Journal of the thirtysixth day on board

7th June, 1999

We are south of Tunis, to be precise at Porto Palo in the province of Siracusa.
Not too far away is the island of Capo Passero where there is one of the last important tuna fishing areas of Italy and an important port for fishing boats. The nets have just been lowered this year after a number of years idle; the tuna fishing is back again.

The fleet from Porto Palo is the second biggest in Sicily in terms of weight of catch.

The Sirocco wind has forced us to postpone till tomorrow the crossing to Malta and we take the opportunity to check the inevitable small damage that happens during a long voyage.

We meet on the quayside Luciano Salvatore, a very friendly and hospitable fisherman who tells us his stories and adventures with sharks. We listen to him with our mouths open and bearing in mind our interest he says to us: “Wait a minute, I'm going home to get something”

This is the photograph he brought us. A huge emery. What do you think?