SEA and BOATS

The few who know me, from the posts here, definitely know that I am in love with the sea! The fact that up to the nearest sea is at least 200 km makes me unable to grab the camera and take some photos for a seaphotography contest.

The fact that I can't take photos especially for the contest forces me to turn to the archive.

Unfortunately, there are photos taken without the necessary attention when you know they will participate in a contest. At the same time I want to participate, out of respect for the host and out of love for the sea.

The love of photography combined with the love of the sea can only produce a lot of images in your personal archive. Among them, of course, a few with boats. I think that with this I will go to the contest.

All photos are taken in Limenaria, a small town on the island of Thassos, of course Greece! The great pleasure of the last years (except for the year of the covid) were the holidays in this island and the proximity to the Mediterranean climate. The Aegean Sea, full of islands and history!

Limenaria, like any seaside town, is characterized by two important industries, the hospitality industry and fishing.

In the small port, both are represented by anchored boats. Those used for fishing ...

... and those used for small cruises with tourists.

Small cruises around the island and small fishing parties. I like fishing but I am an earth man (capricorn). I only feel good when I feel the ground under my feet. I am lost when I am in the air like when I am on the water. This means that I did not get on any boat, I did not fish and I could not take pictures in the middle of the sea.

This fear of an environment other than that close to the land prevents me from reaching more distant islands, which involve a flight or a long ferry trip. I regret this, but the conservation instinct is stronger.

Fortunately, the island of Thassos is affordable for me by car. The sixty-fifty kilometers and the crossing of the country that is between Romania, the country where I live, and Greece, that is Bulgaria. From north to south. This, although it seems like a long time, lasts almost ten hours, due to the lack of highways and extra precautions when driving through a foreign country.

All the happiness and joy that I stepped on the land of Greece melts when I reach the last obstacle before the island, namely the town of Keramoti from where I have to board the ferry that takes us to Limenas, the capital of the island of Thassos!

The ferry is inevitable, the only way to get to the island. The locals use it daily, I have never heard of an accident, but when I got on the steel boat I began to remember all my prayers, even those of my childhood.

The first steps on the water are the hardest, especially when I see that the shore is moving away from me.

Even if the speed is low, it seems to me that the shore is moving too fast and the boats in the port are getting smaller and smaller.

The ferry is very big and it seems safe but I am horrified when I think how many hundreds of tons are loaded on it, hundreds of people and dozens and dozens of cars.

My companions on this journey are impassive and share impressions and memories. This proves that women are much braver than men. My heart trembled as the ferry bent.

To calm me down a bit, I start looking at my other traveling colleagues, trying to see if they have the same emotions as me. Not nearly.

I received the hardest lesson from the youngest passenger, only a few years old. Extremely relaxed, he ran on the ferry as if he were in a park.

Ashamed, I sat down on a bench and began to look at the sea, to look up from the floor and so I saw the beauty around me, I saw that we were accompanied. Dozens of seagulls!

I then discovered that there is a reason why seagulls accompany the ferry. The food. They are used to being fed by tourists, probably some who like me are afraid of traveling on water and thus forget about it.

Over time and attracted by so many things happening around me, I almost forgot I was on a boat, the fear of water began to dilute. Following the flight of the seagulls, I came to see the fact that we were not alone on the water. A few ferries passed by us and I understood that this route is much busier than I imagined.

The crossing from the mainland to the island does not take long, about half an hour. Fear, discoveries and surrounding images made time pass unnoticed. Suddenly, the island and the port of Limenas appeared in front of us.

We have arrived safely and we are at the zero point of the island of Thassos. All fears passed miraculously and we look forward to reaching our hosts in Limenaria.

Now we are surrounded by water but I still don't realize it, when I think about it I feel a little uncomfortable. If these ferries did not exist, we would remain prisoners here with no chance of reaching the mainland. It was a pessimistic thought that characterizes me but which I will go over immediately, thinking about the beauties that await us. Thirty more kilometers by car and we will reach our destination. Limenaria!

The small town, our place of rest and relaxation, the place where we can go for many walks and short trips in the surroundings. With a beautiful view of Mount Athos, the holy mountain of Orthodox Christians.

This is for the SEAPHOTOGRAPHY CONTEST • WEEK 112 , a challenge hosted with great attention and determination by @marc-allaria. Our thanks for that.

This post is part of a series dedicated to the island of Thassos. If you are interested in seeing more about the beautiful island of Thassos in the Aegean Sea, here are the previous posts.

More Than a Vacation on an Island