Journal of the thirtyfirst day on board

2nd June, 1999

Unexpected encounter. We are leaving the Port of Catania escorted by a patrol vessel of the Captain of the Port Authorities in order to film the Alicudi itself, and what do we meet?
A common whaleshark almost inside the port. Maybe its lost, maybe it's eating in the current, who knows?

I tried to film it in the water but without success. When the whaleshark was around 30 metres away it disappeared into the blueness. We never did make an acquaintance. They are elusive animals and difficult to get close to in the water.

These giants (after the blue whale they are the biggest animals on the planet) use various visual senses to identify objects underwater such as prey and … even photographers.
On the other hand being underwater is not like being on terraferma where, on some days, you can see kilometres into the distance. On some days the particles suspended in the water reduce the visibility to a few metres and even a whaleshark is not even able to see its own tail!

I'm not able to show a picture of the 'Whaleshark of Catania' …. but I'm happy to make do with the image on my screen saver (a photo taken last summer in the sea mammal triangle between Liguria, Corsica and the Costa Azzurra).

In the last few days a photo of Stefano Macis, the skipper, has been missing. Here it is: