Ramla Bay

Ramla Bay is a stretch of Gozo’s southeastern shore that enters the story both as a conspicuous landmark at sea and as part of Creasy’s routine on land. Its red sand offers him a visible destination when a crossing toward Comino goes wrong; later, the bay lies along a route where he encounters Salvu at work in the fields.

Setting and Approach

From the water, Ramla Bay is identifiable by the red sand of Ramla Beach. During an early-morning swim from Gozo toward Comino, Creasy initially aims for a point in front of a blue-and-white hotel. A westward breeze and the current carry him east, frustrating his attempts to correct course. When he abandons the crossing and tries to return to Gozo, the tidal race threatens to sweep him beyond both islands. The southeastern shore opens into view, but Ramla Bay remains well over a mile away.

The bay’s distance is consequential rather than merely scenic. Exhausted and swimming slowly, Creasy has to keep moving toward the shore while conserving what strength he can. He eventually treads water until a brightly colored Luzzu fishing boat approaches. Nadia and Joey are aboard; after they spot him, Joey dives in, supports him, and the two fishermen haul him aboard. Creasy lies gasping in the scuppers and vomits seawater. In this episode, the bay serves as a point of orientation and a possible refuge, while the sea and its current determine how difficult that refuge is to reach.

A Meeting on the Way to the Bay

Ramla Bay is also part of Creasy’s ordinary movement around Gozo. On a morning run, after skirting below Nadur, he works his way down to the bay. Salvu is working in his fields nearby, calls Creasy by his nickname, Uomo, and stops him for a chat. Salvu remarks that he has not seen Creasy on Comino in the preceding days; Creasy replies that he intends to swim over the next day and asks whether Salvu has caught any fish. Their exchange links the bay to the island’s working landscape and to the familiar, informal encounters that punctuate Creasy’s routine.

The Bay and Gozo’s Social Life

The conversation with Salvu leads into a broader social connection, though the next gathering takes place not at the bay but in Salvu’s farmhouse. Salvu invites Creasy to bring Nadia for dinner, joking that she will need to carry him home after the swim. At the farmhouse, they share Salvu’s wine and baked bream in an arched kitchen; the house dates to the sixteenth century, and Salvu prepares the fish with herbs, wine, and lemon. The episode gives the encounter near Ramla Bay a continuing human context: the bay belongs not only to Creasy’s exertions in the water and his runs on land, but also to the network of everyday hospitality he finds on Gozo.