Like the Sea Returning to a Shore

Witnessing Hugo's Journey Back Home

“One can no more prevent the mind from returning to an idea
 than the sea from returning to a shore.” - Victor Hugo - Les Misérables

This weekend, I attended the release of Hugo, a young sea turtle who had been rescued near Elba Island after becoming entangled in an abandoned fishing net. At this stage of life, sea turtles cannot yet be sexed, so Hugo is known simply by name.

I am grateful for Lorenzo Morrini for the above video, the emotional moment where Hugo return to the big blue. Lorenzo was one of Divers discovered Hugo stuck in old fishing net off the shores of Elba. Lorenzo, a marine biologist, and his friends connected to authorities and eventually brought the turtle to volunteers at the rehabilitation centre tartAmare APS. Hugo received medical care (see my previous post about it); their injured fin had to be removed, but they returned to full strength.

More than a hundred people attended, including many children. We watched as Hugo was carried into a small boat and taken back to her blue home. The event was inspiring and served as a reminder of both the challenges and wonders of our relationship with the sea, and of the remarkable marine beings that inhabit it.

It was possible to sense a tension throughout the event between parents and children wanting to get closer, and the TartAmare volunteers and professionals working to protect Hugo from overstimulation and disturbance. The TartAmare team and local officials gave short presentations and speeches, highlighting not only the life of sea turtles in our seas, but also broader issues such as plastic pollution and ocean stewardship that affect all of us in different ways.

Overall, I felt that this event represented a reweaving of the relationship between humans and the more-than-human world along our coastlines. It was a moment of awareness, care, and reconnection.

I’m excited to announce my continued partnership with tartAmare, and the tartArte residency in the marina of Grosseto this summer, If you feel called to explore this more-than-human kinship with the endangered Mediterranean sea turtle on the beautiful Maremma coast, you’re warmly invited. Please register by 24 June.