The following post was written by Global Gap Year Fellow, Sarah Breland.
When I first arrived in Greece I was exhausted, clueless where I was going, sweating from the insane heat, and hungry because the airport had no food in it and I had slept through the food provided in the plane. This quickly changed when I finally went to where I am staying now and the director and other volunteers greeted me and helped me get settled in. I am staying at a farmhouse in Greece which has too many animals to count on a daily basis. If you have ever been to an island you probably know about how cats can run the island. Well, Kefalonia, Greece is completely run by cats and of course partly goats. At the farmhouse, there are approximately 20 cats, 80 goats, 100 chickens, and 4 dogs.
Thus, when I get up in the morning I am greeted by Blacky and Pita (a dog and cat) who love to join in on our volunteer breakfasts. After breakfast at 5:30AM when all the volunteers wake up, we each start the day by hiking over the rocky side of a mountain to get to the beaches that we patrol. The hikes to the beaches in the morning are not as bad as the hikes back to the house when the sun is hot and blazing. However, on the way back the volunteers and I will jump into the sea to cool off and continue back to our center.
During patrols we each search for turtle tracks made in the sand and any activated nests. If we find any turtle tracks, we mark the details in our database, compiling details such as the length far away from each of our markers on the beach, the length from the high tide, the length from the water, and any other details we feel are necessary. For any turtle tracks from activated nests, we mark down the amount of tracks and then begin to excavate. This is probably my favorite part of volunteering with the Katelios Group because the excavations include helping stuck baby turtles get out of the sand and into the sea water. In addition, later in the day the volunteers and I give mini presentations to the tourists and locals on the sea turtles in Kefalonia (mainly loggerhead turtles) and how to help the sea turtles remain around in our environment in Greece.
When we finally get done with our sandy and sweaty mornings on the beach we head out to our local restaurant which we call “Sadie’s” ran by this amazing woman named Sadie and other staff who are super sweet. Of course, however, I cannot forget to mention Sadie’s daughter who is one of the most straightforward and funny little girl there is on the island. After we have typically club sandwiches or gyros from the local restaurants later in the day, we all head back to the house and finish any work we still have to do paperwork wise or just relax.
On random days, some of the volunteers and I will go out and explore the island. Recently, we rented out some cars and visited the white pebble beaches of Myrtos, Fiskardo, some amazing caves (we cliffed jumped), Argostoli, and other places like really old castles and beautiful beaches. In fact, we even booked a boat ride to visit Ithica (an island nearby) and I have one scheduled in a couple of days to visit Zante to check out the shipwreck beach and blue caves. At the end of the day, I am feeling exhausted but in a good way from all of the work and activities that we got the opportunity to do.
Everyday is another step we take in learning, exploring, and more in which we grow as a person. So far, I have learned not only to work in turtle conservation but also how to be more social with new people such as volunteers and the locals who I see everyday. Overall, I have learned that failure is better than regret of never trying.