead. But tonight, he wanted to show us some photos from July, where they came across a dolphin with a new-born that had died - the mother kept pushing her baby around, keeping it afloat. Very harrowing photos, but also very interesting.
Claire is cooking another cheesecake tonight (with some help from Elaine!) - she thinks she's got the right ingredients this time. Given how nice the first one was, tonight's should be really good! She's also taking her DIY air conditioning very seriously - preparing extra ice, a planned program of putting the ice in the room earlier... - we'll see whether it makes any difference!!!
Success at last - Joan managed to get a skin sample (although he missed a couple of relatively easy opportunities as well!). Another good sighting - lots of aerial behaviour, stationary behaviour, percussive behaviour, spy-hopping etc etc!
We had lunch out today - at Niko's (the rendezvous for the project) - a few traditional Greek starters again then pitas. Then we had an afternoon of completing the matching from yesterday...
Joan has been giving lectures and showing videos most evenings, but as we've seen most of them twice before we've carried on matching instead. But tonight, he wanted to show us some photos from July, where they came across a dolphin with a new-born that had died - the mother kept pushing her baby around, keeping it afloat. Very harrowing photos, but also very interesting.
Claire is cooking another cheesecake tonight (with some help from Elaine!) - she thinks she's got the right ingredients this time. Given how nice the first one was, tonight's should be really good! She's also taking her DIY air conditioning very seriously - preparing extra ice, a planned program of putting the ice in the room earlier... - we'll see whether it makes any difference!!!
Day 6 (continued)
Several hours later, we finally finished grouping the sighting - 7 dolphins, including 3 very plain ones. After a quick shower, we then went to Remezzo's for dinner - some traditional Greek starters (tzatsiki, saganaki, aubergine and courgette croquettes) and moussaka for main course - very nice!
Claire had a "good" idea to try to cool down our room - put bowls of ice around the fan, so the fan is blowing around colder air. No-one's too sure about the theory, or in fact whether it worked in practice - everyone seemed to sleep a little better tonight, but it was still very hot and sticky!!!
Claire had a "good" idea to try to cool down our room - put bowls of ice around the fan, so the fan is blowing around colder air. No-one's too sure about the theory, or in fact whether it worked in practice - everyone seemed to sleep a little better tonight, but it was still very hot and sticky!!!
Sunday, 26 August 2007
Day 6
A fantastic sighting today, many dolphins, all very active. Richard finally got a turn with our new camera and made up for lost time by taking nearly 400 photos! This was easily the best sighting we've had in any of our 3 teams - the dolphins were jumping all over the place, feeding, socialising... We also saw 2 turtles in the harbour again, although as usual (and unlike Cindy's namesake Ms Crawford) they seemed pretty camera shy!
We've just finished cropping our share of the pictures - we had 128 photos to do (Joan took over 400 but not even Joan gets perfect photos every time!). Now they're just preparing an earlier sighting for us to match...
We've just finished cropping our share of the pictures - we had 128 photos to do (Joan took over 400 but not even Joan gets perfect photos every time!). Now they're just preparing an earlier sighting for us to match...
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