The Tale of the Turtle

Cyprus - sunset over a stormy sea (detail) 

I've told this story somewhere once before. I think it bears telling again.

Before my holiday in Cyprus I'd read in a guide book that a large quantity of sand had been taken illegally from a beach in a nature conservation area; a place where turtles come ashore to lay their eggs in the sand.

The sand had been removed in order to fill bunkers on a golf course. The information in the guide book went so far as to name the main culprit, a man in a very high position in the church in Cyprus who honestly, in my opinion, should have known better.

The driver of one of the trucks hauling the sand told investigators that he was obeying orders from above, according to the information in the guide book.

Armed with this knowledge I flew to Cyprus. I was already on the side of the turtles.

We stayed near an area where it is said that Aphrodite came ashore - walked out of the waves like a modern movie star.

One morning I went for a walk along a pebbled beach and in the distance I saw something lying on the stones. I went nearer and discovered it was a dead turtle. It had clearly suffocated. It's head was wrapped in a transparent plastic bag.

I wondered what to do with the turtle. After a few minutes of debating the problem with myself I decided to return it to the sea. I threw it into the waves. It was quite large and heavy and I couldn't throw it far enough at first - the waves brought it back in.  At the third attempt, with all my strength I managed to throw it far enough to catch a wave which held it and finally carried it away.

I decided not to tell anybody about the incident.

And I didn't, until the next day, when a strange event took place.

It went like this:

I was walking along the beach with a companion when she suddenly decided to sit down and look at the sea. The funny thing was that she had chosen the exact spot where the turtle had been.

I sat alongside her, but I didn't say anything . . . that is  until I saw the stone which lay at my feet.

Here it is:

I think of it as a turtle rising above the waves. 

The following day there was a tremendous storm. The seas were so rough that ships were unable to approach the island.

On the day we left we read in a local newspaper that permission had been given for eight new golf courses on the island.