Crete is a 250 km long island in South-Eastern Mediterranean Sea. Minoan civilization was born and flourished here. Two million tourists visit Crete every year. Very few of them actually discover the beauties of the island.

Join us in an attempt to

Yannis is your guide to the less known highlights of his island

Follow him along a virtual tour and meet Crete's best beaches and places to visit.

Learn some traditional Cretan recipes and read about the endangered species of Mediterranean Sea.

Put your hiking boots on and walk with him along scenic routes on the Cretan mountains and inside the most remarkable gorges of Crete.

Crete

Trekking

Tour Around the island

Naturism

Cretan Diet

Mediterranean

• Pollution in the Mediterranean
• >>Caretta-Caretta Sea Turtle & Monachus-Monachus seal

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Caretta caretta

is the only species of Mediterranean sea-turtles that nests in Greece. Sea turtles are reputed to be strongly philopatric, and always return to the same beach they were born on to lay their own eggs. Nesting beaches in Greece are located in Zakynthos, Peloponnese and Crete. In Crete the highest nesting densities were found in Rethimnon, Hania and Messara Bay.
Caretta-Caretta is an endangered species and it needs the help of us all.
The Sea Turtle Protection Society of Greece (STPS) initiated an intensive tagging program in 1982 and is doing a great job so far.
If you are willing to help, you can either contribute a small amount of money to the STPS (e-mail them and ask them about it) or join their programs as a volunteer.

Another organization for the protection of Sea turtles is Medasset (Mediterranean Association to Save Sea Turtles), which is based in Greece. Their site is really interesting but it is in Greek only.

Mediterranean Monk Seal

The Mediterranean Monk Seal is one of the worlds most endangered mammals. Monachus -Monachus, to call it by its Latin name, is one of three species of Monk Seal. It once swarmed through the Mediterranean and adjoining Atlantic while the other two species were common in the Pacific and Caribbean. These represent the only genus of seal found in tropical seas.

The Caribbean Monk Seal Monachus tropicalis was spotted by Columbus when he arrived in the New World. Then it was abundant but it was also shore loving and exploitable. Soon it was being slaughtered in droves. In 1707 a West Indian traveler wrote:" The Bahaman Islands are filled with seals. Sometimes fishers will catch a hundred in a night". The last was sighted in 1952 and now the species is almost certainly extinct.

The Hawaiian Monk Seals. Now the last remaining 3000 or so are carefully protected in a reserve at French Frigate Shoals off Hawaii and its numbers have stabilized. They are the best hope for survival of the genus.

The Mediterranean Monk Seal gave its name to an ancient city, Phocaea, in Asia Minor, and, as late as the 15th century, was plentiful enough to fuel a commercial fishery. Their population today is estimated in 500 seals.

All the monk seal wants is to continue living in the ancient seas for which it was designed. But those waters are gone now: pollutants, plastics and fishing lines ride the waves, and fishermen kill them because they believe that they steal 'their" fish.

Greek scientists, conservation organizations and wildlife authorities have developed a collaborative Greek National Program for the Protection of the Monk Seal under the coordination of HELLENIC SOCIETY FOR THE STUDY AND PROTECTION OF THE MONK SEAL (Mom). Mom, is a nonprofit, non-governmental organization, which was established in 1988 by a group of biologists and researchers from the Departments of Ecology and Zoology of the University of Athens. They were soon joined by sensitized citizens, concerned about the state and the protection of the marine environment.

The goals of the Society is the study of the Mediterranean monk Seal aiming to understand the biology, ecology and behavior of this species, and its protection with all legal means, including the raising of the public's awareness.

The National Marine Park of Alonnisos N.Sporades (NMPANS), is the first to be founded in Greece. It is situated in the Eastern Central Aegean sea, near the well known island of Skiathos. One of the main aims of the creation of the Park is the protection of one of the most important habitats of the monk seal (Monachus Monachus), which is high on the list of species threatened with extinction, both in Europe and worldwide. With the research -ecotourist 25m. boat OCEANIS, they organize ecotourist programs in the NMPANS and other areas of Greece (Ionian islands, Cyclades etc.) as part of their efforts for the protection of the Mediterranean Monk Seal and management of its important habitats. If you like more information send e-mail to vkourou@athena.compulink.gr

MOM is also responsible for the operation of the Seal Treatment and Rehabilitation Center, always in collaboration with the Seal Rehabilitation and research Center, Pieterburen, The Netherlands. The rescue team working in the center has been specially trained in the Netherlands on the treatment of seals. The Seal Treatment and Rehabilitation Center began operating in 1990, with the donation of an intensive care mobile unit by the Seal Rehabilitation and Research Center of Pieterburen. In the intensive care unit, which is located at Steni Vala, Alonnissos, MOm has treated several orphan monk seal pups.