Gozo and Comino gave us two surprises as our tanks reopen!
The buzz of visitors returns to our tanks as we open our doors to you once again and we simply can’t wait to greet every single one of you. Our fish are as happy as you are, particularly those in the entrance tank, who love to interact as people come through the front door.
We’re grateful for your patience during the past few months and also thankful for the messages of support we have received during the pandemic. It has been a wild three months for us all, and it feels good to be back together again.
The good news continues, with two local stories that grabbed headlines in Comino and in Gozo.
Loggerhead turtle lays eggs in Gozo for the first time in 70 years!
We all love a tale of a turtle laying eggs on a sandy beach, and Gozo’s Ramla Bay was blessed with the bay’s first loggerhead turtle in over 70 years. She made her way up the beach at 20:00, laid her eggs and returned to the sea after 90 minutes of hard work.
Our friends Nature Trust were immediately informed by the public, who acted quickly, sectioning off the nesting area to protect it. As you all know by now, turtles always return to the bay where they themselves hatched… so we can only hope that in a few decades time some of these newbies return to Ramla once more. It is fundamental to protect the eggs, as they are very sensitive, and many turtles around the world are finding nesting sites harder to come by due to noise pollution, city lights being so close to bays, roads and usual human disturbance. At least, Ramla Bay seems a safe haven, and with the hard work of Nature Trust and the Environment Authorities, these babies stand a good chance of survival.
A stingray with a message in Comino
Comino got a slice of the fame-pie on social media channels as a gorgeous Sting Ray was spotted in the picture-perfect Blue Lagoon. The advantage of the pandemic is that our natural areas were undisturbed by human behaviour, leaving zones like the Blue Lagoon void of boats, giving nature the time she needs to rest, recover and revive.
A Facebook post by boater Karl Pace, a Gozo resident, went viral as he pleaded with authorities to help protect the bay, even after the lockdown ends.
He typed “Maybe we can really learn something from this so-called pandemic and start enjoying a more natural planet.
Or else we can return as fast as possible to our ego-centred greed and lust for money that we don’t even need so much of and continue living in filth.”
Masks, masks everywhere
Sadly though, the pandemic will leave a scar on our environment as the mask is becoming the new plastic bag, with hundreds being spotted discarded along our countrysides, and more being found floating around our bays.
Without risking preaching to the wrong audience, we all feel saddened by this fact, and we encourage our readers to share this news, as we really ought to know the difference between the sea and a dustbin by now.
