Who We Are?

George is the founder, main guide and instructor of Odyssey Outdoor Activities in Ithaca, Greece.

He grew up on the island where he graduated from the local high school. He studied Electronic Engineering (BSc) at the Educational Institute of Athens. During his military service at the Hellenic Navy he trained as radar operator. He spent 3 months in Florida Atlantic University in Fort Lauderdale, Florida working as an electronic engineer for a big underwater acoustic communications project.  He did his Masters in Renewable Energy Engineering (MSc) at Heriot Watt University of Edinburgh, Scotland. For his dissertation he worked for PURE Energy Center in Shetlands and he did many renewable energy and environmental projects.

Finally he decided to return to Ithaca and to set up his own company, Odyssey Outdoor Activities driven by his passion for his homeland and its history.

He was always interested in outdoor activities: He has been sea kayaking since 2006 and he completed the sea kayaking BCU (British Canoe Union) 3 star award in 2011. He has explored almost every islet of the central Ionian Sea with his sea kayak. As a sailor he did two offshore sailing courses (beginners and advanced) at the Hellenic Offshore Racing Club (HORC). He is also a dinghy sailing athlete at Proodos sailing club in Vathy, Ithaca. He also undertook a lifeguard course at the Greek Lifeguard Academy (ENAK). In season 2012 he worked as a sea kayak guide at Ionian Explorers leading day and multi day trips, while he was doing his Divemaster intership at Nautilus Diving Club in Vasiliki, Lefkas. At the end of the season he worked as a Divemaster at the same diving center. Then in December 2012 he became an Open Water Scuba Instructor (OWSI) and an Emergency First Response (EFR) – first aid instructor. After summer 2014 he gained the title of PADI MSDT (Master Scuba Diver Trainer).

In October-November 2014 he undertook one of the most complete and demanding sea kayak guiding courses worldwide, the 6-week “Coastal Guide” training at Sea kayaking Cornwall in Falmouth. He was trained in leadership, incident management, coaching, sea survival, navigation, remote emergency care, expedition skills, surfing and advanced techniques by some of the best sea kayaking instructors, as Jeff Allen and Simon Osborne. He also became a BCU 4 star sea kayaking leader. In March 2015 he applied the knowledge he gained in Cornwall to a demanding expedition. He paddled from Chania(Crete) to Vathy(Ithaca), covering 350 nautical miles in 12,5 days.

Since January 2016 Giorgos is a member of the local tourism council of the municipality of Ithaca. With a strong team of tourism professionals they are trying to advertise Ithaca all over the world. The first two big projects are the study for a big network of paths to attract hiking tourists and the development of the first tourism website of the municipality of Ithaca, www.ithaca.gr .

In Spring 2017 he worked as a commercial diver for a big telecommunication project in Greece.

In November 2019 he completed a demanding sea kayaking expedition from Samos island to Ithaca and Kefalonia. He crossed the Aegean Sea and then through the Coring Canal he entered the Corinth gulf and he paddled all the way to the Ionian Sea. The was a solo and unsupported trip for charity. “East to West” project was designed to collect money for the general hospital of Kefalonia and Ithaca in Argostoli.

Among his hobbies are football, basketball, free-diving, mountain biking, cycling, running, trekking, kiteboarding, snowboarding, photography and website construction.

Contact: 

www.facebook.com/george.lilas

Adriana is from Chile and lives in London but her true summer love is Ithaca! She is an extreme fan of kayaking and Greenland rolling. She organizes courses, trips and kayaking expeditions to beautiful and wild parts of the world. She has the BC 3 Star Sea paddler award, holds First Aid, Navigation and kayak coaching qualifications from the British Canoe (ex BCU). She regularly trains with some of the best UK coaches and is currently working towards her BC Sea Leader award.

She has organised and coached many groups of paddlers of all levels on trips in the Ionians and Crete, Scotland, Wales, England, Patagonia and Greenland. Her next big project is a kayaking expedition to Palawan in the Philippines.

She is fluent in Spanish, English and French and is learning Greek.   At present, she is developing a program for hikers to visit Ithaca and enjoy those breathtaking views from the top of the mountains.

Discovering life outdoors happened not so long ago during a multi-day sea kayak trip to the remote glaciers of Patagonia. Prior to that she’d worked as producer in technology and video games holding leading positions at companies such as Sony PlayStation, Lego and Cygames. Discovering the outdoors and focusing her organisational and business skills in establishing a network of paddlers and hikers, enabled her to pivot her life and find a much happier way of spending her time.

While she is in Ithaca you can usually find her enjoying a fredo cappuccino at the traditional cafe next to Odyssey Outdoor Activities shop (if she is not paddling her dark red NDK Romany).

Contact:

www.facebook.com/adriana.eyzaguirre.7

Sotiris is our Divemaster, our boat expert and our tech specialist. He works for Odyssey Outdoor Activities since 2013. He grew up on Ithaca and at the age of 18 he moved to Athens to study computer and network engineering. While he was studying he was working for Marlin RIB Boats representative in Greece.

During his military service he was a system administrator in the IT department of the Hellenic air force general headquarters. Then he worked as a network and system administrator for the IT department of the ministry of culture.

Since he decided to move back in Ithaca he is working as a yacht skipper at his family business, Odysseus Sea Taxi. In 2017 he opened his own computer and mobile phones service shop but he is still leading some of our dives and works as a commercial diver assistant.

Contact: 

www.facebook.com/sotiris.tritsarolis