Project M.A.R.E.

Exploring Ieranto Bay

On the 14th of May we went to explore our work place for this summer, and we were accompanied by one of the volunteers of 2018, Dani, the first one to arrive to the meeting for all the members of the project, which was last week (21-29 of may).

We started this adventure from Nerano with Kayak. In this trip our guide Mimi presented some of the secrets that are hidden in this bay. In the rocks surrounding the bay we could see many layers, a yellow layer (formed from barnacles that have died, because they have been outside of the water for too long), another layer – black (made by microorganisms) and a long brown layer (Biogenic rock, built over 150 million years by marine organisms, mainly bivalve mollusks currently are extinct, called Rudiste). After we also saw some white structures that are signs of a water rich in calcium carbonate.

This bay hides a series of magnificent caves, which continue underwater, but this time we explored only the superficial part. There we can do a dive in the crystal blue water that looks like from a fairy tale! These places were very important for fishermen and all of them, or almost all, are called in female body parts or have a religious name, such as the Cave of Presepe (Nativity), the cave of Capitello and the cave of Zizzinara (“tits” in the air).

In addition to these important caves for fishermen, on the beach we saw another, Cave of the “Gabbiano Moribondo” (dying seagull). This part of the Marine Park is an important place for nesting of the seagulls and, when the chicks begin to fly, sometimes the attempt does not go so well and they end up injured. Afterwards, they go to this cave to recover, but in the end they die due to lack of food.

During our trip we also saw some more recent rocks, formed around 130,000 years ago, by ancient coral builders, who with environmental conditions of that period (on average higher temperatures) were able to form real coral reefs.

At the end of this windy journey, we arrived with the kayaks to the small bay of Ieranto, where we jumped into the water and started exploring the seabed!

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In this new environment, although visibility was not very good, we found fish (White seabeam, Ornate wrasse, European bass, Damsel fish, Peacock wrasse, Painted comber), Algae (Padina, Coralline algae), Madrepore (Orange and pillow), Spirographs, Posidonia Oceanica grasslands (the most protected plant in our waters), a shell of Pinna Nobilis already dead (a bivalve that is facing a mass mortality in the Mediterranean), and more.

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At the end of a beautiful day, after 7 hours of exploring the marine environment, we returned to Nerano and found a tragedy! A young dolphin (Stenella striata) and a young turtle (Caretta caretta) were dead on the beach (the turtle was found floating in the morning between Capri and Punta Campanella). We do not know the cause of death, but this situation reminds us that we must protect the beauty that nature offers us!

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See you in our next articles!

Italian culture month

Since our arrival in March, we were going on an Italian language course and were discovering our new home here in Italy, so it was just logical that first the culture we explore will be the culture of our hosts – lovely italians. We enjoyed the colorful and exciting Italian culture, by preparing traditional foods ourselves and by trying out their local music instruments and way of dancing.  

The first evening we made a local dish “Gnocchi alla sorrentina”. It was very fun because as we made the pasta for the “gnocchi” we got our hands dirty with flour, mashed potatoes and eggs. After the dinner was ready, we ate our homemade masterpiece. It was so simple and yet, so delicious. With full stomachs, we listened brief overview of Italian history and tried to remember it with a fun game. In addition, we prepared our homemade “limoncello” and started to countdown 30 days until it will be ready to drink. An awesome start don’t you think?

The second Italian night we went to the house of our boss Domenico and learned how to play traditional musical instruments of south Italy and their history. Like “Tammora” for example. Since there is no party without food on the Italian table, we prepared – guess what? “Pasta e patate” – a traditional Napolitan dish.

As we already had learned about their music, on the third evening it was time to try our dancing skills with the folk music of the south Italy and passionate Neapolitan dance called “Tammurriata”. It was perfect beginning for the night. So while the odor from the kitchen was tickling our noses, we gathered on our terrace, played percussions and tried Italian dance steps. After the dinner was served, we spent a nice evening with our guests.

On the final culture evening we prepared traditional italian sweet “Tiramisù”. While we were waiting for the Tiramisu to be nice, cold and ready to eat, we watched a Movie “Chasing Corrals”. Did you know that there is massive coral bleaching all around the world? Coralls are underwater “city” builders. They are making homes for different species of fishes, molluscs, crustaceans and many other creatures. It is our duty to protected them. If they will be gone, we will also suffer as well. Why? Watch the movie – a warm recommendation.

So, the April is gone and May is knocking on the door. Guess which culture we will try know better next? Let say that there will be a lot of fiestas with homemade sangria and “tortillas”. Bravi! Our Spanish girl Laura is taking us to a journey across beautiful Spain with a little help from the Spanish volunteer of last year – Dani.

What will they make for us? Follow us in the next month and find out :)   

My adventure has started!

Hello everyone, I’m Alaeddine from Tunisia and I’m 26 years old. 5 years of study after the bachelor’s degree in the field of heritage naturally in Tunisia. After encountering many problems for my VISA (Yes it took time) I finally landed in Italy and it was for me the beginning of a new experience “be a volunteer of project MARE 2019”. When I arrived the 10^th of April 2019, it was a long and exhausting trip but I knew it was also totally worth it. I was so excited to make a new life, meet a new culture and join a new family but also anxious to step into the unknown. I met Domenico for the first time, he made the presentation with the others volunteers and I talk about myself to the group around my first Italian pizza. 

The day after I took the bus to go to school with my new friends volunteers, they showed me Sant’Anna Institute, the place where I’ll learned how to speak Italian. After the class, I felt comfortable with the language due to similarity with French, my second language.  

Friday after school, I met Tony from project MARE 2018 and he proposed us to go with him in a small hiking. I wasn’t expected this, he took us to the place where I will work during the summer: Baia di Ieranto. This place is amazing, wonderful this kind of beauty remind me what I want to do, preserve our seas. 

After this beautiful “passeggiata”, I participate for the first time to an Italian Cultural night … It was crazy, we played a lot of instruments (typical of this region of Italy), we danced and we had a lot of fun. We also make the dinner all together, it was new for me, with meals I’ve never taste before so I gave to them a part of my culture trough recipes of my country (couscous, tajine, etc..)

On Saturday, I did my initiation in kayaking. We ride around during 45 min more or less, it was the first time I try kayak, I was impressed with the landscape here. We go next to a waterfall it was amazing, I was more enthusiastic for what is next: working with kayak in Ieranto bay. In the afternoon, we worked at home about a presentation for the day after (Sunday morning). The goal was to show to a group of Americans students the reasons why we are doing this volunteering through theatre.

The 19th of April it was my birthday! my friends volunteers sing and give me a birthday, I was surprised, I wasn’t expected this for me and of course I was very happy. After school, we went to a kayak trip, we go inside a ancient roman fish farm, inside many caves and we stopped at a beach to take lunch. After the kayaking, we go to Naples with some volunteers, we walk around the city and I met new people. 

Recently I discovered a path with the french volunteer, Etienne and Tony from project MARE18. It was almost 1 hour of walk in nature to arrive in a wonderful place it called Bagni della Regina Giovanna. This ancient roman villa is for me the best meeting between nature and sea, some incredible colors, surrealist shades of blues and greens.

I can see my future job here

Here is our house, just 20 metres from the sea

This is the view I have from our balcony, admire this sunset

We did a picnic in Ieranto Bay

We finally arrived, I’m totally stunned! 

Bagni della Regina Giovanna, the encounter between the sea and nature

We had a lunch together with other 3 volunteers (Daniels, Lidija and Etienne) and also, with our mentor (Simona), Domenico and Umberto

Hikking through bagni della Regina Giavanna

Project M.A.R.E. 2019: Meet our team

Here we are, starting from the left:

DANIELS: Hi, I come from the northwest of Latvia and I’m very excited to be here. As I grew up in the country side, I am very passionate about nature. I learned how to respect and love the nature working with my grandfather, who is a beekeeper. I joined this project to widen my horizons and I’m looking forward to work in the park with this amazing team.

ÉRICA: I’m a Portuguese girl with the dream of living in the sea. And what is better than do it in Italy? Such a beautiful country with a lot of nature to explore, either in land and underwater. We started our adventure in Massa Lubrense with pizza (of course), some trainings about volunteering and mentoring, exploring Campania by hiking, sharing a bit of our countries and with a beach cleaning in “our” beach for the next 9 months, that we hope to change it to a better place. I’m really happy to be here and to be part of the Project M.A.R.E., helping to improve our nature and sharing its beauties with the people.

LIDIJA: Hello everyone! One Serbian girl starting to work in your beautiful bay. Even if my country doesn’t have sea, that didn’t stop me to participate in this project and upgrade my marine knowledge. I live in a small town near the capital city, Belgrade, and I have been studied biology in the university of Novi Sad. Feeling honored for getting the chance to be part of your beautiful country and this big M.A.R.E family in the next 9 months.

LAURA: I’m the Spanish girl of the Project! I came from a small city in the north-west of Spain, called A Coruña. I knew about the project some months ago and I totally fell in love with it. The first two weeks here went so well: we did some hiking and we had some trainings related with the Project. The group of volunteers and the people from the Park are really nice and we are doing a lot of team building. Next week we will start the Italian lessons! I’m really happy and I’m looking forward to live this adventure! 

ETIENNE: Hello everyone, so I’m Etienne from Reunion Island and I’m 21 years old! I heard about this project through a friend and I fell in love very quickly. I am proud to be a volunteer and to share my culture, passion and ecological ideas with my team. Here, even I am thousands of kilometers away from my island, I feel like at home. Close to the nature and the sea I know that nothing can stop me.

Also we would like to present to you three more persons very important for us:

ALA – the Tunisian volunteer who is not here with us yet, but who will join us soon!

Andrew – an US intern in the Park

Antonio – a Biology student and a friend of the Project M.A.R.E.

We invite you to follow us during the next 9 month. We promise that we are going to share a lot about our beautiful adventure.

Hiking in Campania – the Project M.A.R.E. 2019 has started

The 7^th edition of Project M.A.R.E. has started this week

As every year, volunteers from different countries came to Massa Lubrense to help in the park of Punta Campanella.
We are:
Alaeddine Said from Tunisia;
Daniels Kļaviņš from Latvia;
Érica Moura from Portugal;
Etienne Hoarau from La Reunion (France);
Laura García from Spain;
Lidija Pribelja from Serbia.

We had our first session together on Thursday (14^th March). In this session, we focused on what it means to be a volunteer. The session was meant to help us find out our views about volunteering through an interactive games and discussion. It helped us realize that we have a lot in common. At the end of the game we worked together to find a definition for volunteering.

Volunteering should be done willingly, without expecting something in return. Volunteer should be interested in the work and activities of the organisation, work hard to achieve the best results and grow himself.

Later, we looked at volunteering from two sides: adjectives and values. We represented them in a picture of an iceberg, that has a visible side but also a side that is not shown that easily.

The second day (15^th of March) we had a hiking competition (divided in two teams) in which we had to reach the Monte di Torca from the center of Massa Lubrense using clues that we had to find along the way.

Thanks to Andrew and Domenico for organizing the activity and everyone who came to give us a warm welcome!

Both experiences were really useful to show us the importance of being a team, working together and to help us enjoy the beginning of a 9 months journey that is waiting for us. We are excited to continue this adventure.