Southern Mediterranean: From Paleochora to Carloforte

It took me more than 3 days, under the push of a moderate wind from the northwest, to cover the 540 nautical miles separating Crete from Lampedusa, well inside the Strait of Sicily. As I transited from the deep Ionian waters over the shallow continental shelf south of Sicily along a lane of intense maritime traffic, I rejoiced for the encounter with a school of Risso’s dolphins, their white, stocky bodies frolicking under the waves like benevolent ghosts. Having landed in Lampedusa after sailing to the south of Malta, I visited the beach known for having once been the only site in Italy where loggerhead turtles nested. Today, the species has extended its nesting to dozens of other locations—perhaps a testimony of things going better for them? The Tunisian plateau where Lampedusa seats is a key breeding ground for a variety of Mediterranean sharks, including the critically endangered white shark. Unfortunately, it is also one of the areas where they are most heavily fished. Leaving Lampedusa, I crossed the Strait of Sicily dodging freighters and tankers as I headed north, skimmed Pantelleria where I was able to admire a pair of devil rays basking in the sun, and made a stop on the enchanted island of Marettimo, the westernmost of the Aegadian Islands, where the archipelago’s last monk seal was killed in 1957. A brief final effort brought me from there to the south of Sardinia, where I anchored in the port of Carloforte.