From Hiccups to Harmony: My Unplanned Journey into Greece's Aquaculture Tourism
My Mama Mia moment didn’t come to fruition exactly as I imagined it would.
My first trip to Greece was plagued with hiccups and missteps. (Who would’ve thought that my first trip to Greece would coincide with a once-in-a-generation flood?)
But I stumbled over every obstacle with the best group of people and ultimately found myself in the middle of the crystal clear Mediterranean water off the island of Rhodes.
My eyes are heavy and my brain foggy as the van pulls up outside of Blutopia Dive Centre on the island of Rhodes.
But as soon as I take a peek out the window, I’m wide awake.
I’ll never understand why people think aquaculture is an ugly thing; they don’t want the cages in “ruining” their view, they think the ocean is murky and polluted, but god damn, this place is the opposite of that.
Crystal clear blue seas for as far as the eye can see. Visibility to incredible depths. Wildlife, so much wildlife.
This is aquaculture, succeeding in one of the most beautiful places that I’ve ever seen.
Succeeding WITH the natural ecosystem. Some might even argue, making it better by attracting so much more biodiversity.
As we settle into the boat, the team begins giving us an overview of the operation: Savvas and his sons, Lazaros and Christos, explain the idea behind combining aquaculture with tourism as they take us out to the cages, only a few minutes from the dive centre.
For those who’ve been following me for a while, you know that “pescatourism” is a key cornerstone of the Seaside with Emily brand. For the last three years, I’ve been seeking out unique seafood tourism experiences that any traveller can book in order to learn more about where their seafood comes from.
I’ve searched the world to find something like what I found in Greece. After years of searching, I finally found an accessible and informative experience where people can get up close and personal with mariculture (ocean-based fish farming).
Let’s dive in so I can tell you more.
The background
Blutopia started out as a dive shop, offering scuba diving and snorkelling excursions around the island of Rhodes.
Soon enough, the team became interested in aquaculture and started taking their scuba tours to Philosfish’s sea bream and sea bass cages.
Seeing the immense value of combining aquaculture with tourism, the Blutopia family decided to get into aquaculture for themselves.
Now they also run diving trips at their own cages for their fish farming company Lamar SA. Here, they farm sea bream, sea bass, red sea bream, and meagre.
Guests can dive around the cages to experience incredible wildlife like dolphins, sea turtles, and seals. Or they can opt to snorkel in a cage amongst thousands of sea bream.
It’s a beautifully run tourism experience unlike anything that I’ve ever seen before.
And something that I wish we did more of in seafood, because the opportunity to see this farm and experience it firsthand is more valuable than any other type of aquaculture outreach.
