Journal of the fifth day on board

24th April, 1999

11:32 a.m. Left the harbour of Pescara. After a few hours on board the shell of a big turtle, probably a very old specimen, appears on the surface for a few minutes. We go round for a long while in the hope of meeting it again but with no luck.

3:00 a.m. We are 35 miles from the coast. There is a visibility of 35 metres. We learn it from the depth disk. There is a calm sea, probably too calm: I am saying this because the total absence of currents prevents the "attracting sharks soup" spreading into the distance and the fall of the pasture downwards, doesn't help us in the least with the blue sharks that spend most of their time in not too deep water.