Hunting sea “eagles”
Hi, I am Mazen, the Reservations Manager of the Kempinski Hotel San Lawrenz. I am originally from Anfeh in northern Lebanon, and came to work at the Kempinski in Gozo for a couple of years. If you do an image search on google for Anfeh, the results might surprise you: it looks astonishingly similar to Gozo! Not even the culture differs much, which is why I do like Gozo, together with its laid-back character that also reminds me a little of home!
Relaxation for me does not necessarily mean sitting or lying down without doing anything. One pastime to relax and relieve me from tension is catching “sea eagles”. Give me a rocky beach, goggles, snorkel and a knife – and that is all I need for a good catch of sea urchins. The reason why the term sea “eagles” came to be used by practically all of us at the Kempinski Hotel, is that German colleagues tend to mistakenly translate the German word Seeigel (“Igel” meaning hedgehog) and then keep using the wrong term – and teaching it to others. It might sound silly, but everyone understands what we mean by it – and now you do, too!
The spines of sea urchins found in Gozo are not poisonous. Sometimes they can hurt a little, but believe me, it is well worth it! Sea “eagles” are very tasty and healthy, too. By the way, in Maltese they are called rizzi!
A side effect of my rizzi hunts is the fantastic relaxation I find when submerging myself in the water, and seeing all the amazing marine life. It gives you a kind of feeling of being outside time and space… This is the magic of Gozo!
