Updated on May 7, 2024
NOLA – On Arrival Training
From the 25th of May to the 1st of June all Marelini went to Nola for an Erasmus Training on EVS. There we discussed topics that regard the volunteer’s welfare, such as expectations vs. reality, conflict management, personality traits and work and time management. We’ve approached EVS burocratic organs and systems, some aspects of Italian Culture and History and other volunteers experiences and projects. Last but not the least, we’ve had Italian lessons everyday and we did a walk on Naples.
Since Naples is not unknown to us we revisited some of its most emblematic monuments and blocks: The treasure of San Gennaro’s Cathedral, Quartiere di San Lorenzo and Via dei Tribunali, we ate the tasty pizza of De Matteo and some of us even ventured in one of the underground structures of Neapolis, right under San Lorenzo’s church.
We stayed at Hotel de’ Gigli, where pasta was ALWAYS the queen of the table and their pool our favorite break between activities. We were lucky to meet other 24 European volunteers spread from north to south of Italy (and islands!). They come from pretty much everywhere: Portugal, Spain, France, Germany, Cyprus, Latvia, Bulgaria, Moldavia and Turkey. We all came back home with the feeling we could have stayed some days more but that’s how life is! All of us were needed in our volunteering places and so going back was on the go.
Needless to say our favorite memories from this well spent week were the acquaintances we’ve made with other young people. Curious how a small group can be so heterogeneous but nonetheless harmonious! We came back home tired but emotionally reinvigorated. We all believe we did some friends and definitely we’ll be paying a visit to some of them. For sure a few have already decided to come around our beautiful crib for the weeks to come!
Updated on June 18, 2018
DIVING IN CILENTO!
During the days 14 to 24 May, I had the opportunity to collaborate with a team that participated in the first part of a study carried out in the Parco Nazionale del Cilento, Vallo di Diano e Alburni (PNCVDA), a partnership with the Area Marina Protetta Punta Campanella (AMPPC). This study consists in the realization of a method called Fish Underwater Visual Censos. Through snorkeling and diving we aimed to monitor the coastal fish fauna of the two Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) of the PNCVDA. The MPAs are the Area Marina Protetta Santa Maria di Castellabate e Area Marina Protetta Costa degli Infreschi e della Masseta. During this period there was also the opportunity to collect some data on the mortality of the mollusk bivalve Pinna Nobilis.
To study the first MPA, me, Mimi and Linda (an AMPPC worker) stayed in Castellabate. Here we slept in the agriturismo “La gabbianella e il gatto”, where we were one more time welcomed with open arms. In one of the days of the first week, due to bad weather conditions, we could not work, so we took the opportunity to visit the location of the famous Italian comedy “Benvenuti al Sud”. As a company for the walk in this lovely town we had the friendly Stéphanie, a Marelini volunteer of 2013 and her lovely mother Pia. I really enjoyed this week, it was full of good times with a great company.
In the second week we went to Marina di Camerota to continue our work in the second MPA, with more dives every day (
). In one of the days, it started to rain while we were diving, but this did not stop us from continuing until we reached the goals of the day (one can not get wetter than we were that day!). Between the work we manage to see a bit of Marina di Camerota and the surrounding area. This place is so beautiful, full of fantastic landscapes and unforgettable views. It was my first time here and I definitely would like to come back.
To finish this adventure, on the last day of work I went to Naples to take samples collected during the dives, in order to be analyzed by the University of Naples.
In the course of these days, there were good friends and of course good traditional Italian food, such as gelato, pizza made in the wooden oven, pasta e fagioli, pasta e zucchine and other typical dishes.
Despite of missing my colleagues and friends of M.A.R.E. project and although it was a very tiring week I feel as a very lucky person. This was an amazing experience! Working in the sea and diving is such a privilege. The sea is just a wonderful place where I feel free and I can swim in to the infinite… I am very grateful for this opportunity and I hope to have the possibility to repeat it.
P.s. 1: Lia, thank you so much for the beautiful afternoon of the last day and for showing me Marina de Camerota.
P.s. 2: Alvaro, thank very much you for the afternoon well spent in Naples.
Joana
Updated on June 11, 2018
PADI OPEN WATER DIVER COURSE
Welcome under the sea. We – Fabien, Dani and Laura, took advantage of free time given by the project to do something long waited and dreamed of – Open Water diving course. Just hundred meters from our volunteer’s house located in the small port, Marina della Lobra, we spent one week in The Punta Campanella Diving Centre learning, practicing and exploring the world of scuba diving.
The PADI Open Water Diver course is the world’s most popular and widely recognized scuba course. This course consists of three main phases: knowledge development to understand basic principles of scuba diving, confined Water Dives to learn basic scuba skills, open Water Dives to use learned skills and explore. Together with our instructors Gianluigi, Lisa and Victoria we learned theory, important rules, usage of equipment and preparation for dive. We did a lot of exercise to be confident and prepared for the underwater discovery.
Diving is an incredible encountering with sea which makes you feel like part of another world. It is the feeling of flying between the aquatic world. This experience brought us in deeper and more sensitive relationship between us and Mediterranean Sea. In summer we are living on kayaks in Bay of Ieranto on the top of dark blue waters. We are protecting the aquatic life against human impact. The direct observation of these blue waters, the chance to perceive beauty and colors of this world is very important when it comes to work for such a long time being above the waters. To be able to comprehend in more personal sense that under the dark blue there is nothing to fear, there is no danger just life of constant movement, paradise of peace and silence.
We did practice and dives around area of Sorrento Peninsula – Punta di Puolo, Cala di Mitigliano, Vervece. One of the most incredible participations was diving in area of Vervece which is in protected area of red Zone A. Diving in this area is allowed only with permission. Here we saw fishes like Barracuda, Murena, Dentice, Salpa, Castagnola etc. The feeling was like swimming in a big aquarium, an unique sensation because it is very hard to find a place like this where you can see so many different species in the same place.
Open Water Diver course was so important mostly because our work relates to spreading awareness about marine conservation, and the best way how to talk with people is to find contact with the sea in deeper level in our inner selves. The knowledge we gain will help us in our work. We got very lucky to be able to compare diving in protected area and area which is affected by humans. While living in Marina Lobra we notice every day hundreds of boats passing by from one side of Peninsula to the other, from Sorrento and Golf of Naples to Capri island and back. These boats are interfering with aquatic life, as well our most painful topic – enquiring and over fishing.
We suggest everyone to try scuba diving at least once in life. There is so much more to learn and see and we hope that this experience will let you be more aware about aquatic life and will make you choose more sustainable ways of living and tourism while traveling.
Thank you team of Punta Campanella Diving Centre – Gianluigi, Victoria and Liza for this fantastic time!
Updated on May 7, 2024
SCARIO AND THE GULF OF POLLICASTRO: A HIDDEN PARADISE IN THE WEST PART
Wednesday, 23rd of May of 2018
Me, Tony and Carmela headed to the shores of Cilento to work. We woke up early and the sky was grey, threatening heavy rain. We didn’t know where we would work for the next two days and we were tired. It rained a lot and we got wet, specially Tony. On the train hours passed… the southern we were, the more archeological sites we saw through the window. We wanted to keep the surprise factor so we didn’t ask Carmela where we were heading.
Where on Cilento were we going?
Sapri, we realized when we arrived. A collaborator of the project, Nico, was waiting for us at the station. As he drove us through the small city heading to the port of Scario we realised the natural beauty of the place we were staying for a couple of days.
We stayed in a B&B called Kalimaka, located in a historical building in the shoreline of the port. Then again, because this project revolves around the SEA and its welfare, no need to say that the landscape was amazing. Meeting where the earth ends and where the sea meets the sky always invites everyone to contemplate life and redefine priorities. From the sea, the small Scario’s port with its historical and catholic buildings intertwined with vegetation makes of it all a pittoresque scenario.
In that afternoon and for the next day we cleaned four beaches only accessible by boat on the nearby shores, with the aim of collecting data for a european study. We counted on the crucial help of Solidea, Pippo and Guerino, an environmentalist family that is our right arm in these cleaning tasks.
The people that contemplate the beaches from the sea will feel tempted to say they’re clean but it’s not true: between the sands and the vegetation so much trash lays hidden – we’ve found sunbeds, umbrellas, glass jars, beer bottles, diapers, pads, cigarette filters, neverending polystyrene and PLASTIC. For our surprise, the big majority of it was not coming from the sea. So where was it coming from? It had been left there by tourists and the people that bring them in, renting them sunbeds and selling them food.
What happens in these beaches?
Environmental awareness and caring is not high among older people. That plus the laziness of collecting and bringing waste to the boats creates a big part of the problem. But what weights the most is getting away with it. Even though it is illegal to leave trash on the beaches (especially because it is a natural park and therefore a protected area) the businessmen feel protected due to nepotism: the main responsibles for trash accumulation are acquainted or relatives to people that work in the municipality, so they escape unpunished for the ecological footprint they are leaving.
All in all, solving these kinds of issues is not easy and it can also compromise the social welfare of ours and of the environmentalists that work with us, but we don’t quit. Patiently and resiliently we keep doing our best effort to maintain beaches and marine ecosystems as clean as we can.
We had a great time. We cleaned, we dove in the clear waters of Scario and saw beautiful landscapes. Even though we were tired, we left happy, grateful for having met such nice persons and last but not the least with a feeling of accomplishment for what we did.
Updated on May 7, 2024
MARINE TURTLE`S LIBERATION IN THE BEACH OF PUOLO
In the morning of 7th of May we went to the beach of Puolo to help the Istituto Zoologico Anton Dohrn (SZN) to release four of the several turtles they have under care. Joining us in this extraordinary and joyful event there were several high school students, citizens and some of our friends too. Surprise and excitement were in the air, everyone was ready to take some pictures and even underwater divers were all set to picture the first swims of these turtles after such a long while. A van arrived with four small tanks inside, each for each one of them.
But who are these turtles and what is their story?
Salvatore, Prometeo, Cicciotta e Callipo. They all are strong and painful examples of what goes wrong recurrently during a turtle’s life in these last “anthropogenic” days. They are all individuals from the species Caretta caretta and they all share the misfortune of being caught on fishnets some months ago. Luckily Sandra, Gianluca, Maria Pia and other colleagues from the SZN were able to save them. Salvatore is our biggest adult fellow, weighting more than 60kg. He was caught by a bottom net in February and had no major wounds from it. Prometeo is a juvenile (meaning that it still hasn’t reached to mating age and therefore is less than 25 years old) that also was caught on a similar net. Cicciotta was seen floating for a couple of days in the sea; clearly she had some floating issues. Last but not the least we have Callipo, also a juvenile caught by a net that caused him some wounds throughout his body. All of them had severe trauma from the stress of bycatching, which is reason enough to keep them in a turtle’s hospital for a considerable period.
They were lucky for several reasons. First is they weren’t dead by the time fishermen noticed them (for more information about the main threats for turtles check here). Second, fishermen bothered to contact the marine park instead of releasing them again. Many times they do not and that happens for mainly two reasons: it’s time consuming and it might put some fishermen in danger if they might be fishing out of the allowed areas. Only around 10% of the fishermen in the area collaborate with us and we estimate that more than half of the turtles that get trapped are not declared and therefore released in the sea improperly. Every year around 120 turtles are found in the shores of Campania, half of them dead.
Why is not reporting living turtles after bycatch considered improper?
Being caught by a net is very stressing for a turtle – other than being trapped, they might not be able to move, or they might be hit several times by fish, rocks and other debris, they might get wounded in the process and/or due to the hook they confused as solely bait and for sure they might not breathe when they need. As marine reptiles, turtles can (and some species do) live in the water but they cannot withstand long without coming to the surface to breathe. For all of these reasons, after improper release stress might cause them difficulties to recover the sense of orientation, to recover from the wounds inflicted, to search for food and eventually cause a slow death. That’s why if a turtle is caught in a fishnet and even if the turtle is apparently fine, it should always be reported to a turtle’s institute or to the nearest marine area.
Luckily these fellows were reported, rescued and saved. Their health was good and they were ready to return to the sea and to travel the long distances they usually do, maybe even to find a partner, since the mating season is about to start. It is always an incredible moment, the one of releasing in the wild a recovered individual of a threatened species. One dedicates one’s life to them, puts all the effort and art in the mastering of taking care and saving what others so recklessly destroy, to release them once more to where they belong, having faith that everything will work out the best way possible and that one’s gesture in the long term makes a difference. Those are moments of celebration. But on one hand lies hope and on the other uncertainty. Let us all hope for the best and that these amazing creatures thrive once more in their astonishing but fragile sea world. At the end of the day it’s up to each one of us to mind and take care about our trash, our eating habits, our purchases and therefore our environmental choices. That is the only way we can take care of our sea, our lands, our home.
