The Beacon
The Joy of Showers
June 24-26
On 24th June we sailed incident free to Cagliari, on Sardinia. On our way we are visited by some striped dolphins and we sight a few loggerhead turtles that dive underwater when they note us coming up close. The sea is calm and one realises that we are in for a hot summer. The heat is quite intense.
We reach our destination by midday. At port we will take on provisions and some crewmembers will be relieved by others. We manage to find mooring at the Marina Sant Elmo, and we nearly burst out in tears of joy when we are told that there are showers there! The last proper shower I had - and not one on the deck of the Ranger - was at the Port of Ostia, some 20 days ago. After sundown, and in order to celebrate Midsummer's Eve we abandon ship en masse and have dinner in the town.
Stromboli Watch
June 23. 2006
We have had an extremely peaceful day's sailing. After our most recent adventures, namely the successful "search and capture" of illegal driftnet vessels, having a morning without being pursued by boats with fishermen calling us rather indecorous names in the language of the Roman Emperors, or throwing fish at us, has turned out to be quite monotonous. In truth, the watches were much more entertaining when we had to be on look out to avoid them boarding us.
Nevertheless, to compensate for the lack of action at sea, on getting up for the 4.00 a.m. watch with Albert and Juan, we see the following message on the blackboard: "Stromboli spitting out red balls of fire every 10-15 minutes!". The message had been left by the previous watch, though it would seem that the volcano had become a little sleepy at that hour of the morning given that it was not "spitting" quite so often now.
We cross the Eolie Islands in the direction of another island: Sardinia, the home of the Sardinians. There we will again call into port and continue on our Italian odyssey. I do not think we will be leaving too many friends among the illegal fishing community behind when we leave, but with a little bit of luck we will help to bring about some changes in certain things.
Diving in Capri
June 11, 2006
No luck this time either. Even though we imagined we would not find much activity from the netters tonight, it is very annoying to see we were correct. There is almost a full moon, and our only satellite lights up the water like the best spotlight. Perhaps that is why the netters haven't gone out to work. It's too clear.
We divers don't stand guard tonight because we are going to Capri Island, where there are plans to dive and we have to have rested, so we leave the dirty work to Carlos, Jordi and Albert. Early in the morning we arrive at our destination, and we realise why these islands have the reputation they have. A piece of rock appearing from nowhere in the middle of the sea thousands of years ago, with escarpments, cliffs and a slightly less steep thin stretch of land and trees where man has taken the opportunity to build a few houses and two hotels.
Netters in Sorrento
June 10, 2006
Back on the Ranger. Twelve months after disembarking in Lagos after nearly half a year sailing around the world, I return. I think the boat has gotten bigger and more elegant during this time. Everything is cleaner and tidier; everything in its place, everything stowed away, "almost" nothing out of place. It seems different.
Now the landscape changes too. Behind us are the tropical coasts of central America, the Bahamas and Bermudas, and we sail along the beautiful Italian coast heading south. The memory of the warm Caribbean water came to mind when I first went diving on this trip in the cold Mediterranean waters of Ponza Island. Because, although the Spanish east coast seems baking in August, summer has still not arrived here and the sun needs time to warm up the depths of the sea.
