BEACH

It is pretty late in the season for us to have our first beach day. There are several reasons why, but especially because of late spring weather whimsies. And there has been no progress made in repairing our resort’s stairs that fell down from the rain landslides this winter. Plus it is just dirty down there-there is all the debris still on the beach from winter. They seriously clean up the beach with front end loaders only in June. Remember those oranges and bamboo shoots the ocean carried from Ribera farms and rivers that I showed pictures of in March? Well, they are still there, along with lots of other trash, including plastic debris from boats and picnickers. There is also an abundance of organic matter rotting around and under all of that, washed up by high winds lately. I know all this because I decided to check it out today. Steve did not feel like going for several fine days when I first wanted to go, so I finally just went by myself.
The national paper yesterday claimed that more than 73% of all costal area in Sicily is polluted! That is up 4% from last year. I thought that a high number but then again, they call polluted beaches that adjoin farmlands, where soil enters sea waters. Most of the farmlands that are the richest and highest producing in Sicily are on the coastal plains, hence the problem of soil entering water. Since Sicily has a huge amount of coastal water, the article also admits that it has not tested all of the water on every beach, so a lot of this is coastline that is just not reachable nor able to be used for swimming because of terrain and wind conditions. But there is also a lot of “abusive” housing, housing that is illegal but still exists and pumps septic into the sea. And naturally, there are not the environmental controls we are used to that would keep factories from being built with seawater discharges.
I think of this when I see the mess of sea plants pushed up onto shore as I head down to the beach. It can be really disgusting to see this stuff clogging the whole beach, but I notice today that some has been cleared off by wind and waves. I set up on some dry sand and I notice a structure built of bamboo canes washed up on shore nearby, probably to keep wind off of someone who is sunbathing. I notice the cuttlefish have been pushed up onshore again. If you ever had a bird in a cage and had to buy these things for them to trim their beaks, chances are they came from this area of the Mediterranean.
I lay on the beach for an hour watching the fish boats of the local fleet chugging around the bend, trying to get used to the smell that comes from the rotting matter (in Italian, “puzza”) and the flies that buzz me. Finally I give up and head toward Paolo’s house to see the latest repair (third or fourth, I forget which) of the fallen wall for his grandkid’s soccer pitch. It looks good-maybe this one will take. As they say,”en boca lupa”-Good Luck!