Aug. 25, 2008 - Kalamaki, Greece
 You know what? I haven’t written anything here in such a long time and I’ve really been meaning to. I mean, I’ve done some nice (and deep) diving this summer and aim to do more. I guess I’ve been busy thinking… thinking catches up with sometimes, doesn’t it? Yeah, I’m thinking of going somewhere nice. I haven’t seen a shark or a dolphin in a while…I feel them calling… the Red Sea perhaps, don’t know. You know the small stuff is good when you’re easygoing and look at the bright side and try to get what you can out of what you have and so on and so on… but let’s face it there’s nothing like an encounter with a hammerhead or a school of dolphins. The drawback here in the Eastern Mediterranean or the Aegean is that you have to look for it whereas elsewhere it comes to you. This weekend I went looking for it. A weekend of diving not to be particularly proud of when you know that there are some very nice dive sites (relatively speaking) somewhere out there and not so far away; guess I’ve still got a lot to learn about choosing dive sites. Anyway, what counts is to get in the water and after all I know that many of my dive colleagues in North Western Europe especially those who don’t get to see the sea often and all those who regularly don their dry suits to immerse in a freezing cold lake or quarry would probably consider this weekend of diving as a kind of regal; well at least they probably wouldn’t be disappointed, I imagine but then again you never know and I shouldn’t be so presumptuous – get on with it then says the man to himself. Saturday, we rented a couple of tanks in Athens and headed west towards Corinth to a rather isolated beach people had told me about called Kalamaki (where there were said to be seahorses, a rare species in these parts) – although it wasn’t that isolated when you consider that the ‘beach’ was lined with campers cooking barbecues under signs erected by the municipality which stated ‘no camping, no fires, no dogs…’ and just about every other interdiction you could imagine such as the directly translated (because it would seem so nonsensical in English) ‘entrance to the sea prohibited to dogs’. Anyway, my dog stayed in the car and we headed off to discover this dive site. Oops! In my view it shouldn’t be considered a true dive site; I mean I wouldn’t take a group there and I understood that within three minutes. It was basically a sandy sandy sandy slope … need I say anymore. Anyway, I was there and I aimed to enjoy it. We descended to about 30 metres where we found a ‘patch of grass’ inhabited by a variety of little fellows which we photographed. It was actually very nice and the photographs are quite nice. See for yourself (below). Now a piece like this should usually end with a recommendation or… but I will resist the temptation. All I will say is that it’s up to you…
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