[attach id=365871 size="medium" align="left"]Mario Pandolfino on his water bicycle yesterday. Photo: Matthew Mirabelli[/attach]

The morning sun reflects off the azure sea and tied boats bob gently in the water. All is normal at the Senglea waterfront – except for the solitary figure of Mario Pandolfino, serenely riding a bicycle... on the water.

People gather at the shore, their eyes trained into the distance.

“Nannu, can you make me one?” a little boy says as he tugs at his grandfather’s sleeve.

Mr Pandolfino is more than willing to show anyone interested how he put together his water bicycle, which he constructed using solely recycled materials. “Making it cost me a grand total of €35,” he grins.

By his own admission, Mr Pandolfino loves “tinkering”. The 63-year-old is retired after spending 27 years working as a police sergeant and a further 16 years as a Mepa enforcement officer.

Some 15 years ago, he was the first person in Malta to build a microlight plane using recycled materials from other planes. He got the licence to pilot his plane and spent some time flying it off Ħal Far and Ta’ Qali.

His latest “toy”, as he laughingly describes it, is probably Malta’s first water bicycle. When Mr Pandolfino’s neighbour was about to throw away an old bicycle, an unusual idea popped into his head. He explains that countries such as Italy and Australia make use of similar contraptions, especially in lakes and rivers.

He assembled scraps of metal and aluminium. Using the original bicycle frame, he removed the back wheel and replaced it with a paddle wheel.

He put together two floats from sealed plastic tanks, which were originally used by restaurants to store cooking oil. In order to manoeuvre the bicycle, he attached a rudder to the front, which he fastened with a bolt.

“I went to Qajjenza for my first ‘test drive’. I didn’t think I had enough buoyancy but it turned out to be very stable. People at the shore started clapping,” he smiles.

“It has a number of advantages – first of all it’s great exercise. It’s also very safe – there is no traffic and if you flip over you won’t hurt yourself.”

He now cycles regularly in a number of bays and shores. He even cycled past Brad Pitt’s yacht in Qawra, catching the crew’s eyes, who came on deck to speak to him.

Mr Pandolfino can be contacted on 9944 2687.