Blue Monday: Try A Little Tenderness

Blue Monday: Try A Little Tenderness 

This is my last post directly from Kos for this year! Two weeks has flown by and we must return to the UK. It’s been a wonderful visit to our beautiful island. There’s so much beauty here as well as a strong sense of community. I think my image of the young peacock grooming the peahen at Plaka sums up the warmth and compassion that is present here. People really do look out for one another! Try a little tenderness with the people around you, wherever you are in the world and whether you know them or not. It’s a simple thing to do, a simple yet beautiful gift to give! Happy Blue Monday everyone 🙂 

Look Of Love

Look Of Love 
This year at Plaka nature reserve, on Kos Island, one man has taken over the care of the wildlife and much of the habitat of the area. The cats and birds are much healthier and he has started a programme to neuter a number of the cats living in the park. 

He told us that almost every day when he arrives, there have been more kittens or puppies dumped at the main part of the park. Often it is residents but occasionally tourists bring kittens along thinking to give them a safer home. 

He’s quite overwhelmed but has strategies in place and arrangements with a local vet. I think he needs the park and the animals as much as they need someone to care for them. Widowed some 13yrs, retired from 39yrs with the military, only remaining member of his family still on the island, he lost his mother to altzheimers just a few weeks ago. He had cared for her for a long time and felt that she had at last found peace. 

He has found his own peace within Plaka and can fulfil the ongoing need to be caring for something. There is much to be gained from nature and wildlife during times of hardship, grief or illness. While local authorities do not have the funds to maintain some of Greece’s nature reserves, local people and visiting tourists can do much to safeguard these precious places. 

Hitching A Ride

Hitching A Ride 

This young terrapin in the pond, at Plaka nature reserve, on Kos made me laugh on Saturday! I would have taken to the water quite happily in the heat of the day but it persisted in hitching a ride off the adults. It’s the first time I’ve seen young terrapins at the pond. Plaka is a beautiful forested area with a stream and natural spring water. My next few posts will feature a few more creatures found in the reserve. This image is my entry for the Fotospeed challenge this week. Good luck to all taking part! 

Greetings From A Grouper

Greetings From A Grouper 

The dusky grouper we encountered during our dive on Saturday seemed to be quite fascinated by me! I was practically nose to nose with this character for quite a while. 

We did two dives from the boat off the coast of Kos with Arian Diving Centre in Kardamena. I can thoroughly recommend joining them for a day if you’re over here! 

Diving is one of the best things I have ever learnt to do!! I feel so free in the water. There’s so much beauty in the landscape, plants and wildlife. I will definitely write a longer blog about our experiences when we get back to the UK but I only have my phone with me to process images and post blogs at the moment! 

I’m posting this for both the Fotospeed challenge and Wex Mondays this week, along with a gallery of a few other groupers! Enjoy 😀

Blue Monday: Ornate Wrasse

Blue Monday: Ornate Wrasse

Still studying hard for our dive training which starts on Friday! So excited 🙂 In the meantime here’s a gallery of ornate wrasse photographed earlier this year in the seas around the coast of Kos.

Blue Monday is hosted by Jeanne at Backyard Neighbor in honour of Smiling Sally

Blue Monday: Deeper Into The Blue

Blue Monday: Deeper Into The Blue

These pretty little blue-finned fish are found in the seas of the Eastern Atlantic and The Mediterranean. It’s called a Damselfish (Chromis chromis) and we found these small ones in the seas off Kos this year. They are mostly juveniles, going by their colouring. They swim in shoals at depths between two and forty metres. I was incredibly lucky that this shoal came closer to the surface, while feeding on the rocks, where we were snorkeling!

We snorkel every year and I have been desperately trying to improve my few skills in underwater photography on each trip. The time has now come to attempt to delve a bit deeper into the blue seas of the Mediterranean! In order to do so, Simon and I are starting our PADI Open Water Dive (Scuba) training. At the moment we’re working on our coursework (knowledge development) with the dive video and manual. Lots to take in and memorise before our classroom theory, confined water and open water dives, starting in a couple of weeks time! I may not be particularly responsive online until we finish our course and, hopefully, get out certificates on December 5th. Keep your fingers (or fins!) crossed for us! I’ll try to keep posting (more fish perhaps?) but I apologise if you don’t hear anything more from me.

Blue Monday is hosted by Jeanne at Backyard Neighbor in honour of Smiling Sally

Silent Sunday

Inside The Volcano Of Nysiros

Silent Sunday

Blue Monday: Holiday Blues

Moonrise over Kastri Island

Blue Monday: Holiday Blues

We’re off to our beloved Kos again! I shall be taking a bit of a break for the next couple of weeks. Don’t worry though, the cameras are coming with me off course and I will have plenty to share on my return! For now I will leave you with an image taken last year of the moon rising over Kastri Island. Simon and I got married just in front of the little chapel you can see on the left of the island. Can’t wait to be back!

Blue Monday is hosted by Jeanne at Backyard Neighbor

Weekly Photo Challenge: Happy Place – Kastri Island

Weekly Photo Challenge: Happy Place – Kastri Island

In front of that little chapel, Agios Nikolaos, on Kastri Island is where Simon and I got married this year 😀 The happiest day of my life in a truly happy place for us both! Kastri lies in Kamari Bay near Kefalos on Kos. We stay here every year on our holidays and just fell in love with this beautiful spot the very first time that we set eyes upon it. My photograph was taken from the ruins of Agios Stefanos, one of the earliest known examples of a Christian Church and the setting for many of our wedding photographs. Posting this today makes me smile at so many happy memories, but also makes me wish we were there right now so we could get out into that beautiful blue water and follow the sealife around the rocks!

Wordless Wednesday and Travel Theme: The Perfect Wedding Venue

Wordless Wednesday: The Perfect Wedding Venue

Travel Theme: Land meets Water