Journal of the fortysecond day on board

13th June, 1999

The power of the Internet.
The meeting between the naturalist and the fisherman lawyer

Amidst baskets of sardines, Marco Costantini tells me about the meeting in Rome with Piero Lupo.

I am nervously at the airport: the name of the place where I need to meet Alberto "Shark One" Recchi is unpronounceable.
It makes me feel better that Malta is not too big and that they speak English: a boat looking for sharks will not have passed unobserved, I hope.
Thoughts and ponderings of the geography take me away but my glance falls on a person seated nearby.
The classic phrase enters my head: "where have I seen him before?"

I don’t take my eyes off him, and a man burned by the sun and sea salt, has a yachtsman's bag.
Like a private investigator I close in incognito. I look at him pretending as if I'm doing nothing. I open the mobile phone, call and what do I hear? The unpronounceable name of the port.
I understand. I've seen that face on the Internet in the 'Obiettivo Squali' site.
"Alberto Recchi, Malta?"
"Yes, sharks."
For two full days we talk of sharks and fish.