The area has been known for its importance for the blue tuna. Tuna fishing used to be the major livelihood of the people on these islands. The tuna spent most time of the year out in the Atlantic, but every year they came back to spawn in this area. While we were entering the harbor at Favignana we could see the old fish factory, now closed. As in most parts of the world the tuna population has crashed and the population coming in through the Strait of Gibraltar, a bottleneck, were easy to catch and over-harvest.
The area is also known to be the only place in the Mediterranean Sea where the white shark used to occur. Of course as the top creature on the food chain, it exploited the tuna as rich prey.
Even if the tuna is almost gone, the area off northwest Sicily still holds rich waters for fish and fishing. This is the only area in the otherwise very deep Mediterranean Sea where you find shallow waters and a pattern of "upwelling". Most parts of the Mediterranean have an extreme lack of nutrients and can be regarded as more or less a desert.
After lunch we anchored off the island of Marettimo, and there was an option for three different walks. The long fast walkers really took the challenge, and walked all the way up to the castle. Others went on a more relaxed tempo and were able to spot a pair of peregrine falcons soaring above the town. In the pine forest lots of migratory birds were trying to hide from all the local hunters (who are well equipped with shotguns and dogs). It is hard to be a bird in southern Italy!
The photo shows the weather wheel at Marittimo, where even sperm whales used to occur in the "old days."
The waters surrounding the Egadi Islands house a lot of history, and it was here the Punic Fleet was defeated by the Romans about 200 BC. Robin Woodward introduced us to underwater archeology in her lecture, "101 ways to use a wet suit."
By late afternoon we sailed towards Trapani, situated on Sicily. As we sat down for dinner the Caledonian Star went alongside and after dinner we could just stroll around in the town and perhaps have a gelato or cappuccino.
