21 Jul - 27 Jul 2003 Maria di Leuca

Mediterranean Sea

Ionian Sea

Italian Republic

Gulf of Taranto 

Santa Maria di Leuca

Town Harbour

SY "Kamu II" at anchor, off the beach.

Click below for a bird's-eye view of our protected anchorage:

N 39° 47.69' E 018° 21.45'

Click here for a summary of this year's travels:
2003 Map

Logging the sailed distance of about 70 nm in 18 hours between Taranto and Santa Maria de Leuca.

Waiting at anchor for (rare) favourable southerly winds for our crossing to Dubrovnik and enjoying the amenities of this local tourist resort, famous for its lighthouse, which, with its height of 48 m and its position at 102 m above sea level, is one of the most important ones in Italy.

Ascending the 285 steps of Benito Mussolini's ceremonial gateway into Italy, a monumental double flight of stone steps which lead us to the top of the promontory, from where we could see for 40 miles to sea.

16 Jul - 20 Jul 2003 Taranto

Mediterranean Sea

Ionian Sea

Gulf of Taranto

Italian Republic

Taranto

Porto Mercantile

Elite Yacht Marina +390994706846

SY "Kamu II" with her stern to the pontoon.

€ 20.- per night.

Click below for a bird's-eye view of our marina berth:

N 40° 28.82' E 017° 13.49'

Click here for a summary of this year's travels:
2003 Map

Logging the sailed distance of about 300 nm in 4 days (an average daily run of about 75 nm) between Malta and Taranto, sailing in company of a very active school of over 100 common dolphins (Delphinus delphis) which jumped and splashed together with breaching, tail-slapping, chin-slapping, bow-riding and porpoising.

Exploring the non-touristic, vibrant and polluted city of Taranto (dominated by the commercial port and the large Italian naval base) without being bitten by a tarantula (one of the sweet locals told us that in ancient times, residents of the town of Taranto, upon being bitten by the large local Wolf Spider, Lycosa tarentula, would promptly do a long vigorous dance like a jig; this was done in order to sweat most of the poison out of their pores and thus survive the spider bite - the dance then did became locally known as the Tarantella, which eventually became the name we use today to describe the large, sometimes hairy type of spider, the Tarantula).

Visiting the meticulously arranged exhibition "Leonardo da Vinci and Renaissance Engineers" in the Museo Nazionale Archeologico di Taranto and gaping with awe at technical drawings and models of practical and impractical stuff like war machines, flying machines, musical instruments, hydraulic pumps and movable bridges.

Fleeing this most polluted city in Italy and W Europe (according to the INES [Inventario Nazionale delle Emissioni e loro Sorgenti], the Italian national institute of emissions and their sources, 92% of the Italian dioxin is produced in Taranto and, in other terms, 8.8% of the European one) and touring the distant Itria Valley in Puglia thus marvelling at the funny white trulli houses (rounded drywall structures with gray, stone, cone-shaped roofs, cleverly built during the Middle Ages solely for the purpose of tax evasion, since - as the story goes - upon word of the taxman's arrival, by means of a smoke signal, the trulli were rapidly dismantled and moved out of sight) at Locorotondo and Alberobello, nowadays a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Refuelling at the grimy fuel jetty in the commercial harbour of Taranto with 155 litres of diesel fuel for € 0.84 per litre.

03 Jul - 12 Jul 2003 Valletta

Central Mediterranean

Republic of Malta
Valletta

Msida Marina +35621332800

ML 8.- (€ 20.-) per night.

Click below for a bird's-eye view of our marina berth:SY "Kamu II" with her stern to the pontoon and with two permanent bow moorings.

N 35° 53.79' E 014° 29.62'

Click here for a summary of this year's travels:
2003 Map

Logging the sailed distance of about 100 nm in 30 hours between Lampedusa Island and Malta.

Buying a new 85-m long, galvanized half-inch anchor chain (for ML 3.80 or € 9.50 per running metre) with a breaking load of 8,200 kg and discarding the very rusty and almost biodegradable old one right below the keel of SY “Kamu II” in a depth of 6 m.

30 Jun - 02 Jul 2003 Lampedusa

Central Mediterranean

Sicilian Channel

Italian Republic

Isola Lampedusa

Rabbit Beach

SY "Kamu II" at anchor, off Rabbit Beach.

Click below for a bird's-eye view of our anchorage:

N 35° 30.65' E 012° 33.63'

Central Mediterranean

Sicilian Channel
Italian Republic
Isola Lampedusa
Town Harbour
SY "Kamu II" at anchor, inside the protected town harbour.

Click below for a bird's-eye view of our anchorage:N 35° 29.93' E 012° 36.06'

Click here for a summary of this year's travels:
2003 Map

Being hit by a violent and sudden sirocco squall which came, seemingly out of nowhere, with more than 40 knots from the Sahara and which caused a scary rise of the air temperature to over 50°C within minutes (as if someone was holding a blow dryer on our ship) and made us believe for some moments that we had a fire in the engine room.

Socialising with a pod of curious and friendly common bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) halfway between the Tunisian coast and Lampione Island and trying to interpret their playful acrobatics correctly (using Douglas Adam's Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy): “So long, and thanks for all the fish”.

Sailing a few cables past Lampione Island aka Isolotto Lampione aka Scoglio Lampione on our starboard side, a small and uninhabited island, about 40 m high with a flat top with cliffy sides.

Logging the sailed distance of about 110 nm in 36 hours (an average daily run of about 75 nm) between Hammamet/Tunisia and Lampedusa Island, the largest and southernmost island in the group of the Pelagic Islands.

Anchoring off and swimming in the enticingly warm and crystal-blue water around Isola dei Conigli aka Rabbit Island, one of the last remaining egg-laying sites for the loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta) in Italy, S off Lampedusa Island which (i) was awarded to the Tomasi family (hence Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, of “The Leopard” fame) in 1630 CE, (ii) became in 1986 CE the target of Libya's crazy Colonel Ghaddafi’s retaliation for the American bombing of Tripoli and Benghazi when he launched a couple of wobbly Scud missiles to attack NATO at its southern flank and (iii) has made international news as a prime transit site for illegal immigrants who want to enter Europe’s soft underbelly from Africa.

Approaching the local harbour master in his snow-white full dress, asking him politely about the requested clearance procedure for a South-African sailing ship which legally wanted to enter Europe at Isola Lampedusa, an official port of entry, and nonchalantly being dismissed as a disruption of his siesta, va bene.

DM Konni: Scubadiving together with PADI DM Gianni from diving centre Blue Adventures to the 21-m deep pannetone underwater formation.