Pristine, fish-filled waters: a visit to Alonissos

Greek divers surface shouting about “megalo” groupers, their grins mirrored by the big fish below. The National Marine Park of Alonissos Northern Sporades, established in 1992, is Greece’s largest working marine protected area, and the protective measures show: glassy waters teeming with colourful fish and precious shells make swimming here a joy.

For certified divers, the Peristera wreck offers an underwater archaeological park and museum with a cargo of 5th-century BC amphorae, explored through accredited local dive centres. In Steni Vala I joined a citizen science project, the Highly Protected Mediterranean Initiative, led by Ikion Diving in partnership with the universities of Thessaloniki and the Aegean.

After a lively briefing from biologist Katerina Konsta we completed gentle transects with dive slates, logging wrasse, painted combers, parrotfish and salema porgy and finding no sign of invasive species; back at the centre our records matched closely.

Greece, Alonissos

alonissos, northern sporades, marine park, peristera wreck, amphorae, ikion diving, citizen science, thessaloniki, aegean, groupers