Greece Family Volunteering for Sea Turtle Conservation

Thank you so much for making it possible for us and facilitating our inclusion of a week on Kefalonia on our holiday in Greece! We really enjoyed learning so much about the incredible species and came away re-energized about the opportunity to help them. The timing in August worked perfectly for us to see the magic of little Loggerhead Hatchlings making their way to the sea.

Thank you also for especially dropping me the tip to visit the public egg inventories – they are typically not as well known to those in the Education program, and for good reason (the days are long and restorative breaks are essential for families). However, despite it making for a long and intensive day on the one half day from the program, it really was game-changing for our son and us grown-ups! We were able to see 13 hatchlings on the evening. Luckily, the next day’s early morning nest checks and egg inventory (impromptu!) resulted in another three hatchlings we shared with the other families on the program.

These were poignant reminders of the incredible work that the researchers do. All 16 were from eggs thought not to be viable, even when regular checks allowed to track embryo health weekly. Further, they and their clutches of well over 100 eggs were relocated, and would have been entirely lost to growing natural and man-made changes. We hope the moments we witnessed of their march of 12 meters to the sea, splashing in their first waves and imprinting on the nearby waters will give them a great start to return back as adults. As magical as these moments were to witness, the bigger piece that we hope will stay with us is the hope and opportunity to learn more about this incredible species. This of course would not have been possible without the generous sharing of data, latest science developments and an insight into the work of the team – we learnt about drones to identify individual turtles, track any turtle health issues, understand how they are collaborating to track overall nest and egg populations – all from volunteers who were early career marine biologists and scientists. They all made great role models for our 7 year old to meet and engage with.

Our time arranged by you furthered the spark of curiosity and interest in nature conservation and scientific learning for our son, and gave us lasting hope for better future prospects for these wonderful creatures and how conservation can move forward alongside local communities. A big thank you, again.

We will continue to look for other travel ideas you have on WorkingAbroad.com!

We returned from Kefalonia and I want to thank you and the team for the perfect organisation of the project! We learned a lot and enjoyed the the hatchlings and turtles a lot!

We hope to participate in a meaningful project next summer (and during the year as well) again. If you can recommend something, it would be very helpful!  Here is a video that son 12 yr old son did that I hope you enjoy 🙂

We are just back from an unforgettable trip to Kefalonia, where we had the chance to volunteer on the incredible sea turtle conservation project (booked via @workingabroadprojects )🐢💚

We learned so much about these amazing creatures and the challenges they face, as well as the vital role they (and their ecosystem) play in our planet’s health. One of the biggest surprises was Seagrass (Posidonia) — it captures more carbon than the Amazon rainforest, helps prevent coastal erosion, supports biodiversity… yet it’s under threat due to human activity 🌿🌍

From sleeping on the beach one night beneath the stars to monitor nests ✨ to snorkelling surveys 🤿 the week was wonderful but the highlight was definitely helping 14 tiny hatchlings safely make their way to the ocean 🌊 truly a magical moment 🐢

This experience has left me feeling inspired, grounded, and more aware than ever of how deeply interconnected we are with the natural world — and how important it is to protect it. A big thank you to the project team too who were all absolutely lovely and brimming with information 💕

The volunteers did an amazing job at instrucing us on what to do and giving help where needed. They gave us valuable information and knowledge, which will stick with us for a long time to help educate us on the purpose of this work, and how it does a great job at helping the environment around Kefalonia, and making us aware of the threats to marine life in the areas. They were always happy to anwer any questions we had. It was an amazing experience to be able to try and help with the work, whilst being allowed to observe the beautiful sea life, including being lucky enough to witness some turtle hatchlings being uncovered, and helping them make their way into the ocean – Oliver (16).

I think it was amazing, and I am excited to use the knowledge that I have learnt – Emmy (10).

It was very nice, the people there were very knowledgable, which you would always hope, and very kind. I would come back to do the experience again – Matthew (14)

Just to let you know that we finished the turtle programme yesterday and we had the most fabulous time and wish it wasn’t over!  All 4 of us thoroughly enjoyed it, learnt a lot and loved every session we had, it was magical and we were so pleased to have helped in some way.