Based in the charming Greek village of Vonitsa on the Amvrakikos Gulf, you’ll have the opportunity to experience traditional village life as you help researchers conduct daily surveys on the area's bottlenose dolphins. From a small research vessel, you’ll scan the water for dolphin dorsal fins. Your team will spot dolphins, follow them, and record information on their numbers, group composition, activity, movement patterns and interactions with the area’s fishing industry. The research team identifies individual dolphins by looking for distinguishing signs such as bite marks, nicks, and notches in their dorsal fins. The dolphins living in the Gulf often approach the research boat to bowride, even when the boat is moving slowly, so you’ll have a chance to see them up close and hear their echolocation clicks and whistles.

Back at the field station, you’ll help enter data and prepare digital images of these dorsal fins for matching. Your days will start early, but you will have the traditional siesta each afternoon for resting or otherwise enjoying the quiet coast.

Dr. Bearzi was born in Venice, Italy in 1963, and has carried out research on Mediterranean dolphins since 1986. He founded and directed a dolphin research and conservation program in Croatia that was awarded the Henry Ford European Conservation Award. He has trained dozens of research assistants and has supervised a number of students working on Mediterranean cetaceans. In 2003 he earned a Ph.D. in Zoology at the University of Basel, Switzerland, with a thesis on Mediterranean common dolphins and bottlenose dolphins. A board member of the Tethys Research Institute since 1990, in 2001 he became its president. He is a member of the World Conservation Union’s (IUCN) Cetacean Specialist Group and a consultant to the UNEP’s Agreement on the Conservation of Cetaceans of the Mediterranean Sea, Black Sea and Contiguous Atlantic Area (ACCOBAMS) and to the UNEP’s Regional Activity Centre for Specially Protected Areas (RAC-SPA).

Between 2002 and 2006 he taught cetacean conservation as a contract professor at the University of Venice, Italy. In 2001 he was awarded a Pew Marine Conservation Fellowship. Giovanni speaks Italian, English, some French and a few words of modern Greek. He is the scientific coordinator of the project and will be in the field whenever possible, but also needs to travel on behalf of the research and oversee its management, limiting his time on the water.

Mr. Villegas was born in Barcelona, Spain in 1972, and is a Catalan biologist whose main research interest is the study and conservation of cetaceans. He has been collaborating with the Tethys Research Institute since 1999, regularly participating in cetacean research done in Greece. Between 2000 and 2005 Joan was a member of GRUMM, a group for the study and conservation of marine mammals at the University of Barcelona, Spain. As a GRUMM collaborator, Joan was involved in a project funded by the Spanish Ministry for the Environment, focusing on interactions between bottlenose dolphins and fisheries, and in another EU-funded project to assess bottlenose dolphin population size and conservation needs in the Balearic Islands. He was also responsible for the coordination and experimental design of a project to monitor the population of bottlenose dolphins in the Ebro river delta and adjacent waters in northeastern Spain to evaluate the potential effects of two offshore wind farms’ construction.

Mr. Villegas' work as an Earthwatch principal investigator occurs in the context of his pursuit of a Ph.D. with the University of Barcelona, and he is in charge of logistical aspects and coordinating Earthwatch volunteers. In 2007 he became a member of the Board of Directors of Tethys. Mr. Villegas is a professional swimming teacher with experience teaching disabled children. He speaks English, Catalan, Spanish, Italian and some Modern Greek.

The village of Vonitsa, where the field station is located, lies on the southern coast of the Amvrakikos Gulf, a virtually closed basin that is one of the most productive coastal areas in Greece, its largest and one of its most important wetlands. The Gulf is designated as a Ramsar site and as a Special Protection Area. It has rocky pebbled beaches and is surrounded by densely wooded mountain peaks, verdant plains, lakes and rivers, and sparkling white villages inhabited by hospitable people. The Amvrakikos Gulf is not a glamorous tourist destination, and so retains a genuinely traditional Greek environment.

The Byzantines built a large castle on the hill of Vonitsa, and subsequent Turks and Venetians, made their own mark upon the structure. Illuminated at night, the castle is a beautiful sight from below, and offers rewarding views of the Gulf from its heights. In this quiet, welcoming seafront village you can sit and enjoy good food or a café frappé (iced coffee) at the traditional cafes and tavernas. Large sea turtles can be spotted from the coast, and even inside the port among the moored boats.

The economy in the area is simple and includes fishing, fish-farming and agriculture. Tourism is relatively undeveloped. Locals are very friendly and sometimes curious about foreigners. In Vonitsa everyone knows everyone else and new faces in town may draw some attention. Most people speak exclusively Greek but many can manage to communicate with a few words of English.

Volunteer Blog