16-09-17 Secret Cove

Saturday 16th September 2017

Our village main beach is slowly becoming polluted with crude oil. Afew days ago a Greek oil tanker sunk in the Saronic Gulf near the historic island of Salamis (where the Greeks defeated the Persians) spilling its load into pristine waters. The entire nation has become despondent after such an environmental catastrophy. Its a crisis that will be felt for years. And we feel it today; our beach is slowly becoming littered. So I’m keeping Kingsley away from it and we’re hiking further north on the lookout for clean coves.

A secret cove we’ve visited in the past is about a kilometre from our door. I know it well as does Kingsley, marked as it is by a giant fruiting fig tree. Its here we swim. The water remarkably unaffected by benzine. But the reminders of this week’s catastrophy if not in the water is above us in the sky: planes surveying the damage circle the Saronic Gulf. Salamis is completely entrapped by the sludge.

All of Greece prays for a miracle. And we do too, at this tiny secret cove…