Sea transparencies

Favignana is a gift of inestimable beauty

by Federica Soprani

Favignana. Limestone embedded in the treasure trove of two seas scattering their waters of emerald and lapislazuli. White stone, becoming dazzling splendor in summer, blazing sun, blazing salt that centuries of storms have crystallized on the rocks.

Only the vibrating gray of posidonia enveloping the uneven coasts as a mythological beast fleece conceals that light, and the pale green of the privet, of the mastic, and the darker green of the pines .

Aloe and other succulents swell their fleshy flowers in the sun, writhing in acrobatics to cling to this hard, rough land, squeezed between the sea and the sky like a gods’ gift, or a distraction.

But if you dive into the waves surrounding the island, biting each side, tearing away centuries after centuries of rock fragments, you will find a completely different landscape. No distraction, no divine whim. Favignana is a gift of inestimable beauty, and it is enough for you to dive into its crystal-clear waters to feel part of its mystery and miracle. First, it draws you with its colors, the treasure of a pirate, sapphire, aquamarine, chalcedony, turquoise, tourmaline, chrysoprase, sprouted by the immaculate sandy candor.

Clear, transparent water revealing rocky backdrops, swarming with tireless life, thalassic vegetation compensating, in its abundance, the bare and ripe one of the mainland. Roses and sea-daisies bloom on the submerged rocks, lovely and delicate flowers lulled by the warm currents, kissed by the sun rays through crystal-clear water.

If you dive and open your eyes you will find yourself floating over posidonia and cystoseira prairies swaying in a perpetual motion, gnarled cymodocea with leaves like mermaid ribbons floating gracefully, padina pavonia fans opening and closing together with the wave motion.

In this lush floras warms of fish swim, some of them shy, others more daring, disturbed by the curious humans invading their world. Indeed, some will be enough bold to approach and maybe to bite the invaders with tiny kisses. You can follow their wavering paths, the wake of their silvery tails, join the blue fish clouds that sometimes run into you shining like a flash, inviting you to swim with them.

Swimming. Swimming and flying in this salty water sustaining you, arms like wide open wings, while you allow friendly currents to cuddle you, weightless, without memory, as if you were anything but a sea flower, a salt crystal, an iridescent and precious fragment of this varied and unique world. The beauty of this sea is in its being, at the same time, wild and welcoming.

Its incorrupt beauty, its virgin charm, do not make it menacing to those who dive in it. Indeed, it is somewhat homely, almost nurturing, embracing you and comforting you and making you feel part of its beauty, of the eternal perpetuation of its miracle. Let the sea support you in its mighty embrace, while the sun warms you, making your skin shiny like the one of the fishes touching you with their dance. Allow clear water to enter you, washing away sorrows and bad thoughts, taking away the weight and importance of what seemed unmanageable, unsustainable until yesterday. Just stay in this way between heaven and earth like a distraction, a divine whim, but how sweet the godly whims can be, in places like this!

 

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