The IDP (Ionian Dolphin Project): a week of science and inspiration
While I’m pretty sure we could spend the entire year on endless ‘holiday’ exploring various Greek Islands, learning every Greek myth by heart and hunting down the single best bite of feta cheese, our next adventure was calling - this one in the form of a week volunteering for the Ionian Dolphin Project, helping scientists track and observe the behaviors of the Bottlenose Dolphin, Common Dolphin and Mediterranean Monk Seal. In planning this year of travel, adventure and education, we decided that the best possible education for the boys (and ourselves) would come through authentic connections to a place and figured there is no better way to genuinely connect than volunteer work. We discovered a program called Working Abroad, a group that connects volunteers to various research programs across the world, and started hunting any program they had that might be suitable for young kids (which it turns out is harder than you would think!) Two programs connected with our young family and itinerary: the IDP in Vonitsa (a small town in mainland Greece in the Gulf of Ambracia) and a sustainable agriculture program in the Cloud Forest of Ecuador. Both locations were quickly added to our itinerary and we dove in, not quite sure what to expect, but excited none the less. The IDP had never had volunteers as young as the boys but after a long zoom call with JoAn, the lead scientist (who happened to be from a small village in Catalunya not far from where we lived in Girona!), we were able to convince him that our boys would be able to handle long days in the sun, the sometimes tedious nature of having eyes on empty water, data analysis and entry, and that we were excited, game, and ready to learn and help in any way we could. I feel forever grateful to JoAn and his partner Carmen for taking a risk on our little family as the week was even more inspiring and conversation provoking than I could have hoped.
We arrived in Vonitsa at 11:30 pm, bedraggled and exhausted after hillside drive to a 4-hour ferry ride from Sifnos to Athens followed by a 5-hour drive from Athens to Vonitsa. I am continually impressed by the travel toughness the boys are already developing, learning how to navigate grumpy, pushy crowds aboard overpacked ferries, while carrying their bags blocks and blocks thorough 90-degree humid heat as we hunt down rental cars, eat whatever random food we find for dinner at various gas stations and rest stations, and stay positive as we get lost on tiny roads trying to navigate when cell phones fail. A 6am wake-up call to shovel some breakfast down our throats and head out to the boat to beat the wind was definitely pushing their limits, but the excitement of a potential dolphin sighting was enough to convince them up and out the door with only a few cries of protest for more sleep. The daily rhythm was such: We would wake up early and head out on the Saganaki, the 7-meter RIB research boat captained by JoAn and Carmen. We followed a plotted GPS system of pre-programmed routes, each day exploring a different area, recording how long it takes to find the dolphins in that area, and then recording their behaviors once we found them while capturing hundreds of photos of them swimming, jumping, playing and feeding. It turns out each dolphin’s dorsal fin is as unique as our fingerprints, in shape and markings, and the IDP has been collecting photos and data on the dolphins in the gulf of Ambracia for the past 20 years, using photos of the dorsal fins to track individuals movement, habits and reproduction. After spending 2-3 hours observing the dolphins, we would head back to harbor for a jump in the ocean and a lunch feast of spanakopita, anchovies, tomatoes, feta and lots and lots of Greek olive oil. There was a mandatory nap/siesta which we settled into quite nicely with the early morning wake-ups, and then in the afternoon we would help Carmen match the photos of the dorsal fins we captured that morning with their catalogue of existing dolphins. We would then take turns cooking dinner and spending hours over food and wine building an incredible friendship with Carmen and JoAn and becoming increasingly inspired by their work.
On our last day we ventured into the inner Ionian sea to retrieve two sound recording devices that they had dropped alongside one island there 6 months ago to record the sounds of the Mediterranean Monk Seals that frequent it. We had to dive down and thread a rope through two metal rings in order to hoist the giant cement blocks they are attached to up onto the boat. The boys were beyond excited to not only swim but get to help scientific equipment that had been sitting at the bottom of the ocean for the past 6 months. We learned that while the crystal clear waters of the Ionian sea and the Mediterranean we’d been loving were incredible for swimming, they are so clear because they are largely devoid of nutrients, not quite so incredible for all the fish and marine animals trying to live there. We then spent the morning looking for monk seals, which happen top the list of the most endangered animals on the planet with only 700 surviving and only 400 in the Mediterranean. Joan told the boys to look for what looks like a very fat snorkeler without a snorkel and low and behold we were lucky enough to spot 3 with their sweet little faces poking up out of the water. The boys learned about the impact tourism is having on the seals and the degradation of their habitat, how important it is not to try and swim with the seals and dolphins and to respect their space and environment, always observing from an appropriate distance. Homeschooling, check.
