Weather and Nature
At last summer has arrived. For the whole of June we were sitting on the edge of a low pressure system which gave us northerly winds and occasional rain. Even when many other islands around were enjoying sunshine we were covered in cloud. This was caused by high humidity and the northerlies pushing the air up over the mountains to below the dew point resulting in cloud cover (orographic lifting).
The above weather has resulted in the flowers remaining out for longer than normal which was a bonus. Even some of the orchids which go over quite early could still be found. Two pictures by Joe Humm are featured here but if you would like to see more of his flower photographs taken in May on Amorgos visit The Maidenhead Camera Club.
Tourism and Strikes
Tourism was down last year and the early signs are that it will be even lower here on Amorgos this year. I do not need to spell out the problems. For the determined it is however a great time to come. Amorgos will be relatively quiet and prices are being kept down to encourage visitors.
To persuade people to come here Special Interest Holidays are making a special offer for September and October. Full details can be found by visiting our Special Offer Page.
This allows people to benefit from cheap flight offers and the now set price taxi charges from ATH to Piraeus and return. The bus or metro is of course even cheaper but they won’t take you directly to the correct ship. As far as strikes are concerned they are always announced in advance so can be worked around. For updated strike information visit this website. Regarding the Euro exchange rate well I am afraid that even we can’t forecast that for you.
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Serapias parviflora -
Orographic Lifting -
Ophrys scolopax -
Monachus-Monachus
Our Spring Tragedy
The Monk Seal (Monachus-Monachus) is one of the most endangered mammals in the world. There are only 350-450 individuals remaining. They are delightful but very illusive. There used to be many breeding pairs around Amorgos but they are in decline. The old Roman harbour at the end of the beach in Ormos Aegiali is named Fokiotripa (seal hole) because they used to breed in this area. Imagine how delighted we were when a mother and baby arrived in the bay in the middle of May. There were many sightings of them around the harbour and in the bay. On July 10th the baby was found dead on the beach with suspicious injuries. MOm, the Greek organisation to protect the Monk Seals, carried out a post mortem at The University of Athens The official report states that:
It was a young male, approximately 6-7 months old, in a very good nutritional status. The animal had injuries on its back by a sharp object, which crossed the side to reach the thoracic cavity, thus injuring the lung. Histological analysis will give us information on whether the animal eventually died from suffocation or internal bleeding. In any case, death resulted from the injury, which was deliberately done from a small distance.
MOm also stated: “The Amorgos contribution of all was very important and we would like to thank the residents of the island and especially Dimitri Synodinos from Amorgos Diving Center, who all this time informing us of the presence of the animal on Amorgos, George Evangelou of Aegiali port, who arranged for the maintenance of the animal, and Nikitas Roussos, Mayor of Amorgos, who carried the animal on his own to the port and also the crew of Blue Star Paros for their contribution to transport the animal to Athens.”
Look out for future news and snippets every month on your Newsletter page.
Kind regards,
Paul & Henri
© Special Interest Holidays 1999 - 2012
