Urchin Care Clinic

The first thing that we start talking about when we arrive at our host’s, Rachel and Dimitri, house in Athens is the beach and swimming. It’s very warm here (95F) and “going for a dive” is a part of the culture. So, within a few hours of our arrival we were being whisked away at breakneck speeds to find Dimitri’s childhood and adulthood beach hangout.

Little did I know that “going for a dive” wasn’t just an odd Greek to English translation. No, we were going to be jumping off a 25 foot cliff into the roiling sea below. Just getting to the jump off point was a challenge due to the sharp volcanic (I think) rocks and steep inclines. It didn’t make it any more reassuring to see a bunch of invulnerable Greek teenagers stalling at the top of the massive jump. Swimmers were climbing back up from the sea bloodied and bruised so I was a bit nervous. My compatriot Jake (Rachel’s son) was anxious to jump in immediately but Dimitri said that he himself would not be jumping today. WHAT?!

Anyway, jump we did.  Jake took the first dive and then I followed.  It was pretty wild as on the way down you had plenty of time to realize you were in a freefall. And then we were in and swimming in the Aegean sea.  Once in the water, actually getting out of the water became a more pressing concern and that looked to be a bit more daunting than originally planned. There were 1-2 foot waves, nothing terribly large but large enough to complicate matters. There was no beach, just hard rocky protrusions and weird volcanic formations, and a thin area that was “safe” to exit on.

I vaguely began to recall Dimitri’s warnings about not stepping on the sea urchins getting out.  They are little things, like a water-borne porcupine:

How I was supposed to avoid them when I didn’t know what they looked like I didn’t know.  I really was just interested in getting out of the water safely, without being bashed against the rocks.  On a calmer day I’m sure I could have seen all of the hazards under the water, but the sea was angry that day, my friends.  And this was the result:

On my way out of the water I mentioned that I might stepped on something and Dimitri immediately got a concerned look on his face and demanded to see my foot.  Indeed, sea urchin damage.  I know, it doesn’t look that bad but it hurt at the time, and continued for a few days.  The best part was the classic remedy:  “You need to put olive oil on that immediately.”  Really?  OK, yes it actually worked. I guess it makes more sense than Windex.

The good news is that a healthy sea urchin population means that the water is clean.  Indeed, the water was very clear when not choppy, so pollution is under control in this beautiful area.