I had a lot of expectations about our trip to Sicily. Vespas, olive groves, evening Aperol spritzes. Pasta, pistachios, golden hours. These were all observed/eaten, and quite wonderful they were too. But the snorkelling. THE SNORKELLING! It wasn’t even a blip on my radar of things to do there (photos of busy Mediterranean beaches just didn’t seem like they went hand in hand with seeing any sort of marine life), but, if you’re into your wildlife, I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s the number 1 thing to do on this beguiling island. So I hope you’ll forgive the mismatch of photos and content on this post and indulge me in telling you about what we saw under the waves.
We got our first taste of what was out there after leaving Palermo and setting off on the coast road towards Cefalu. Guides to the best snorkelling coves appeared to be pretty much non-existent in English, so our technique mainly consisted of driving until we spotted people who looked like they could be coming from a beach and asking for directions in extremely broken Italian.
It was using this serendipity-reliant technique that we found the cove in the first picture (thanks to our pal Katie who stubbornly kept faith in this was of doing things), an aquamarine inlet ringed by rocks and prickly pears. We picked our way down to the water. Immediately after putting my head in I was swimming amongst saddled seabreams, their delicate silvery colouration dramatically offset by big black dots on the base of their tails. They were totally nonplussed about my being there, foraging among the rocks. Deeper waters brought salema porgies that had electric blue and yellow stripes – I later read that they’re toxic, and that eating them will give you LSD-like hallucinations for days (their Arabic name apparently translates to ‘fish that make dreams’). Closer inspections of the rocks revealed rockfish and blennies hidden amongst the algae. But the best was the ornate wrasse, with their clashing mix of lime green, turquoise and orange patterning – so bright and colourful that they have to be seen to be believed.
Our next location was the Spiaggia di Mazzaforno, which, if you stick to the rocky left hand side, gives you an opportunity to snorkel among seagrass. It had everything our secret cove had, but was also the place of our crowning achievement, which was the sighting of a wild octopus. I had to do a double take when I first spotted the sandy coloured cephalopod moving across the rocks below my feet; subtly changing his/her colour to closely match the background. The camouflage was exquisite- but for the movement catching your eye you would never have known he/she was there. Octopuses are apparently quite common along the Sicilian coast, but for me it was a moment of absolute magic. If you ever get the opportunity to go, I cannot recommend it enough. Just send me a list of all the fish you see.
