Journal of the seventieth day on board

11th July, 1999

At Lampedusa Mariano saw a shark.

Stefano Carletti, a great diver who a few years ago was exploring the sea with Bruno Vailati, has moored his boat next to ours. Right in the middle of the Mistral and the Sirocco winds he tells us about his encounters with the sharks of the Mediterranean. In truth he has had many, both meetings and sharks. All a few years ago. I sat up when he described an enormous pack of hammerhead sharks, which was swimming on a reef almost in the port. It seemed like 'il Mare di Cortez'.

Time: 18,05 A representative from the Captain of the Port came to meet us with a very distinguished gentleman. “This gentleman has seen a shark", says the sailor.
“For years I've free dived for fish here at Lampedusa. About an hour ago I was fishing in 20 metres and as I was coming up to the surface I saw below me the outline of a shark about 2 metres long.”

Time 18,40 We set sail with Mariano and his girlfriend looking for the shark from the afternoon. When Mariano is not fishing or not seeing sharks he is an engineer at Padova.

Time 20,00 We moor north of the island exactly where Mariano said.

Time 20,01 We throw an enormous amount of chum to let the shark know we've arrived. All through the night we keep chumming and drop also a lobster pot to “test” the bottom.