Legacy: Mediterranean 2006

After leaving Torredembarra at night, we saw various ships pass by us at sunrise, including cruise ships, cargo ships, etc. Further away, more or less two miles away, we saw a trawler. When we reached the area, we saw dozens of dead fish on the surface, mainly bogues (Boops boops), most probably the frequent leftovers … Read more

As soon as we docked in Roses port, the Ranger’s crew was divided into three work groups: On the one hand, and the main reason why we had to make a stop in these facilities, in order to install a davit crane on the Ranger’s stern which would allow us to carry out operations with … Read more

The new deck crane being installed over the next few days in Roses, Catalonia, will make many of the current operations more efficient and open some new possibilities. Right now just getting the divers and their equiptment in and out of the water is a three ring circus and not altogether safe for the delicate … Read more

My first week on the Ranger was spent doing a variety of work in the coastal waters around Cagliari. This work included several dives documenting marine life and patrolling south of Sardinina along the 1000 meter depth curve for illegal driftnet fishing operations. This diary is about our crossing the Western Mediterranean from Cagliari to … Read more

Hello? Hello, How are you? I am fine and how about you? It’s so good to hear from you!! Listen, it’s just that I would like to return to the Ranger. Do you think it could be possible? Of course, let me take a look at some dates, ports and all of those things with … Read more

The Sardinian waters have revealed us a little more of the marvels that abound there. Today we headed off early from the port of Cagliari. We sailed in a southeasterly direction in search of a shelf the remote position of which, inside a protected area, had called our attention. It is known as the de … Read more

The new faces I saw come aboard the Ranger on the night of the 29th were not so new, except for one. The arrival of the first “batch” of new crew members felt like a reunion: Maribel López, co-worker from the European office, Jorge Candan and Pilar Barros, video cameraman and his underwater assistant and… … Read more

Only a few days have passed since we left behind our fruitful stage in search of illegal driftnet vessels in Sicilian waters. Today we took another step on our new path, this time on the Island of San Antioco, in Sardinia. While the rest of the crew went about the daily chores on the Ranger, … Read more

My travelling companion, Nuño Ramos (captain on the Transoceanic Expedition in 2005), and I arrived at Cagliari and went straight to the Ranger, which was moored in the Port of San Telmo. As we had expected, immediately after boarding the yearned-for Ranger, engines were started up and our crew colleagues, with a full tummy, and … Read more

On 24th June we sailed incident free to Cagliari, on Sardinia. On our way we are visited by some striped dolphins and we sight a few loggerhead turtles that dive underwater when they note us coming up close. The sea is calm and one realises that we are in for a hot summer. The heat … Read more