The Epanomi Shipwreck in Greece

The Epanomi shipwreck is located in Northern Greece, about a half-hour drive from Thessaloniki. In the summer, both locals and tourists visit the area to see the shipwreck and enjoy the beautiful sandy beach and crystal clear blue-green waters.

The ship sank during the dictatorship in the winter of 1970. It was transporting soil in order to “pinch” a unique natural ecosystem containing hundreds of species of fauna and approximately 2,500 flowers and plants. Locals believe Agios Antonios (St. Antonios) is to be thanked for the habitat’s preservation because the ship sank on Agios Antonios’ feast day. The ship was abandoned by the company that had undertaken the project for no apparent reason and it rusted.

Today, almost 50 years later, the shipwreck of Epanomi is one of the most popular beaches near Thessaloniki, thanks to the diversity of the beach, the crystal clear blue-green waters, and the eerie beauty of the ship.

On a warm summer night a few years ago, I visited this location with some other photographer friends. We took out our cameras and started photographing the night sky. From the blue hour until long after the sun has set. A hundred photographs were combined to create the star trails in this photograph. I used one of those photos to create the following Milky Way picture. You can clearly see the Milky Way core shining above the sea.

Astrophotography fascinates me. You can forget about everything when you gaze at the starry night sky! If you’re interested, here’s my collection of some other nightscapes I have photographed!