When the Saints Go Marching In… To Marsaxlokk Bay

Trawling for Trouble

In the quaint fishing village of Marsaxlokk, where the luzzu boats bob cheerily with an array of eye-popping colors and a fisherman’s knot can tell a tale of its own, a perfectly peculiar incident caused quite the stir – and it wasn’t the usual seagull skirmish over a freshly caught lampuki.

Meet Ċikku, a fisherman with a face as weathered as the Saluting Battery walls, known for weaving sea yarns that could outdo a drunk ħobż biż-żejt vendor at a village festa. But this time, old Ċikku had snared something in his nets that had all the hallmarks of a fantastical fish story, except it was quite real.

The Extra-Terrestrial Tibuna

With a heave and a ho, Ċikku pulled up his nets to reveal, not the usual silvery swathe of ħut, but a glistening object that was decidedly un-fishlike. As the sun beat down on the shimmering artifact, whispers of an alien invasion spread faster than gossip at a Maltese piazza.

Amidst the pandemonium, three plucky locals, Katrin, Santu, and Wistin, formed an impromptu ‘Marsaxlokk First Contact Committee’ – a fancy name for a bunch who couldn’t tell a Martian from a misplaced tourist in a speedo.

Riddle of the Relic

“Uwejja guys, this might be one of those hidden Maltese treasures, like the ones they say fill the depths below Valletta,”

Katrin speculated, squinting at the so-called treasure which bore a striking resemblance to an oversized glittering pastizz.

“Mela, let’s not jump to exciting conclusions. It could be one of those modern art pieces that got loose from some Mdina gallery,”

Santu reasoned, stroking his mustache with the air of a philosopher who found enlightenment in the third glass of ġellewża.

But Wistin, with wisdom unclouded by dreams of grandeur or fermented grapes, decided to document their discovery on ‘Netwerks Socjal ta’ Malta’ – Malta’s bustling social media hub – where anything from adoptable goats to arguments about the best rabbit stew flares into heated debates. It wasn’t long before the ‘Extraterrestrial Tibuna’ post went viral.

Plot Twist: The Żurrieq Zinger

As the island buzzed with theories and the three amateur sleuths basked in their newfound fame, a wise-cracking sprout from Żurrieq decided to cast a wide net of his own. Zaren, a tech wiz with a penchant for pranks, had been following the Marsaxlokk mayhem and couldn’t resist the opportunity to reel in a whopper.

Crafting a mockumentary-style confession disguised as a ‘Breaking News’ segment, Zaren took to the Netwerks Socjal ta’ Malta, and the truth unfolded like a saggy sunshade on a crowded beach.

“Ladies and gents, the supposed interstellar intruder is kollox BUT a visitor from the cosmos,”

Zaren quipped, sporting a mischievous grin as he unveiled the object’s true identity: an avant-garde fish-shaped weather vane, part of a modern art installation from a coastal boutique hotel, designed to meld seamlessly with the marine environment. A tempest of laughter soon swept the archipelago.

Finale: A Feast for the Island

Despite the deflation of their cosmic caper, Katrin, Santu, and Wistin embraced their brush with notoriety. They partnered with the hotel to sponsor a fish festival in the village square, where locals and tourists alike feasted on sumptuous seafood, debating whether bragioli was superior to stuffat tal-fenek, and recounting the tale of the day the ‘aliens’ landed in Marsaxlokk.

As for Ċikku, he still casts his nets in the azure waters, now regaling anyone within earshot about the time he caught a weather vane and nearly hooked the whole of Malta on an alien adventure. And yes, he admits with a wry smile, the fish were definitely fresher that day.

So if you find yourself navigating the rocky shores of this wondrous island, remember: in Malta, even the tall tales come served with a generous sprinkling of humor and a side of pastizz – just maybe not the extraterrestrial kind.