Protecting What We Love: A Pollution Solution

There’s no denying that floating around at sea on a bright yellow pineapple is one of the very best (arguably, the best) ways to spend the European summer!

Unfortunately, though, this summertime pleasure has also been contributing to major pollution issues in the Mediterranean, with holiday-goers bringing and leaving behind excessive amounts of plastic.

Seeing the extent of this pollution problem first-hand, we were determined not to be a part of the pollution and were enthusiastically inspired to become a part of the solution!

One of three of our major pollution projects last season, the Floatie Recycling Programme, tackled this plastic problem – and let’s just say, it was a major success!

Floatie Recycling Programme

Our Floatie Recycling Programme aimed to encourage guests to ditch the consumerist idea of bringing new floaties on their MedSailors holiday and instead reuse the floaties that we already had from prior weeks (which makes total sense, right?).

Not only did this programme successfully eliminate hundreds of new plastic inflatables from entering the ocean but after trialing this programme for just a few months on our Greece Saronic route, our guests helped us to raise €1,300 by offering a donation in exchange for a previously used floatie which could be purchased at check-in on the first day of the guest’s trip. This money was then donated to an awesome marine conservation project run by Archipelagos.

…And This is What We Achieved!

This donation has been put to use in supporting the creation of the Aegean Marine Life Sanctuary, which will be used to rehabilitate injured dolphins, monk seals, and turtles, and is the world’s first location to host dolphins released from captivity!

With our donation helping to cover part of the purchasing costs for the materials needed for the reconstruction of the sanctuary’s building roof, Archipelagos are now hoping to have the sanctuary operating fully by 2020.

Check out this video below for a sneak peek into the progress of the sanctuary creation process, along with the roof reconstruction which we helped make happen.

Here’s to Making a Difference, Together

From all of us at MedSailors, we want to give a huge thank you to all of those who joined in on the Floatie Recycling Programme. As you can see, our combined efforts made an incredible difference and we can’t wait to see what difference we can make in 2019.

To keep our oceans clean and our ocean friends safe, remember that there are always ways we can help contribute to making a difference, both big and small.