Le Meduse.
An Invasion of Italian Jellyfish
by Claudia

It was a beautiful August day in Sardinia.  It was Sunday, so everyone was going to the beach.  We decided to go to a place called Le Croci, near to Alghero.  It is a rocky place with high cliffs and you can only reach it by boat.

'Io sono fortunata!'  'I'm lucky to be here,' I decided. 

The sea was crytal clear.  You could see right down to the bottom, as if the water was made of glass.

I could hardly wait to dive in.  'Andiamo!' 'Let's go!' I said to my big sister.

We jumped in.  It was a great feeling to be swimming in such clear water.  It was like floating in air.
   

We swam and swam, further away from the boat.  We were really fantastic at swimming that day.  Nothing seemed to scare us.  It looked as if we would be staying in the water all day!

Until I felt a sting on the back of my leg.

What had I touched? 

'Aspetta!' 'Wait!'  I called to my sister.  I had to investigate.

I looked underwater through my mask.  'Mamma mia!  Non è possibile!'  There was a jellyfish - known as una medusa in Italian. 

We decided that it was time to swim back to the boat.  If you see one jellyfish, it is usually a sign that there are
more nearby.

We started the long swim back.  The boat seemed very far away.  As we swam, we looked all around us, just to check that there were no more jellyfish.

'What is that strange thing ahead of us in the sea?' asked my sister.  'It looks like a wall of brown mushrooms.'

It was an invasion of jellyfish and they were coming our way!  There were thousands of them!

'Aiuto!'  We began to shout for help. 

Our dad dived in to rescue us.  He was wearing a wetsuit and the rubber protected him from the sting of the jellyfish.   

When he reached us 'le meduse' were only a few metres away.  'Get on my back,' he said.  So, we climbed onto his back.  He was nearly drowning because of our weight. 
'Povero papà.'  Poor dad.

Just in time!  'Meno male!'  Now the jellyfish were all around us.  We screamed and screamed, but luckily we were safe riding on top of our dad. 

When we reached the boat we were trembling from fright.  When my dad came out of the water he was covered in
jellyfish!  But he couldn't feel anything because he was wearing a wetsuit. 

Everywhere, the sea was full of brown mushroom-shaped
jellyfish.

Since this experience, I have decided that you should never be too relaxed in the sea because things can change very quickly.  The crystal clear water can unexpectedly turn into something scary so do not swim too far away. 

Also, I have decided that, even though I love animals and nature, I really don't want to swim with jellyfish ever again.
I would prefer dolphins.

La Fine
The End