Author: M. Šimac
As a icing on the cake, at the end of the educational programme “SeaBirds”, after the arrival of nice weather, we threw ourselves into the organization and implementation of field workshops for the schools involved. The first organized trip was for students from the Blato Elementary School from Korčula visiting Lastovo.
Already on the ferry we took the time for a short repetition and went out on deck to observe the seabirds. Upon arrival in Lastovo, we got acquainted with the flora and fauna of the island by walking along the educational trail from Zaklopatica to Lastovo, and walking through the town of Lastovo, the staff of Nature park Lastovo Islands introduced us to the culture and tradition of this beautiful place. During lunch, we were joined by students from the Braća Glumac Elementary School from Lastovo, and the students got to know each other, exchanged experiences and knowledge gained through the educational programme, and more importantly, exchanged phone numbers and followed each other on social networks. For the very end of the trip, to burn all the calories from lunch, we did monitoring of marine litter on Jurjeva beach to get an insight into which litter is most common on our beaches and what impact it has on marine life. After the students diligently collected and counted litter, they deservedly cooled off with a delicious ice cream. Although this trip lasted shortly, it was the sweetest. The students of Blato Elementary School delighted us with their cheerful spirit and sense of humor.
The other two field trips connected two islands, Vis and Lastovo, which are not connected by any boat line and have so many similarities between. The working part of the trip included the same activities as the previous ones: monitoring of seabirds, monitoring of sea waste, exchange of knowledge and experience among students, while the relaxed part consisted of socializing, swimming and getting to know the island. Along with swimming and walking around Lastovo, we visited the Dobra Dobričević Association where we got to know the Lastovo archipelago through audio-visual materials, and through the educational games of the exhibition “Plastic Nightmare” of the Sunce Association they learned about the problems caused by marine litter.
On the island of Vis, we visited the Fishermen’s Museum located in a fortress on the Komiža waterfront, and thus peeked into the former way of life of Komiža fishermen. During lunch at the Robinson Tavern, we discovered another piece of the past and crawled into the impressive barrels in which wine was once stored.
With nice weather and calm sea, with some deviations, we fulfilled the goal of the workshops by connecting and meeting young people from remote and unconnected islands in a fun and educational way in sharing knowledge and experience to raise general awareness of the importance of conserving endangered species. We would like to thank all of the students and teachers that participated in our programme, as well as all included during our field visits. We hope connection between students from three different islands will stay and that they will continue to exchange their knowledge and experiences.
