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June 11, 2016

A Saturday spent on tiny Mediterranean islands

BY: Marta Fernández

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Today we headed off for the spectacular sea cliffs to the north of the island. We cast off from the port quite late… and just in time to see the typical little Mediterranean boats, yachts and motor boats, whose captains are not the most conscientious of skippers.  And as we passed the small island of Comino, we glimpsed the hordes of boats in the small bays including some yachts side-by-side in a small space in the bay.

I began to wonder, “What kind of pleasure can you get from such a crowded place”? I think that touristy way of enjoying the sea takes away all of the peaceful and paradisiacal surrounding of the sea and as a result, it is easy to be thoughtless about your natural surroundings when your boat stops and where the Mediterranean sea is the ultimate victim in all this: plastic, discharges, and where underwater noise pollution is disturbing and even damaging to its inhabitants, especially cetaceans.

However, on the north of the island we were alone, “as usual”, in the northern areas of the Mediterranean islands. The diving team plunged into the water to investigate the environment of the sub-marine caves while we “tended to the Ranger” with our auxiliary boat, watching the bubbles rise from our team members and admiring the spectacular sea walls in all their natural wonder – this really is enjoying our natural surroundings to its full!

On a personal and interesting note, as we stood guard over the divers, marine samples floated up to the sea surface. This time I found a spider crab which, as it turns out, is not that common in these Mediterranean waters. Its presence in these waters was discovered a few years ago and could be due to climate change, which is another example of how the Med. Sea is damaged by man’s presence.