Following the Monk Seal#2

Taking part in the field work for the project “Monk seal photo-identification in the Ionian Sea” in Kefalonia was an incredible experience for me.

Not only I got to join project co-ordinator Aliki Panou and Dr Luigi Bundone into the Mediterranean monk seal’s habitats, visiting 3 different grottos in very different conditions which required a mix of hiking, climbing and swimming (I was over the moon)… I got to hear about how this research started, and how it was brought on with the contribution of different local communities, including fishermen, boat captains and citizens who care about the seals and helped out in different ways.

We also took time to discuss conservation strategies and the impact of tourism which was super interesting… And I got to see the seals!!

I have some important thanks to make: first of all to Luigi Bundone, for trusting me into joining this trip, supporting me with the application for the Creature Conserve scholarship and making this possible, and for being the best teacher and mentor I could imagine as I start exploring this new field.

Thank you to Aliki Panou, for welcoming me into her world, sharing her deep knowledge and passion for these animals, exchanging thoughts and discussing with me, it was so enriching and I am grateful for it all.

Thank you to the whole Trifilli Pension community in Lourdata, our base, especially Susan for being the most welcoming host and sharing her cello with me -yes! A celloooooo!!!!! and to all the friends for the chats, hugs and laughs (and the occasional pomegranate 🙂 ) over morning coffees and late dinners. Trifilli felt like home and I look forward to coming back!

Finally, thank you to Creature Conserve for making this possible 🙂 it made a huge difference for me at a critical time…

And thank you seals!!! for showing up 😀

phase2 -the field work

After taking a couple of planes together from Milan, Luigi and I arrived in Kefalonia on an earlyish October morning. Clouds were covering the sky in Argostoli (the capital of Kefalonia) and our ride to Lourdata, Cornelia, a lovely lady visiting Trifilli from Germany, was a bit worried about getting a cake on time. A cake for our host ! It was her birthday party that night.

So, our first task on the field was to actually find a bakery, using old-fashioned directions which were hand written on a piece of paper, with no address we could identify …it was a bit of an adventure but after a few attempts (if you need a bakery in the south of Kefalonia I may recommend a few) we made it! And came back happily with the treasure on time.

Trifilli is a lovely pension surrounded by a lush garden in Lourdata, our base, full of flowers and birds. I am grateful we had this beautiful place and people to come back to, after the field days.

And speaking of field days…Here are some notes from our first trip out 🙂

First trip to the field!

Aliki checks the waves outside of the car window. We adjusted the plan for the day because the sea was too agitated to access the cave they picked last night, and we’re heading to another one in a more sheltered position, where a pup was recently spotted. It’s going to be a delicate operation because of this!

The trees have put out new leaves and the countryside is beautiful to look at, stretching down to the sea where Zante lies to the south. (…)

As we approach the cave area, we stay silent and watch our steps among the white stones, bulging out from the red turf like bones unearthed by the path.

As we descend to the beach, a black zodiac with about 7 or 8 people approaches from the cape and initiates anchoring maneuvers: we’ll have to wait for around an hour before they leave and we can get on with our tasks; meanwhile we observe them putting on music and swimming around, until one guy spots someone else swimming with them…. a Mediterranean monk seal!

It’s quite special to finally see this animal in person after spending hours observing their pictures on the pc 🙂

I love how they keep their head out and arch the tail flippers up, so they pop out of the water as well -something I didn’t observe as often in harbor seals!

I used to spend hours watching these smaller seals haul out and swim in the Salmon River Estuary during my residencies at the Sitka Center for Art and Ecology. I have intense memories of swimming in the river with them -it was magical to observe them from inside the water.

This Mediterranean monk seal’s posture allows me to guess its size – so much bigger then its small relatives! When the tender people spot it, they slowly get back to the boat, turn down the music and observe it through a drone. They leave soon after (…)

As they leave we get ready and I feel a bit excited and nervous! I remember wondering -is it too much to be doing all these new things, and also add fins and snorkel in the package?! (…fins were quite fun in the end!)

Soon after we leave the beach, I turn towards the open sea to speak to Aliki and I see a seal, just a few meters behind her! I tell her quietly and she turns in time to see the animal dive. Such a close encounter!! I am thrilled. This reminded me of one theory I had about the harbor seals at Sitka: that they know which direction you’re looking… and they approach you from behind , not to be detected! It happened often, to feel like someone was looking at me and turn around just in time to see one of them dive 🙂

We surveyed the cave for tracks and found some – large depressions in the pebbles, all the way up the beaches till the spots we couldn’t reach, even lying on our bellies. The spaces felt cozy and smelly of fish and shrimp -seal’s fragrance I was told!

As we came out of the cave, the seal was again in front of us, a bit further away, apparently checking the entrances. Aliki whispered to me: “This is unique in the Mediterranean. You are privileged, to see this”

One of the first things I learnt from Aliki is that acceptable weather conditions to access grottos are not that broad: here are some notes from one of our first days, which ended up being a stay-at-home day…

On Lourdata’s beach I look at the sea and as marvelous as it is, with the fine sand and the various shades of blue till almost purple at the horizon, I can’t ignore a sting of disappointment for the waves that are preventing us to go in the field again. The relaxed swimmers chatting in the shallow water seem to tell a different story, but conditions vary quite a bit if I look up to the left, where the arm of the bay curves exposing itself to the direct impact of the waves, generating high splashes that are clearly visible from afar.

Today I went out with Aliki for her weather check-in round, hoping to learn which are the clues she uses to determine the feasibility of the day for safe field work.

This is what I remember:

We need to consider the exposition of the cave we chose to visit, how we’ll need to approach it, whether by land or sea; go to the closest stretch of coast and observe conditions of waves in an area which is exposed to currents in similar ways; then we cross-check the info with a couple of weather websites and also with locals, who may be familiar with the daily wave patterns in the cave’s area.

Unfortunately we won’t make it to go out today, but it is still super interesting to learn how these assessments are made, and how Aliki’s watching out for our safety -as well as for the sustainability of the project, avoiding to waste energies and resources.

But good conditions happened, and we took good advantage of them!

A different day saw us hike for around an hour to reach the grotto. As Luigi slipped under the rocks at the entrance of the cave, I remember thinking -no worries, it’s just what mechanics do when getting under a car…

 …I was feeling all the pebbles against my back, waves coming at me, the narrowing of the space…

..and then I was in, too! A turquoise light, crepuscular, and a strong seal smell -although we won’t meet them here today.

Smell of fish and shrimps, and deep tracks in the pebbles. After ticking-in all tasks, we take a few minutes just to be in the cave. I try to quietly sing, exploring the rock’s profiles and resonances. It was a different kind of study; I was talking with the space through sound…and the cave answered with beautiful echoes 🙂

Getting back to the road was sun, sun, sun, strong sun, and the beautiful scent of wild time sage and rosemary kept making me think of roasted potatoes -which was quite a good description for us, at the end of the hike 🙂

Around halfway through, military planes did some shapes in the sky over our heads and on the sea leaving white tails behind them. Their presence gave me chills down the spine, thinking how lucky we are to be worrying about wild thyme and seals, at a time like this we’re living.

On another day, a long survey trip took us further away from the base camp, accessing a cave by climbing down spiky rocks -and entering a space of magical green and purple reflections…

On the way back we stopped at a more accessible cave, to check out the night activity:

…A short night watch at the grotto: the voices of the cave, shrills, barking, snorting… in the dark reflections of the moon we saw a juvenile seal play by the entrance of the cave, making splashes and curling up in the water…we chatted quietly under the moon and found our way back following the sea. I felt I was learning the whole cave’s profile back from scratch … I remember wishing we could stay, and find out more about what happens with the seals at night! (…)

Later that evening back at Trifilli, Luigi knocked at my door as I was getting ready for dinner: one regular client was down at the restaurant with his family, to celebrate his birthday… Did I want to maybe play something for him?

And without second guessing, yeah !! After all, no matter how many seals I see or caves I climb down to, I am always a street musician – nothing can stand between me and playing a Happy birthday. And thanks to Susan, I had a lovely cello available!

I played happy birthday and we all sang it out in different languages; then they asked me for a Greek piece, and the only one I knew is an old traditional song a friend from Thessaloniki, Sophia Avramidou, taught me several years ago: na man pouli… I played that one, which was lovely as it also made me think of her!

Finally, I was asked for one last piece from Italy: I took us to my busking square in Trastevere and sang Sora Menica -we actually sang the last chorus all together 🙂

Last but not least, I share a little note from an individual observation I conducted while Aliki and Luigi were busy at a different location: I’ll tell you more about this soon, but basically -spoiler alert- I had a special encounter with a tiny Mediterranean monk seal…

The sunlight made its black back and head shimmer with reflections!

It was as if it popped out of the blue, and was just laying there on the surface of the water, comfortably… then a quick wiggle and those soft, agile moves -although maybe still a bit goofy!- brought it back to hiding in the murky water. What a moment!

…I will tell you about this last encounter in the next post, as it is also quite connected with the new music I am writing, now that the last phase of the project -composition and sharing! – is in full swing.

The days in Kefalonia will stay with me and I hope in my heart that I’ll have the opportunity to go back in the future 🙂 Thank you again to all those who supported this adventure into being!

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