Whale watching cruise with WWF researcher in Lampedusa and Linosa

WWF TRAVEL SEARCH CRUISES: WHALE WATCHING BUT NOT ONLY!



WWF Travel offers a cruise on a sailing boat where travelers will be involved in WWF scientific research activities for the protection of the Mediterranean megafauna. A sea and navigation experience accompanied by WWF researchers , where you can learn to observe, identify and protect, with strictly non-invasive methods, the cetaceans of our seas.

For travelers it will be an opportunity to enjoy naturalistic and marine beauties , to have fun in the most beautiful seas of the Mediterranean and at the same time to develop skills of great scientific interest such as:

• naturalistic photography techniques and photo-identification techniques

• monitoring methodologies

• behavior sampling techniques

• use of research instruments : GPS, navigation software, binoculars with reticles, video camera and BORIS software for the acquisition of surface behavioral data.

The atmosphere that reigns on the boat is serene and informal and the daily activities, in agreement with the skipper and the researcher, will be modulated and variable according to the weather and sea conditions and the identification of itineraries that lend themselves extemporaneously to scientific research.
For this reason, as a crew, we will need to be flexible and to understand that working with animals in nature cannot be 100% planned ... but this is precisely the beauty of a cruise that has a scientific research component!

WHY CHOOSE WWF TRAVEL?

1) RESPONSIBLE TOURISM : we are among the founding members of AITR, the Italian Association of Responsible Tourism; for us, making a trip means first of all implementing all good practices aimed at respecting the environment , local communities and supporting the protection of biodiversity;
2) COMPETENCE and KNOWLEDGE : we give enormous value to competence in fact the WWF researchers all come from naturalistic training courses, but above all they have a very clear objective, that is to give depth to the emotions experienced on board and ensure that your wealth of knowledge is much heavier when returning from an experience with WWF, enriching with details every moment lived in search of the inhabitants of the sea.
3) FUN AND PLEASURE : we never forget that we are talking about holidays. We want to get to know the nature that surrounds us better, but we want to do it by enjoying the beauty of the places we are visiting and appreciating the pleasure of sharing the experience with our travel companions in a cheerful and relaxed atmosphere .

PLACES AND ITINERARY

We will sail the waters of Lampedusa, Linosa and Lampione with an exciting variety of landscapes, plants and animals, above and below the sea.

We will be able to see the Queen's falcons , which nest on the coasts of Lampedusa , the shearwaters, migratory birds, with a dark song, which populate Linosa, caretta-caretta turtles and dolphins that we often see during navigation. Under water, swimming with the mask, we will easily see rays, groupers, owl fish, parrot, moray eels, octopuses and many other varieties of fish.

In Lampedusa , a strip of African land, we will drop anchor in coves where the water has Caribbean transparencies, such as the Tabaccara , from which we will swim to the island of Rabbits . To the north, however, we will stop in bay with imposing cliffs, blue seabeds and stacks.

Lampione is an uninhabited islet, without shelters, reachable with two / three hours of navigation, where it is possible to stop only in calm sea conditions. There the seabed is very rich in fish, in June it is even possible to spot harmless gray sharks that come here to reproduce.

Linosa can be reached with about 5 hours of navigation from Lampedusa. In this small and uncontaminated volcanic island, with a simple walk we will reach on foot the craters (extinct for 600.00 years), from which to admire the island from above, the green crops, prickly pears and capers, the black cliffs and the blue sea that surrounds you at 360 degrees. Swimming with the mask we will admire basaltic seabed where the fish swim between arches and caves. It is also possible - with local boats - to go and watch a unique spectacle at sunset, the return of the shearwaters to their nests, thousands of specimens waiting on the sea.

OUR SKIPPERS

On board you will find two skippers including Lorenzo C. , Emanuela F. or Sara C.
, who share ownership of the boat, a 15-meter ocean ketch from 1985, completely renovated in 2014 and with new sails from 2022. Both born in Genoa, they have been sailing for many years between Sicily, Malta and Tunisia, making a base to the Pelagie islands, of which they are passionate. In addition to organizing sailing holidays, they promote educational, social and cultural projects related to the sea through a solidarity sailing association.