Some men change careers and leave their past behind. Manuel never did. He swapped whistles for words, lifeguard towers for laptops, but the sea has never really let him go.
He came from Spain with a body carved by tides and a heart trained to scan horizons. Lifeguards never stop being lifeguards, he says, and on Crete’s long beaches you believe him.
The Beach That Calls Him Back
Most mornings he walks to Amoudara, a stretch of sand that seems endless. There are the parts with sunbeds and umbrellas rented by tavernas, where for five to seven euros you get shade and a drink. And then there are the free parts, where locals bring their own chairs and umbrellas.
It is in those unguarded stretches that Manuel lingers. He does not intrude on the lifeguards already posted in the paid zones. Instead, he sits quietly, watching the waves, scanning the swimmers the way he always has.
When red flags go up, he shakes his head. Too many people ignore them. Too many believe the sea is gentler than it is. This summer he pulled a young man from the water, a stranger who did not realize how fast undertows can grip.
“You see the red flag?” Manuel told him after. “It means if you swim, you die. And I may not be able to get you in time.”
He speaks without drama, but the weight of truth is in his voice.
From Spain to Crete
His Spanish past still clings to him. On beaches back home, he worked seasons that blurred into sunrises and whistles, rescue drills and endless tourists. It gave him the posture of alertness, the ability to sit for hours and never really relax, because someone’s life might change in a second.
Crete feels familiar to him in that way. Different language, different waves, but the same truth: the sea gives generously, but it takes ruthlessly if disrespected.
He jokes sometimes that moving to Crete was not migration but translation. “The sea speaks many languages,” he says. “But the warning signs are always the same.”
Discipline in the Newsroom
Back in the newsroom, Manuel brings the same calm discipline. He does not waste words, does not fuel rivalries. He listens, he works, and when tension rises, he steadies the room.
He is the quiet presence at a desk while others argue over goats, crochet, or merengue playlists. His focus is enviable, his patience infuriating. He knows the rhythm of endurance from the sea, and he applies it to paragraphs and deadlines.
“Deadlines are like waves,” he once said. “You cannot stop them, but you can learn how to meet them.”
Chocolate, His Sweet Surrender
For all his strength, Manuel has a weakness: chocolate. Dark, milk, plain, filled — it does not matter. He does not hide it, but he does not flaunt it either. In the office drawer, there is always a bar, tucked beneath the papers, waiting.
Once, when asked why chocolate and not the spoon sweets of Crete, he shrugged. “Because chocolate does not argue with me. It is simply good.”
It became the running joke. The man who could drag drowning tourists to shore could also be bribed with a square of chocolate. Iorgos once tried, sliding a piece across the desk in exchange for Manuel’s edit on a tricky sentence. Manuel accepted the chocolate but handed the sentence back marked in red. “Chocolate buys attention, not approval,” he said.
There are things Manuel does not boast about. Like the mornings he quietly follows Phil to the beach, just in case his heart condition collides with the current. Phil never knows, and Manuel never says. It is simply what he does: watch, guard, act if needed.
This is who Manuel is — the lifeguard who cannot stop saving, even when no one asks.
Office Banter
If Kostas rants about goats or Yorgos shows off a new crochet plushie, Manuel smiles but rarely joins the fray. He prefers to watch the chaos unfold. His comments, when they come, are gentle but cutting.
When MIG turned up the merengue one night and declared, “From now on, everybody loves merengue or no pay,” Manuel did not resist with anger. He began reciting Hamlet lines over the music, half protest, half performance. The absurdity made everyone laugh harder.
That is his gift: not silencing chaos, but defusing it with calm humor.
He lives between two worlds now: the sea and the newsroom. On one side, sunburnt tourists and the endless horizon. On the other hand, glowing screens and the weight of words. But the transition is seamless, because at the core, Manuel is the same in both. He protects. He steadies. He does the work no one else sees until it is done.
The newsroom may be loud, but his silence speaks louder. His chocolate may melt, but his steadiness does not.
Every team needs someone like Manuel — the anchor that keeps the boat from drifting too far. He does not make noise; he does not seek credit. He rescues quietly, edits steadily, eats chocolate secretly, and smiles when others take the stage.
He may have swapped whistles
