The Tide

I was recently with dear friends at the beach of Kolibithres, in Paros; sharing laughs and opinions during a photo-shoot we won’t forget any time soon. The sky was grey and dramatic, the wind was strong and we had to do one last shot by the water before we turn into ice cubes. We chose the location carefully -it had the perfect amount of sea, sand and horizon-, we set up and Christos was about to press the shutter, when suddenly, to our surprise, the water disappeared! It was a local ebb, and we’d never seen one working so fast that made us wonder if it was the sand, that decided to drink the water above it.

But then we said ok, no worries, let’s use the tide creatively; and started walking on this strange, muddy yet sparkling surface, heading for the amazing sea lakes that were just formed a few meters ahead of us. Alas! In minutes, a flood tide started returning all the water that was taken away, forcing us to run towards the coast, as the sea was surrounding us fast.

With faces red from the wind, the running and the laughing, we decided it was a good time to call it a day and join other dear friends at Aranto, for a glass of wine and heartwarming food.

Some days later, I was thinking about this tide experience. I couldn’t help finding similarities, between this impressive phenomenon and the way island life itself pushes me away and attracts me back in endless circles: when I am away from the island it feels natural to be away and when I return, it feels natural to be there, totally at home, loving every minute of my stay. It was a relief to realize that it was my time away from the island that defined my impression about it. Returning to a place, returning to a person, returning to a habit (like writing, to give a random example;) can be more revealing about what we stand for, comparing to a perpetual closeness.

The sun and the moon influence the ebb and the float tides, which influence the island’s shape. So maybe in a way, they can influence as well the departures and returns of so many of us, away and back to the island, forming a motif of incoming and outgoing island mobility.

photos by christos drazos

words by maria alipranti