Journal of the seventysixth day on board

17th July, 1999

"Drawing by De Maddalena"

Time: 3.30 pm

Taking advantage of the Mistral blowing non-stop we decide to motor to Rabbit's island.
Francesco Carabbellese, Captain of the Coast Guard patrol boat, experiences his first dive.
For a few days he has tried on the cylinders and the mouthpiece and has been enchanted by the sight of the colourful fish and everything you meet underwater.
Now Francesco is trying to be involved with us eveytime he can. Today he saw staggers, groupers, white breams, rays, morays and parrot fish but meeting a great white shark still remains his dream.

7.00 pm
The wind has stopped and despite the swell we finally set sail. Our aim is to reach Montana Bank, 24 miles off Lampedusa. The route is 340 but I need to go back to the harbour in the rubber dinghy to return the cylinders to the diving centre. Moving three times faster than the Alicudi I will reach the boat in an hour.

8.00 pm
While I'm handing the cylinders to the man at the diving centre, one of 18 litres in size falls on my toe. I'll ignore all the obvious details in such instances but also, as I have to turn back immediately towards the Alicuda before nightfall, I leave out the ice pack.
Although I have the GPS and the satellite MINI-M mobile phone with me, its always better to avoid a rendez-vous by night on the high sea by rubber dinghy.