But tonight we are facing the worst storm of my period on board. Wind force 9 on the Beaufort scale with a sea swell of 6 to 7 meters. Everything is on the floor. My precious collection of sea urchin skeletons has gone … the two and a half kilogram Marine Biology Book just landed on the top of the small paper box holding the fragile calcium carbonate structures. Such a horrible night … we lose a couple of sails … they ripped like old nose tissue during the strong winds that had gusts up to 61 knots. The china from the dining room and the glasses in the bar suffered a similar fate. We count the missing sick bags during the morning (hehehe).

But … and there is always a but after every storm of any kind … on the sea and in life … something happened the morning after. The sea is still rough, the waves around us still big and the rock and roll of the Royal still makes someone disappear once in a while with some sick bags, but with the first sunshine we discover some new guests on board. Some will call them “sin papier” “sin papeles” “clandestine” … moving from one country to the other without any documents, no need for stamps or visas in a passport, free like the wind, no border lines for them.

A very small group, or more correctly, a tiny Flight of Swallows, landed during the night on the Royal Clipper.

Under their scientific classification, swallows belong to the family Hirundinidae of the order Passeriformes. It is likely they were rossing from the northern parts of West Africa, such as Mauritania, Western Sahara and Morocco, to Europe, when they were hit by the storm. And so they took shelter with us — in the Tropical Bar, all over the rigging, down the lights into the wire boxes, on the top of the Zodiacs.

We are not Customs, demanding and exercising their duties, there is no-one to ask for documents, we let them take a rest. We shut down the lights and music and speak silently for two days. The lucky ones managed to fly away in Calvì, northwest of Corsica … another day, another migration, another country. They will spend the summertime in a European country, Spain, France, Italy, Germany, Eastern countries, and some of them even as far east as the United Kingdom.

If you survive travelling such long way, in a storm of such force and intensity and you are so small you can stay in my hand, you well-deserve all my admiration. No technological radar for you, no deck hands to help during the strong winds, no warm coffee in the night, my true respect goes to these princesses of the sky. My springtime will be more pleasurable knowing that we helped some of your sisters with a simple, safe, quiet passage on the Royal Clipper.

Take care my friends.

Mariano Peruzzo
Marine Biologist
Royal Clipper
May 6th 2010 Calvì, Corsica, France territory.

Fakarava, South Pacific atoll for its remoteness and beauty.

Bora Bora for the most beautiful water in the world.

Iles des Saintes for its quiet charm.

I’ve got a lot more favorites!

“Such a wonderful person … especially when captured … during the March 6 and11 trip. — Marie”

Then we get into the Mediterranean Sea. Despite to the small surface of less than 1 percent of the total area cover by oceans, in this small sea we can find an incredible biodiversity, this water is rich in invertebrates, vertebrates and algae as much as certain tropical areas. Unfortunately, the fact that the exchange of water is limited to the small Gibraltar strait, just 15 kilometers wide, and Suez or Dardanelle straits if something happens inside … it remains inside. Pollution and overfishing are rising problems.

I write again to Professor Ferdinado Boero from University of Salento in Lecce, Puglia — the region in the famous heel of Italy. He is the Italian responsible for the project “Watch for Jellies” that is part of the International CIESM Jellywatch Programme (www.ciesm.org).

The project is focused on the study of the increasing of number of jelly fish in the Mediterranean sea, a modern plague basically due to overfishing, pollution and climate changes. In the healthy ecosystem small fish keep the jellyfish population in check by eating their young. Deplete the waters of top predators like tunas and sharks and catching moon fish and sea turtle is the first step to creating an unbalance in the ecosystem.

We had the first contact on the 5th of May around 9:30 UTC between Mallorca and Menorca Island in the Balearic archipelago 41° 39’ N and 7° 14’ E with floating Physalia, or better known as the Portuguese Man-of-War. These organisms travels in large groups on the surface of the sea, resembling brightly colored balloons floating on the water. Their appearance belies a painful secret under the water’s surface — tentacles that sting and inject poison. The poison is deadly to the many sea creatures that provide sustenance to the Man-of-War. Although not lethal to humans, bathers who are stung suffer greatly. The Man-of-War’s poison is a neurotoxin. Its effects on the nervous system can lead to a drop in blood pressure, difficulty in breathing, a weak pulse, and sometimes unconsciousness or a coma.

Portuguese Man-of-War. Photo from the Australian Museum.

During a dive two days later on May 7th in Portoferraio, Elba Island, Tuscan’s archipelago — more specifically close to the Scoglietto dive site — in the entrance of the gulf, 42° 50’ N and 11° 20’ E, on the surface after 35 minutes swimming into Posidonia Oceanica Meadows (seagrass), before jumping back into the Zodiac this time we have a meeting with relatively small Pelagia Noctiluca (5-8 centimeters in diameter) in a long bank more than 50 meters. The water during the dive was 17° C.

Pelagia Noctiluca.

Hopefully this information will be helpful for Professor Boero to better understand what’s go on with our carelessness now and in the close future.

Take care!

Dr. Mariano Peruzzo is Royal Clipper’s resident marine biologist.

My favorite Star Clippers experience … entering Bonifacio harbor through its narrow opening. — Judy Condon

Both Royal Clipper and Star Flyer call at Bonifacio on their summer Mediterranean sailings.