The Legend of the Fishermen of Sicily

Chapter 127 A New Chapter in the Story of the Son of the Sea

In Leo's concept, time has a special unit of measurement.

"I've wasted at least 52.5 lira!"

Leo reluctantly rowed his small boat away from the beach.

According to the original plan, he should have returned yesterday, so he could have gone out to sea to make money this morning.

But one unexpected thing after another happened, which delayed us by half a day.

Based on the earning efficiency of fishing, wasting half a day means earning 75000 lira less.

This is still a deliberately underestimated figure...

A day's earnings from fishing in Rio will be no less than 150,000 lira.

If the "Glimpses of the Eye" can find sea urchins, then the number would be even greater than this.

On the way back, Leo chatted with Enzo and Bianchi about sea urchins for a while.

These two guys said that during the peak season, if the sea conditions are excellent and a good resource spot is found, catching 1400 to 1800 sea urchins a day is only considered acceptable.

In Augusta, there is an old fisherman who holds the record for catching 2687 sea urchins in a single day by naked diving, a record that remains unbroken.

2687!

When Leo thought about that number, he didn't want to go anywhere else; he just wanted to go to the sea.

Rosalia had already woken up by this time. After Leo went to her house to let her know he was safe, he immediately took his equipment and set sail.

With Enzo's help, the map of the sea area near Marzamemi has been fully revealed.

Enzo even marked out the areas with the highest concentration of sea urchins for Leo—

From 2 to 10 kilometers due east of Marzamemi, there is a rocky uplift zone, where sea urchins are abundant and there are also mussel beds.

Rio's target for today is that area of ​​sea.

In Messina, Leo learned to determine direction by the sun during the day, and he rowed at a speed of 10-13 kilometers per hour.

minute.

Based on the above, he was able to reach the target area smoothly.

After paddling eastward for 30 minutes, Leo stopped to check and put on his gear.

During the process, the basic conditions of the nearby sea area were also observed.

The area near the water's surface is generally light blue, and the shapes of the underwater reefs are clearly visible to the naked eye.

When Professor Pellegrini talked about "observing the sea," he mentioned that if the top of the reef can be observed with the naked eye, it means that the top of the reef is no more than 3 meters away from the water surface.

But not all reef tops are the same.

Some reef tops have obvious waves, and when the swell passes by, it will suddenly arch up and then break, forming a discontinuous white wave line, which indicates that there is a rocky ridge below.

Continue observation with the spine as the center.

There are noticeable differences in seawater color around the area; some places are clear, while others are slightly murky, and in a few isolated areas, shadows may appear. Some areas have calm waves, while others have rough waves, and the direction and flow of the waves are completely different...

After watching for a while, Leo's brows furrowed unnaturally.

"The underwater terrain is very complex, so please be careful when you go down."

The teacher said that you can "read" what's underwater from the surface. Although you can't read everything, you can at least read a part of it.

The surface conditions are so complex and unpredictable that the conditions beneath the sea must be even more complex than they appear on the surface.

Moreover, the appearance of "shadows" indicates that the water depth in certain areas exceeds 20 meters, which is a restricted area previously designated by Rio.

He must always adhere to the principle of "safety first"!

Adhering to the principle of safety first, Leo checked his equipment several times on the boat and went through the diving points several times before jumping down and lying on the surface to observe the underwater conditions of this new map.

The underwater topography is complex, making this step particularly important.

He needs to find a suitable target area for his work amidst the complex underwater topography.

But as soon as he lay down, several bubbles appeared around his mouth.

If someone understands underwater language, they will definitely be able to understand what he is saying.

"So complicated!"

As far as the eye can see, there are steep rock walls and deep grooves full of vertical fissures. The surface of the reef is covered with holes and cracks of varying sizes, covered with seaweed and shell fragments.

The steep cliffs, like city walls, stretch from before us into the distance where they are no longer visible.

If his previous fishing grounds were underwater grasslands covered with seaweed and sponges, then now he has arrived at the "valley" area underwater.

Moreover, it's a submerged valley riddled with holes...

"No wonder Enzo said this rocky reef is teeming with sea urchins." Leo continued to lie on the surface of the water, happily blowing bubbles. "This place is simply a breeding ground for sea urchins and shellfish."

In fact, steep slopes are common underwater, and rocky reefs are even more common, but not every place can become a breeding ground for sea urchins and mussels. Some external factors are needed for a place to become the home of these two creatures.

And the eastern coast of Sicily happens to have this external factor.

The underwater reef that Enzo mentioned is known in Italian geology as a subtidal karst reef.

Between 1 million and 6500 million years ago, the southeastern part of Sicily was a warm, shallow sea—the remains of shellfish and plankton accumulated and solidified into a huge layer of limestone.

Later, the African Plate subducted northward beneath the Eurasian Plate, causing crustal folding and uplift. The limestone strata that were originally flat on the seabed arched upward, forming uplifted rock veins that emerged from the sea and formed the ancient landmass of Sicily.

Around 533 million years ago, the Mediterranean Sea almost dried up completely, leaving the entire area of ​​uplifted limestone exposed to the land for a long period. Rainwater eroded the limestone, creating honeycomb-like pits, deep crevices, overhanging rock eaves, and underground caves along the fissures. These complex landforms became a natural home for mussels to attach to and sea urchins to hide in.

Then came the long process of global glacier melting, rising sea levels, and seawater flooding the Mediterranean Sea... Most of the karst land that had been completely eroded was now submerged below sea level.

Around 6000 years ago, the sea level in the Mediterranean was stable.

Due to its geographical location and latitude and longitude, calcified red algae proliferate densely in the Mediterranean Sea. They coat the rock walls layer by layer, fill small cracks, thicken the reef, fix the reef structure, and at the same time build countless micro-attachment surfaces, giving rise to sea urchins and wild lamellae beds... giving the Mediterranean Sea a strong biological reinforcement, which has created the underwater scene that Leo is seeing now.

Leo's return to Malzamemi this time can be considered a successful completion of his studies; he put his lessons on observing the sky and the sea into practice today.

However, with our current knowledge, we still cannot understand the complex and chaotic reef system.

I lay on the surface of the sea and observed for a while. Apart from knowing that I couldn't go to the deeper areas, I couldn't figure out where to work.

Rinaldi said to call them anytime if there are any problems, but the challenge Leo is facing now is probably difficult for the Cumanso family to explain, because it has nothing to do with swordfish.

Leo has to find a solution himself.

We need to find someone to learn new maritime experience, familiarize ourselves with the characteristics of sea urchins, and find a way to locate them.

"Let's start by finding sea urchins."

Leo activated his [Microscopic Eyes], and the changes before his eyes startled him so much that he blew out many more bubbles in succession.

"Are there so many things hidden in these reefs?"

A glimpse into the hidden traces within a dark, cramped, secluded, and complex space.

The honeycomb-like pits, deep crevices, narrow rock eaves, and hidden caves in the reefs are the perfect stage for this skill to shine.

After the skill was activated, the world in front of Leo changed drastically. Countless blurry dots wove together to form irregularly shaped surfaces, and the layers of surfaces formed a large net that firmly covered him.

Good news—we're sure to find sea urchins.

The bad news is that they probably won't only find sea urchins.

But what exactly he can find will require him to go down and screen them one by one.

After the initial observation, Leo climbed onto the small wooden boat, selected a few handy tools, and took a net that he had never used before. He then smoothly glided into the sea using a standard "duck" entry method.

The steep, mountain-like, complex reef was right in front of them... The Godfather was getting excited again!

At this moment, in the coffee shop.

Andrei was telling the story of the swordfish at length, creating an atmosphere for the hero's triumphant return.

The old men had listened to Swordfish for two more days and were so sick of it that they threatened not to come for the next week if he didn't change the program.

Leo made it into the newspapers and earned the title of Silverfin Hunter, making Andrei truly happy.

Seeing the old men pleading, he cheerfully changed the subject: "Then I'll tell you the story of the 'Son of the Sea.' What's the rush? I know, I know, this story has been told many times, but the story of the 'Son of the Sea' has a sequel!"

Legend has it that over two thousand years ago, a young man came to Sicily from afar. He considered himself an ordinary person, until one day, as he sailed into the Mediterranean Sea, his heart began to race, and his blood began to boil...

"For the next half hour, the old men were completely captivated by the unfolding story of The Child of the Sea... Not one of them dared to interrupt, until Andrei slammed his hand on the table: 'A vast underwater kingdom slowly unfolds before the Child of the Sea, those long-buried secrets, those legendary treasures, those golden treasures coveted by the world for thousands of years... eagerly calling out to their master!'"