Colin Donihue

Iraklia, one of the islands in the small cyclades just south of Naxos, was my final small island of the summer. Again, the goal was to just grab a bunch of lizards, quick as possible, measure them, release them and get back home asap. Luckily Iraklia is a much shorter ferry ride than Amorgos. We caught an afternoon ferry and as soon as we touched foot ashore we started searching for lizards. 

Iraklia is a beautiful, sleepy island. The main town is tiny but full of homely small-island charm. We had no trouble hiking out of town – it only took about two “blocks.” After that, it was hiking through brush, jumping rock walls and catching lizards. There weren’t many, but we caught our quota just in time for dinner. Much relieved and pleased with adding a new island to the dataset, it was time for dinner and the early morning ferry back to Naxos.