Who cannot be enchanted by sea tales & myths: mermaids & mermen, serpents, sea nymphs & sirens, Ulysses, wooden worlds, treasures & deep sea cities.

Stumbling across the story of Jurate’s Castle sums up the romance & shimmering beauty of the sea in all its magic, depth & moods: moontides, tempests, south winds, white horses, rare sea-mists & fogs, & starry nights. For Jurate, the Goddess of the Baltic Sea, fell in love with a mere mortal fisherman (who was very good-looking). Out of anger, her father Praamzis, God of the Sky, Earth & Sea, had her castle of white amber, doors of gold & windows of diamonds to be destroyed. This is why when there is a fierce storm the sea tosses up pieces of amber to be collected along the shores of the Baltic Sea.

Up from the depths & on the seashore, I’ve loved Pablo Neruda’s poems written whilst staying at his Casa Isla Negra. A Captain’s fantasy of loveliness as the bell tolls from a driftwood structure.

Ode to the storm:

‘Last night she came,

livid, night-blue,...:

the tempest with her hair of water,

eyes of cold fire-

last night she wanted to sleep on earth.’