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survey would take us to the
Fourni archipelago, a group of
13 small islands in the eastern
Aegean Sea just off the coast
of Asia Minor. It has long been
thought that these islands,
right in the middle of ancient
maritime trade routes, could be
very fertile ground for ancient
shipwrecks. It will be quite an
undertaking, and the pressure
on the team is enormous.
I got word from Koutsouflakis
that the mission was on. The
team would be mobilizing in
Athens on Monday, Sept. 14,
2015. The support vessel would
leave Athens that night and
meet the team early Tuesday
morning on the island of Fourni
Korseon.
Eight of us in the Greek
dive team boarded the 4 p.m.
Mykonos Ferry for the 11.5-
hour ride from the port in
Piraeus (Athens) to the Fourni
Islands. The team had packed
dozens of tanks, a rigid inflatable
boat, two vehicles, provisions,
water and a compressor for the
long ride to the islands.
We would meet the rest of
the team on the island. Team
members from the RPM Nautical
Foundation, including survey
co-director Peter Campbell,
would join us that morning.
After a briefing and some first-
day site planning, we readied our
gear for the next morning’s dives.
I think we all knew it would be a
very difficult mission. Mounting
an underwater ancient-wreck
survey from a remote island is
a challenge for any dive team.
The island terrain is difficult
to traverse, and 78 miles of
coastline is mostly accessible
only by water. We established
a base camp on the west side
of the island and a secondary
camp on the east to enhance