Central Mediterranean
Italian Republic
Isola Lampedusa
Rabbit Beach
SY "Kamu II" at anchor, off Rabbit Click below for a bird's-eye view of our anchorage:
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
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.
