Z stands for Zakynthos

Zakynthos also known as Zante is a pretty island nestling in the Ionian Sea. it is the third largest of the Ionian islands with many picturesque beaches and bays. Navagio Beach, pictured below left, is a famous beach on Zakynthos and can only be reached by boat, there is a shipwreck on the beach that people flock to, to photograph!

Caretta Caretta!

This is the affectionate name for the Loggerhead Sea Turtle

This stunning sea creature comes ashore on several beaches in Zakynthos to lay their eggs. The Bay of Laganas which has six beaches, approximately four kilometres in length, hosts 800-1800 nests. The mothers come ashore between June and August, at night and drag their 100 Kg bodies up to the dry part of the sand where they leave over 100 eggs in a chamber40-60cm deep. They lay their eggs late at night  but can be frightened by human intervention, such as noise or bright lights.

 

 

The surviving hatchlings emerge about two months later and return to the sea.



 

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The babies making way to the first of many adventures in the sea.

Twenty to thirty years later the female adults will return to their natal beach to reproduce...... 

 

So the circle of life continues, she returns to her place of birth to repeat the process once again.

Loggerhead Turtles are a protected species and it is forbidden to remain on the designated beaches of  Zakynthos after sunset so that the turtles can emerge from the sea to lay their eggs in the hours of darkness.

 

The Greek national Anthem was written by a Zakynthos writer,  Dionsios Solomos in 1823, then in1865 it was set to music by Nicholas Montzares.  Inspired by the Greek War of Independence Solomos wrote the hymn to honour the struggle of greeks for independence after centuries of Ottoman rule.

 

My sincere thanks to the ZANY Denise for devising ABCW and the ever ZEALOUS Roger for doing what he does as the administrator of this ZEPHYR like blog site,

best wishes and thanks to all the helpers too!

Di.

ABCW team,