Project Xenios
Protection for the turtles off Cyprus
How it all began
In 2021, shortly after opening our own diving school, we found a sea turtle caught in a fishing line at a depth of 30 meters. Unfortunately, any help came too late and the sea turtle drowned painfully. From then on, we knew that we had to protect these beautiful animals.
We gave the turtle the name Xenios, which is now the name for the Xenios project.
What does the name Xenios mean?
The name "Xenios" comes from Greek and means something like "the hospitable one". Because we are guests of the sea turtles and we should behave like that.
Our goal
We want to draw more attention to the protection of sea turtles in the Mediterranean. We want to use reliable data to demonstrate the influence of people and tourism and use this data to develop a protection concept.
Which sea turtles live in the Mediterranean?
Green sea turtle
The green sea turtle is the most common in our area. The green sea turtle gets its name from its green fat. It gets this because it feeds almost exclusively on green sea grass.
Loggerhead turtle
The loggerhead sea turtle is also native to Cyprus. Unlike the green sea turtle, it feeds mainly on jellyfish. They are less common on our west coast.
Leatherback turtle
The leatherback turtle is very rarely seen. It does not live directly in the Mediterranean, but occasionally comes to the Mediterranean to look for food. It is considered the largest turtle in the world and is the only one that does not have a solid shell but rather a leathery skin.
In cooperation
