I’ve been home for almost a week now and very busy. So many things to do… not enough time to write a summary.

First things first:

(click to open larger)

My beloved Columbia Beartooth GTX mid did not survive the 3 months of ordeal that is named Ikaria. Unfortunately they do not make the same model anymore, or the previous incarnation called Tigertooth (luckily I still have those around) as this was one of the best shoes I ever had. Extremely comfortable, amazing grip on rocks, very light, waterproof (although not anymore obviously) but sadly all those amazing properties must come with a downside. They are simply not durable enough to wear them on rough trails and off road everyday. The sole was very worn out and the first hole (big one on the photo) appeared after only 3 weeks on the island, followed closely by another one where the toe cap meets the leather. I tried to repair them as best I could by stitching up the leather but given the uncompromising location I only prolonged the ordeal for two more weeks. After that the holes just kept spreading and multiplying. Eventually I was walking around with what felt like a GoreTex sock with amazing breathability. ;)
Poor protection against spiky shrubs that are inevitable on Ikaria… But all that complaining somehow fades in comparison to Johanna’s footwear saga.
I still love my Beartooths though but unfortunately I can’t find a replacement pair anywhere. I guess I can wait while I still have the Tigertooths…

(click to open much larger map)

This is a sketch showing what I think are almost all the routes I walked, drove or otherwise visited while on Ikaria. Obviously it is not accurate and obviously a lot of those lines were walked and driven at some point (Suzuki Jimny baby, sorry Dimitris) ;) but I wanted to keep the map simple so only one color per road/trail. And obviously we repeated a lot of them multiple times.
The background is a photograph of Road Editions map of Ikaria.

(click to open larger)

Above is a similar sketch showing the roads driven on Samos while we were coming back from Turkey. It was easter weekend and no ferries went back to Ikaria… so what can you do but rent a car… Again, background by Road Editions.

(click to open larger) copyright Archipelagos/Jernej Burkeljca/Road Editions

This slide from my final presentation for Archipelagos is a collection of all the GPS measurements I managed to either record on my own or dig up from old reports. Most of them are mine but I wish I recorder many more…
Recorded on Garmin e-Trex legend or Qstarz GPS receiver linked via BlueTooth to Garmin Que running under Windows Mobile on Dell Axim X51v.

Which one is better?
Well, the eTrex series are nice little units, much more useful in the field compared to my own setup (which is normally used in a car not while hiking) but the one I used had some serious connection problems at times. It had problems with terrain, with vegetation, with my pockets, clouds…
This could all be excused (since the GPS does need line of sight with the satellite) but not if the Qstarz managed to stay hooked on throughout even if I carried it at the bottom of the backpack.
I can’t comment on accuracy since I don’t have anything to compare it against. Qstarz did report about 50% lower error though (but I don’t really trust those numbers).

On my last weekend I finally managed to slip underwater with a camera to take some photos of underwater photography fieldcourse but since the camera I was using was crap that takes 3 or 4 seconds to take a photo and I didn’t have any lights (a must underwater) the photos aren’t any good. To put it plain and simple – they suck… at least I saw my first Triton’s trumpet (Charonia tritonis).

Scorpaena (porcus?)

Charonia (tritonis?)

Below is the other movie I was working on towards the end… we had visits by two groups of children from schools in Perdiki and Agios Kirikos and I just basically followed them around the base and areas around it. The movie is supposed to be a short overview of what these environmental education visits are about so there’s no major editing involved. Just a nice soundtrack and voices of children in the background for a nice summer feel.

copyright Archipelagos/Jernej Burkeljca

So to end this… thank you all that made my stay on Ikaria so enjoyable and memorable! Hopefuly you know who you are. Thanks to everyone who helped out in whatever way, to everyone who picked us up when we were hitchiking (some should have the title of our regular drivers), to all that made hiking on Ikaria what it is, to everyone who cooked such nice food and everyone else that made sure I’ll come back someday. Hopefuly nobody feels left out but there’s too many of you to name and this is not an academy award speech ;)

Pezi guard

I’ve been working on this ongoing project for a while now and although it hasn’t finished exactly the way I expected I feel I have something decent enough to show and describe.

The curious thing about dogs on Ikaria is that a lot, if not most of them, end up tied to about 2m of rope, in the middle of nowhere. Quite often without water and food. They last, for as long as they do, roasting in the sun with minimal shade and get replaced by another poor canine soul.

Pezi guard

The purpose of all this nonsense (to the common outsider) is supposedly to keep the goats away from roads and villages. Whether a dog can effectively do this, tied down as it is, is something I’ll let everyone decide for themselves.

Ag. Isidoros guard

I have talked to one of the shepherds about this practice, specifically I wondered why they refuse to use dogs proactively for guarding, herding, driving and other similar duties that resulted in such wonderful breeds as appenzellers, collies, kelpies and other sheep/cattle dogs. (see dogbreedinfo > flock guardians & herding dogs). I didn’t get a definitive answer but I did manage to raise some interest and ended up describing how dogs work with animals elsewhere. So maybe there’s hope. Maybe it’s not just a case of lack of interest, time and energy but more a case of lack of information.

Kalamos guard

Whatever it is, it constantly amazes me how incredibly friendly all these dogs are, despite their miserable existence and ultimate fate. They will greet you enthusiastically and most will assume a submissive position if you approach, then start playing if you feel so inclined. Quite unlike what I’d expect…

Ag. Dimitrios guard

It’s been a while since I got to do some theatre shooting but last week Lefteris invited us to a premiere of their play Bald Soprano in Ag. Polikarpos. I hardly understood a word being said but it was still fun watching it. The play is touring the island for the next few weeks if you’re interested.

first row audience

bald soprano

photos in the gallery