A Lefkada beach trip means time by the sea on Lefkada, an island of the Ionian Sea on the west coast of Greece. It is one of the Greece tours on this site. The notes below look at the shore through its landforms, sports and animals: the coast, windsurfing, the sea kayak, the cormorant, the monk seal, the ghost crab, coastal erosion and the poet Sappho, then four sea terms. Each term is explained in plain words, and the facts come from reference articles.
What does a Lefkada beach trip mean?
A Lefkada beach trip means a visit to the sea shore of Lefkada, an Ionian island of Greece. In physical oceanography, a shore is the wider fringe that water has geologically modified. The geological composition of rock and soil decides what type of shore forms.
About 44% of people live within 150 km of the sea, according to a United Nations atlas. At least 85% of commercially harvested fish depend on coastal environments during part of their life cycle. A coast matters to people and fish on any Lefkada beach trip. Oceanography is the study of the sea.
Areas with high tidal ranges let waves reach farther up the shore. A natural arch forms when waves erode through a headland. Wave-cut notches are caused by undercutting overhanging slopes, which increases stress on cliff material. A headland is a strip of land reaching out over the water. Erode means to wear away.
Much of the sediment along a coast comes from erosion of surrounding cliffs or bluffs. Marine coastal ecosystems can protect against sea level rise and tsunamis. Riviera is an Italian word for shoreline, derived from Latin ripa meaning riverbank. Sediment is the loose material that water carries and drops.
Coast, shore and beach are three related words. A coast is where the dry land stops at the sea. A beach is the part of a shore where loose material builds up at the water’s edge. A Lefkada beach trip takes place on that last part.
- Resorts: Coasts with beaches and warm water attract tourists, which can lead to seaside resorts.
- Erosion: An erosional coast loses material on average, while a depositional coast gains material.
- Primary: A primary coast is still in early development, shaped by long-term forces such as tectonism and climate change.
A Lefkada beach trip therefore sits on a coast with its own shapes, ages and sediments. The sections ahead look at sports, birds, seals, crabs, erosion and a poet. Windsurfing comes first. Every term comes with a plain explanation.
On a Lefkada beach trip, what does windsurfing bring?
A Lefkada beach trip meets windsurfing through its history and its boards. Peter Chilvers is credited with building a sailboard-type craft in England in 1958. Drake and Hoyle Schweitzer were granted a joint U.S. patent for the windsurfing rig in 1970.
Shortboards are under 3 meters long and designed for planing conditions. Rotational sails flip to the other side of the mast when tacking or jibing. A windsurfing sail is tensioned at the tack by downhaul and at the clew by outhaul. Planing means skimming across the water instead of pushing through it.
Slalom boards are small and narrow and need high winds. The Formula class sets a maximum board width of 1 meter. Formula boards carry one fin up to 70 cm and sails up to 12.5 square meters. A patent protects the maker of an invention under the law.
Freeride boards are meant for comfortable recreational cruising at planing speed. A wave contest scores two jumps going out and two wave rides coming in. A rig is the sail with its mast and boom. Any Lefkada beach trip topic on windsurfing starts from these board types.
Speed record attempts are timed runs on a 500 m or one nautical mile course. A nautical mile is a distance used at sea. Records are set when a rider covers the course faster than anyone before. A course is the marked path that a race follows.
- Maui: The Aloha Classic at Ho’okipa Beach on Maui is a windsurfing event.
- Tacking: Tacking means turning a board so that the nose passes through the wind.
- Jibing: Jibing means turning a board so that the tail passes through the wind.
A Lefkada beach trip therefore meets windsurfing as a sport with a recent history. The sail, the board and the contests are plain facts. After the sails comes the sea kayak, a boat for open water. Anyone planning a Lefkada beach trip finds these terms useful.
On a Lefkada beach trip, what does the sea kayak bring?
A Lefkada beach trip meets the sea kayak, a boat for open waters on lakes, bays and oceans. Sea kayaks have a covered deck and can incorporate a spray deck. A deck is the top surface of a boat.
Sea kayaks trade the manoeuvrability of whitewater kayaks for higher cruising speed and cargo capacity. Solo sea kayaks measure 3 to 5.5 metres in length. Tandem sea kayaks can reach 8 metres in length. Manoeuvrability means how easily a boat turns. Tandem means built for two. Cargo capacity means the load a boat carries.
Modern sea kayaks trace their origin to native boats of Alaska, northern Canada and Southwest Greenland. Inuit hunters developed a fast seagoing craft to hunt seals and walrus. Finds by archaeologists show that kayaks are at least 4000 years old. Inuit are the native people of the Arctic.
Wooden and fabric kayaks dominated the market until fiberglass boats arrived in the 1950s. Rotomolded plastic kayaks first appeared in 1984, made by spinning hot plastic in a mould. Unlike rigid kayaks, folding kayaks can be taken apart and packed for transport. A Lefkada beach trip topic like this one shows how boat materials changed.
Sea kayak rudders are retractable for beach landings. Fishing sea kayaks can have built-in rod holders, catch bags and equipment mounts. A rudder is a flat blade that steers a boat. Retractable means able to be pulled back in. Each detail sets one kayak apart from another in a Lefkada beach trip topic.
- Spray deck: A spray deck is a skirt-like cover that keeps water out of the cockpit.
- Cockpit: The cockpit is the opening in the deck where the paddler sits.
- Hull: Hull names the boat body, the part that floats in the water.
A Lefkada beach trip therefore meets the sea kayak as a boat with roots in the Arctic. Its length, deck and materials are plain facts. After the boat comes a bird, the cormorant. Its length and parts come from a reference article.
On a Lefkada beach trip, what does the cormorant add?
A Lefkada beach trip meets the cormorant, a family of about 40 species of aquatic birds worldwide. Cormorants have wingspans of 60 to 100 centimetres. Aquatic means living in or near water. Wingspan measures a bird from one wing tip across to the other.
The pygmy cormorant can measure as little as 45 centimetres. The flightless cormorant reaches a maximum size of 100 centimetres. Pygmy means very small for its kind. Flightless means unable to fly. For a Lefkada beach trip topic, the size of the family comes first.
Northern Hemisphere species have mainly dark plumage. The bill is long, thin and sharply hooked. Webbing links the four toes on each foot. Plumage means the feathers of a bird. A bill is the beak of a bird. Hooked means curved at the tip. A beak is another word for a bill.
Cormorants and shags are fish-eaters that dine on small eels, fish and even water snakes. A cormorant species has been found to dive as deep as 45 metres. Imperial shags fitted with video recorders were filmed diving up to 80 metres. A shag is a close relative of the cormorant.
After fishing, cormorants go ashore and are frequently seen holding their wings out in the sun. Cormorants nest in colonies in trees, on rocky islets or on cliffs. The eggs are a chalky blue colour. A colony is a nesting site shared by a group of birds. An islet is a tiny island.
- Aquatic: Aquatic describes an animal that lives in or near water for much of its life.
- Species: A species is one kind of living thing, such as the pygmy cormorant.
- Hemisphere: A Lefkada beach trip lies in the Northern Hemisphere, which is the Earth’s half above the equator.
A Lefkada beach trip therefore meets the cormorant as a diving seabird with a hooked bill. The numbers on size and depth come from the reference article. After the bird comes the Mediterranean monk seal.
On a Lefkada beach trip, what does the monk seal bring?
A Lefkada beach trip meets the Mediterranean monk seal, a shy seal sensitive to human disturbance. Mediterranean monk seals are diurnal and feed on fish, crustaceans and mollusks. Diurnal means active by day. A mollusk has a soft body.
Of pups born from September to January, 29% survive. Pups born in other months of the year have an estimated 71% survival rate. The gestation period lasts close to a year. Males begin to breed at age six. A pup is a young seal. Gestation means the time a mother carries her young.
Cabo Blanco in the Atlantic is the largest surviving single population of the species. The Cabo Blanco colony had recovered to about 300 animals by 2016. A population is the whole group of one species in one place. Conservation means the care of living things. A colony is a group living together.
Their caves frequently have underwater entries. Monk seals are successful bottom-feeding hunters. Coastal urbanization and pollution were also causes of the population decrease. Urbanization means the growth of towns and cities. Bottom-feeding means hunting on the sea floor. A Lefkada beach trip topic on seals rests on these reference facts.
Conservation means the care of living things and their homes. Counts of pups and adults show whether a species gains or loses ground. A Lefkada beach trip topic on seals therefore rests on numbers like these. Neutral facts are listed here without blame or advice.
- Crustacean: A crustacean is an animal with a hard shell, such as a crab.
- Pup: A pup is a young seal that still depends on its mother.
- Species: A species is one kind of living thing that breeds only with its own kind.
A Lefkada beach trip therefore meets the monk seal as a shy animal with a long breeding cycle. The figures on pups and colonies come from the reference article. After the seal comes a crab, the ghost crab.
On a Lefkada beach trip, what does the ghost crab add?
A Lefkada beach trip meets the ghost crab, a common shore crab of tropical and subtropical regions. Ghost crabs are mainly active at night. They stay in their burrows through the hottest part of the day. A burrow is a home dug in the ground.
Their eyestalks are elongated and swollen, with very large corneas on the lower half. Their carapace is deep and box-like, and squarish when seen from above. An eyestalk carries the eye, and a cornea is the clear front of the eye. A carapace is the hard shell on the back of a crab.
Ghost crabs dig deep burrows near the intertidal zone of open sandy beaches. Ghost crabs are swift runners that dart away at the slightest sign of danger. Ghost crabs are generalists that scavenge carrion and debris. The intertidal zone lies along the shore, between the high and low tide marks.
They prey on small animals, including sea turtle eggs and hatchlings, clams and other crabs. They must wet their gills with seawater from time to time. A Lefkada beach trip topic uses hatchling for a young animal just out of the egg. Gills are the organs that take oxygen from water.
They can match the specific colors of sand grains in their habitat. Ocypode cursor, found in the Atlantic and Mediterranean, has a tuft of bristles on its eyestalks. Human activity on sandy beaches negatively affects ghost crabs. Habitat means the place where an animal lives, a word used in this Lefkada beach trip topic.
- Carrion: Carrion is the flesh of dead animals that a scavenger eats.
- Tuft: A tuft is a small bunch of bristles growing from one spot.
- Scavenge: To scavenge is to feed on dead animals and waste left by others.
A Lefkada beach trip therefore meets the ghost crab as a night-active shore crab that lives in burrows. Its eyes, shell and colours are plain facts. After the crab comes coastal erosion. These crab facts come from a reference article.
On a Lefkada beach trip, what does coastal erosion bring?
A Lefkada beach trip meets coastal erosion, the wearing away of a coast. Waves, currents, tides, wind-driven water and waterborne ice can drive coastal erosion. Attrition makes loose rock debris smaller, smoother and rounder as the pieces collide. Erosion means wearing away by water.
Living shorelines are more resilient against storms, improve water quality and increase biodiversity. Marshes and oyster reefs act as natural barriers to waves in living shorelines. Resilient means able to recover from harm. Biodiversity means the variety of living things in one place. A marsh is low, wet land.
The Holderness coastline in England is one of the fastest eroding coastlines in Europe. Hampton-on-Sea, in Kent, England, was abandoned because erosion overtook so much of its land. These examples lie in England, so they stand far from any Lefkada beach trip. A coastline is the outline of a coast.
Dunwich, the capital of the English medieval wool trade, disappeared as waves redistributed sediment. Hallsands, a Devon village, was washed away because of earlier shingle dredging in its bay. Medieval means from the Middle Ages, and dredging means digging material from the sea floor. Shingle is a mass of small, rounded stones.
Houses built on top of cliffs at Wamberal, New South Wales, began collapsing into the sea. Fort Ricasoli, a 17th century fortress in Malta, is threatened by coastal erosion. A cliff is a steep rock face. Each case is a fact about erosion in general, which a Lefkada beach trip topic names.
- IPCC: The IPCC says sea level rise from climate change will increase coastal erosion worldwide.
- Sand: Just because sand is added to a beach does not mean it will stay there.
- Sediment: Sediment is loose matter, like sand or mud, carried by water.
A Lefkada beach trip therefore meets coastal erosion as a force that shapes coasts through waves and currents. The cases above come from England, Australia and Malta. After the force comes a poet, Sappho. Plain words explain each term.
On a Lefkada beach trip, what does Sappho add?
A Lefkada beach trip meets Sappho, an ancient Greek poet from Eresos or Mytilene on Lesbos. Sappho is known for lyric poetry written to be sung with music. Ancient readers regarded Sappho as one of the greatest lyric poets.
Sappho was given names such as the Tenth Muse and The Poetess. Only about 650 lines of her poetry survive, and just one poem, the Ode to Aphrodite, is complete. Plato cites Sappho in his dialogue Phaedrus. A muse is a goddess of the arts. A dialogue is a written talk between people.
Alexandrian scholars included Sappho in the canon of nine lyric poets. The English words sapphic and lesbian come from her name and her home island. A canon is a list of works or writers judged the best. Lyric poetry is poetry meant to be sung or spoken with feeling.
Legend says Sappho leapt from the Leucadian cliffs. The legend says her unrequited love was for Phaon, a ferryman. A fragment of a play by Menander says Sappho leapt from the cliff at Leucas. Unrequited means not returned. A fragment is a small surviving piece of a longer work.
Modern scholars regard the story of Sappho’s leap as not historical. In another myth, Aphrodite leapt from the Leucadian cliffs to ease grief for Adonis. A myth is an old traditional story, and historical means based on proven fact. For a Lefkada beach trip, the cliff story is a legend, not a record.
- Lesbos: A Lefkada beach trip topic names Lesbos, a Greek island in the north-east Aegean Sea.
- Eresos: Eresos and Mytilene are two towns on the island of Lesbos.
- Aphrodite: In Greek myth, Aphrodite is the goddess of love and beauty.
A Lefkada beach trip therefore meets Sappho as a poet whose lines survive in fragments. The Leucadian cliff belongs to legend and to myth, not to proven history. Four short questions about the sea close the list.
What do people ask before a Lefkada beach trip starts?
A Lefkada beach trip touches four sea terms: the sea breeze, the wind wave, the tide and seaweed. Four short answers below explain each term. Reference articles supply the facts. A term is a word with a set meaning.
On a Lefkada beach trip, which wind blows between the sea and the land?
Sea breezes and land breezes are both important factors in the prevailing winds of coastal regions. They are more localised than prevailing winds. The daytime sea breeze is driven by convection, while the nighttime land breeze is driven by convergence. Convection is the rising of warm air.
Which wind-driven motion shapes the waves behind a Lefkada beach trip?
The contact distance in the direction of the wind is known as the fetch. Waves in the oceans can travel thousands of kilometers before reaching land. A wind wave system directly generated by local wind is called a wind sea. Fetch is the distance that wind blows across the water.
Which pull moves the tide behind a Lefkada beach trip?
The water stops rising, reaching a local maximum called high tide. Oscillating currents produced by tides are known as tidal streams or tidal currents. A diurnal tide has one high and one low tide each day. Oscillating means moving back and forth. High tide is the top of the rise.
Which marine algae are called seaweed behind a Lefkada beach trip?
Seaweed, or macroalgae, refers to thousands of species of marine algae. Humans have a long history of cultivating seaweeds for their uses. Alginate, agar and carrageenan are gelatinous seaweed products. Macroalgae means algae large enough to see without a lens. Cultivating means growing on purpose. Gelatinous means jelly-like.