Journal of the seventeenth day on board

19th May, 1999

Two nights ago I left you "hanging on" for the news.
Well, something special happened because we met him, the Shark, or rather ‘she’ because it was a female.

A very big "Apulian" blue shark is wandering about the waters of the Gulf of Taranto looking for chum. It’s as long as one’s arm and belongs to the tuna family but their flesh is much darker and blood richer, hence the name.

The measures we had in place in the event of spotting a shark immediately failed. The first written rule was: when you see a shark, don't panic! In practice it didn't quite go like that. Anyway I finally managed to enter the water and film the animal which, attracted by chum, was very curious and was swimming very closely.

I don't think I was in danger because I was in the anti-shark cage and the shark never tried to attack me even if I left the door open to film more freely.