Greece! Archelon Rescue Centre - Arrival and Day 1
Yesterday Adam and I arrived in Greece at around 15:00 local time. It's 2 hours ahead here. The flight went quite quickly, Adam slept most of the way and I coloured my under the sea colouring book :) Once we arrived we got a taxi to the rescue centre where we met the current volunteers and had a quick tour of the centre. Shortly after we arrived another new volunteer named Amy also arrived. At 18:00ish we left the rescue centre and took the tram to the volunteer apartment which we are staying in. There are 2 rooms, each with 4 bunk beds so lots of room although there are now 9 volunteers, 2 people stay at the rescue centre each night, we all have to do this twice a week. Once we had settled and dropped our stuff of f we went to a local supermarket to buy food for lunch and then Niels, Zonne, Amy, Lewis, Adam and I went out to a local restuarant for called Pitta Bar for dinner. The food was really yummy and really reasonable! After that we went down to the beach and the others went for a dip in the sea to cool off after a very warm afternoon. We then headed back the apartment and got ready for bed.
Day 1 at the Rescue Centre- Normally we would get the tram to the rescue centre but today there was a strike so we had to get a taxi instead. We started work at the rescue centre at 8:30am, each of us new volunteers were shown how to clean out the tanks and move the turtles safely in and out of the tanks. There are currently 35 turtles at the centre, most of them are loggerheads and there is one green. They've all got their own names (some 2 names) and a lot of them have head injuries which is sad to see but also amazing to be able to get so close to them. A few are missing flippers and some blind. Once we cleaned out all the tanks that needed cleaning we observed some turtles being cleaned, their carapace is scrubbed with a sponge and soap and their heads with toothbrushes. Each turtle has their own named bucket witht their own sponge and tooth brush assigned to them. Other morning tasks included washing and hanging up tea towels used on the turtles, moving and cleaning turtles and feeding. Cleaning the tanks was pretty straight forward, turn off the inflow, open the outflow and let the water out then scoop out any remaining water and then scrub the walls and bottom of the tank with soapy water, rinse and then scoop out the water then refill the tank. Once the tanks were clean and the turtles were washed and some treated then they were returned to their respective tanks. The turtles are realllyyy heavy! Some turtles needed to be taken for surgery in the surgery room and some needed to be weighed. At 2pm Adam, Amy and I had a small induction to the centre and were briefed about the schedule and work etc. We finished the AM tasks around 3pm and after that is was more feeding and then cleaning up the rescue centre, washing towels, sweeping and checking no fish was left in tanks.
Once we were done at the centre Amy, Adam, Zonne and I got a taxi back to the apartment before a few of us went to the shop again to get some snacks. Adam and I then went to a resturant on the beach for dinner and went for a dip in the sea under the moon.
Day 1 at the Rescue Centre- Normally we would get the tram to the rescue centre but today there was a strike so we had to get a taxi instead. We started work at the rescue centre at 8:30am, each of us new volunteers were shown how to clean out the tanks and move the turtles safely in and out of the tanks. There are currently 35 turtles at the centre, most of them are loggerheads and there is one green. They've all got their own names (some 2 names) and a lot of them have head injuries which is sad to see but also amazing to be able to get so close to them. A few are missing flippers and some blind. Once we cleaned out all the tanks that needed cleaning we observed some turtles being cleaned, their carapace is scrubbed with a sponge and soap and their heads with toothbrushes. Each turtle has their own named bucket witht their own sponge and tooth brush assigned to them. Other morning tasks included washing and hanging up tea towels used on the turtles, moving and cleaning turtles and feeding. Cleaning the tanks was pretty straight forward, turn off the inflow, open the outflow and let the water out then scoop out any remaining water and then scrub the walls and bottom of the tank with soapy water, rinse and then scoop out the water then refill the tank. Once the tanks were clean and the turtles were washed and some treated then they were returned to their respective tanks. The turtles are realllyyy heavy! Some turtles needed to be taken for surgery in the surgery room and some needed to be weighed. At 2pm Adam, Amy and I had a small induction to the centre and were briefed about the schedule and work etc. We finished the AM tasks around 3pm and after that is was more feeding and then cleaning up the rescue centre, washing towels, sweeping and checking no fish was left in tanks.
Once we were done at the centre Amy, Adam, Zonne and I got a taxi back to the apartment before a few of us went to the shop again to get some snacks. Adam and I then went to a resturant on the beach for dinner and went for a dip in the sea under the moon.
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