Smuggling sand and sea shells!

If you travel to the Islas Cîes or the Isla de Ons, any of the islands in the Atlantic just outside Vigo bay, they ask you, no, they TELL you to leave nothing behind and take nothing away. The wrappers from your picnic sandwiches must be folded up and taken away when you leave. I am not sure how they police the smokers to prevent them from leaving their cigarette endings all over the place. Sometimes they issue you with bags to carry your rubbish back to the mainland when you leave,

Neither can you pick flowers or collect seashells to carry off as souvenirs. The islands are a nature reserve. Rare species of all kinds are found there.

Almost everywhere else I go picking flowers and collecting sea shells are two minor occupations of mine. I selectbitems as i stroll around or walk the tideline. Small flowers are pressed between the pages of a notebook. The best might go into frames. The best shells come home with me and are much admired by small grandchildren.

It would seem that visitors to Sardinia are going a step beyond smuggling home the odd sea shell. They are taking HUGE amountsbof sand. This is a report from yesterday:-

 “A pair of French tourists could face up to six years in jail after allegedly stealing 40kg (6st 3lbs) of sand from one of Sardinia’s pristine beaches. Border police found the white sand, taken from Chia beach in the south of the Italian island, stashed into 14 large plastic bottles in the boot of the couple’s car. The pair were about to board a ferry for Toulon, in southern France, from Porto Torres. They told police they took the sand as a souvenir and did not realise they had committed an offence. But they now face between one and six years in prison as Sardinian authorities get tough on an issue that has blighted the island for years.

Police said there had been a “boom” this summer in the quantity of sand, shells and other beach objects found in people’s luggage at the island’s airports, with 10 tonnes seized at Olbia, close to the Costa Smeralda, in recent weeks alone.

People also risk fines of up to €3,000 (£2,700), but police struggle to apply the penalties due to most culprits being visitors. “When those responsible for these episodes are foreigners, it is difficult to collect the fines,” Antonio Casula, the chief of Sardinia’s forest rangers, told La Stampa, adding that the incidents were becoming more frequent. Vigilantes patrol the beaches and signposts clearly warn it is forbidden to take sand.

But unaware of the seriousness of the offence, many tourists find the sand an irresistible keepsake. The sand is usually placed in plastic bottles or bags and labelled with the name of the beach from which it was taken. Although the practice is seemingly harmless, it is not only an offence but is detrimental to the island’s environment. Some sand thieves do repent, however. A man from Rome recently returned a bottle of sand he had stolen as a child to the mayor of Cabras.

In 2016, a woman who took sand from Budelli, an island off Sardinia that is famous for its pink sand beach, returned it after 29 years. The woman sent the sand back with an apology, writing: “I read in some newspapers and heard on the TV what this sand is and how it is made. I understood how unique Sardinia is. I felt guilty.””

I am amazed that people put large quantities of sand in their suitcases. Containers of the stuff in the boot of your car is one thing, although I do wonder what they do with it when they get it home. Do they mix it with the soil of their flower beds or vegetable plots to improve the yield? Do they use it for ornamental purposes? This must be so with coloured sand, surely. But putting it in your suitcase - well, that’s a surprise. It must make a big difference to the weight of the luggage. 

Clearly such sand-smugglers do not travel with RyanAir and their strict limits on weight and size of items of luggage!