Updated on January 7, 2016
How we took a part in a ship launching
We were on our way in the early morning, heading for the harbour of Castellammare di Stabia. 
There we would be involved in a launching of a new ship. Or to be more precise – launching of a half of the ship. Apparently, the other half was being built in another port with the thought to put them together somewhere in the waters. The launching of a new ship from a shipyard is a rather spectacular thing that catches the eye of whoever is in the vicinity. The force with which the ship meets the surface of water made me glad that we had stopped at a safe distance from the scene. The coordination of the ship company made sure that things were in order; that everything went safe and smooth. And so it did! The smoothness was visible still afterwards. For it was whale fat they were using to slide the ship in. Turns out that for events like these: whale fat is being imported from Japan and Iceland. It is then used to help the new ship have its first taste of fresh sea water. For us it meant that there will be some cleaning to do.
Having been given the green light to start our works we, the AMP Punta Campanella workers, Mimi, Luca, Nicola and me, set out on our small journey around the port. Slowly, by sliding through the whale fat, we started gathering it. The process of gathering it is a rather simple one. One gets a stick with fishing net attached to the end of it. With this one picks up all the big pieces of whale fat and puts it in the garbage container, which is located on the boat. While doing so one does his best not to get dirty. I failed miserably! And therefore, I had to throw my clothes away. The whale fat took a lot of strength, but that is why they had brought Latvian power with them – me. 
When we had finished our gathering jam, we shared some hot food and coffee with the other workers. The food: surprisingly tasty and rich in variety. After getting ourselves stuffed we docked in the port and had one of their cranes pick up all of the fat. The approximate estimate was around 500 kg of whale fat. The heaviness of it could be felt in our muscles still after. However, it felt worth it. Cleaning the sea always has felt worth it!
All in all, we had a hard yet pleasant day at work. Being part of this ship launching was a unique and new experience for me. I learned some and saw some. And to put a cherry on top of the cake: I, for the first time ever, saw some dolphins having a good time. By good time I mean they were jumping around rather close to our boat. I surely had a time to remember.
Congratulations for getting till the end!
Posted on January 5, 2016
Reflexions about ieranto (II)
Every day that I went to Ieranto there seemed to be a different feeling being born in the same place where just the day before there was another. Because Ieranto changes, it is a changing entity. The people, which go to Ieranto to enjoy its waters, change, and the waters of Ieranto are changing at without end as well. The volunteers of MARE project change and the FAI volunteers do too. Also our personalities change every time we go to Ieranto. Mother Marry hold my beard, even the Legionaries of Christ change every 15 days!!! 
But the last day I went to Ieranto bay something different was about to change… This day the weather and the climate conditions changed! And with it, a lot of aspects of Ieranto that I didn’t see before changed as well. The rain started at 14:40, during my monitoring time, and brought with it a series of dramatic changes.
I decided to go with my partner of the day and the project, Karolina, until Presepe cave to enjoy the rains and the thunders of Ieranto bay. The acoustics inside the cave were unforgettable, the sound of raindrops when they become one with the sea water, the temperature and also the landscape. Yes, the landscape. The water began to go down the typical Ieranto carbonated and volcanic rocks into our magical place. And with that, the colorations of the rocks started to change giving way to a totally different aspect of Ieranto. One that I had never seen before. But not only had the rocks felt the influence, also the trees had a part in it. This vivid greenery, like an energy that only the rain can give to the trees…and what about the smell of the rain over the pines!
The smell of wet earth, the smell of rosmarino, and trees after rain…this is indescribable. Too difficult to describe is Ieranto, where everything has its own special dye. To take a slightly more graphic example: The hazy mist, result of condensation and terrain mountainous, in San Costanzo, started to descend through the pineta. The gray sky, the dark orange colour rocks and all the small details of this day transport us almost to another country somewhere in the north of Europe…
Besides the rain, it had a second consequence no less interesting. Tourists and visitors began to leave, so our work was drastically reduced :).
Updated on January 5, 2016
What does the sea mean to our Spanish guy? Joakin tells.
During the 8months- your point of view at the sea changed?
Yes! Very much, at first the sea was only a place where to go for holiday, because i live in the centre of the country so there’s no sea. So in the summer to enjoy nature, take a bath, drink a cold beer next to the beach i go there. Now my idea of the sea changed, i don’t see the sea anymore only as a touristic place, now the sea for me is an ecosystem full of life, a beautiful ecosystem, that has to be protected especially because of the quantity of animals living in.
The sea rough or calm- what do you prefer?
If I am in my bed: rough, obviously, but when i go to work at the sea, for doing monitoring, taking algies or something like this, personally I prefer it calm, everything calm, not only the sea. Life in general.
How did you feel collecting rubbish at the beach/the sea? You got angry about the persons who threw it?
I felt that I did a good thing for the environment, a little contribution to what I love and try to protect. But unfortunately this type of actions aren’t effective at all when they are not accompanied by environmental education. When children understand it is important to keep clean beaches, in the future we don’t have to clean so much after the people anymore.
Anger is a very strong feeling to have against someone. Maybe these persons didnt have the possibility to have appropriate education in this field. So, I only learned that there are still lots of things to do and it’s better to look forward than to be angry about the persons who don’t know how to protect these treasures like the sea.
Why do so many people like the sea? What is so special about it?
Because the long holidays are always in summer and it’s hot and people want to take a bath. Also the tranquility which it gives to some.
What do you think: At the moment it’s more important to protect the sea than the land?
No. Project MARE let me grow to see that the sea is important to protect, ..but also the land. Both are important and I can’t say that one is more important to protect than the other one. We need both for having a planet where we can live good.
For you, which feelings are connected with the sea?
Feeling of tranquility. The sea transports me with his smell, his rumour to a state of endless tranquility. And especially when I am snorkeling, it seems that time stops.
What did you learn in the last months about the sea?
I’ve learned that the sea is a form of living, the sea is a way to go on with their lives for many people, for the fishermen, captains, persons who love and live with the sea, persons who work for guided visits… But the most beautiful thing hat I’ve learned is to appreciate all the underwaterworld and that it’s a very important treasure to protect. Before coming here I was not so conscient about which importance the sea has on our planet.
Do you remember which days here at the sea you liked the most? What made them special?
I had a lot of special days here that I can’t choose a single one.. For me every day at Ieranto was a day with many things to remember. But boh…to say one, for example, as a very symbolic day, I can take the day at the golf of of Naples where we liberated the turtles. It was very nice thing to do, and a good beginning of the project! After doing this there are not many things to beat that. I think (from a romantic-naturalistic point of view)…maybe liberating a tiger in India hahaha.
Updated on December 24, 2015
MassaDaM.A.R.E (II) – Sta. Agata – Marina di Crapolla
The second day of the MassaDaMARE event that we saw had a harder way compared to the first day in the aspect of difficulty, but it was also more beautiful than before from a natural point of view.
Like the day before, we started at 9:30 in St. Agatha, but we had trouble arriving to the town because there were marathon runners that cut us off from the town, fortunately, with some delay, we came to Santa Agata via Sorrento and Massa.
There we met with the other participants of the journey and we started. The difficulty of the trail was mediocre, so a nice breakfast with a coffee and a cornetto was a great start for the day. Full of energy!
We descended toward Crapola by endless stairs, 700 steps down we had to start climbing! (This was really hard; luckily we had good training walking to and from Ieranto :D) Halfway through we made a short stop at an old church where up to 12 monks used to live and where now there is only a small chapel made by fishermen, and a wooden Christ. Undoubtedly it is a place with an amazing history and a pleasurable to walk through places of interest. Another aspect that caught my attention is the amount of botanical species of the place!
After we came to Crapolla fjord where, for sure, in periods of rains the water falls down forming a beautiful waterfall. Amazing! Just down the way to the beach, we stopped for further information on where an ancient cistern and kitchen for fishermen still is in occasional use.
After this and without time to enjoy the beach we started to work! MARE had started to clean up the beach to not only enjoy the nature and the spectacular place, but also to make our small contribution to the environment. As a small and relatively well protected tidal beach it took us half an hour to cleanse the entire beach, and that’s when we got to enjoy the lovely sunshine in one of the most beautiful beaches of the Sorrento peninsula, in the Salernitana part. It has certainly been a time to remember.
After our deserved rest we took a step back to contemplate the place with more respect, before stepping forward for the fearful climb of 700 steps that we had to climb now… It was definitely the hardest part of the day! The sun, the accumulated fatigue, the slope angle and the distance till the end had made this part of the hiking route the hardest part of the whole journey. But at last we reached the top! And after drinking Marion’s water (we didn’t have any wine…) we returned to Santa Agata; from where we drove to Marina della Lobra for the Massadamare event. 
Without a doubt we could not have carried out the day without a friend who spent months alongside the MARElinis, Marco Ciambellini, without this gentleman and our friend we never would have arrived on time to enjoy the food in Massa. Thank you, Marco!
Posted on December 23, 2015
I am Batman
Seven months have passed. Seven months since the eight of us started our European Voluntary Service in the mountain and sea surrounded area of Sorrento peninsula. Together, we have come to aid the sea protected park of Punta Campanella. The park has sought our assistance for such activities as: monitoring of Ieranto bay, assistance at the campo boe with boat parking, organization and implementation of sea related activities for children. Taking into account that the winter is showing its nose in our part of Europe as well, our summer activities have seen their end. Therefore, this article will focus on our “winter” activities.
The list of our current activities is fairly short when compared with the activities of our summer. However, it is no less important. Mainly, we gather samples of the different types of algae in our Ieranto bay and prepare sea related activities for children that we later on enjoy together with the little rascals. Gathering of the different types of algae for us means: going under water, with water costumes appropriate to this kind of weather, and picking up samples that we have not yet encountered and gathered. Afterwards we dry and identify them in order to separate different types and species. When all the necessary information has been gathered, we put them away, wrapped and packed, for a day when they are needed again. Our main goals in respect to algae is to understand which types reside in the bay, their density, which types are dominant and why. The activity in which I am most involved is environmental education. With this activity as a tool, we are able to forward the information that we have gained on the sea protection topic further to the bright and creative minds of previously mentioned little rascals. All in all, it is a useful and no less fun activity for both us and the children.
In parallel with our main activities, we keep a blog and a facebook page going. With help of previously mentioned tools we are able to share information related to our topic: Biodiversity and its protection as well as sustainability. Sharing our doings has been a large part of our time here. Besides having our own blog and facebook page, we design, print and distribute our own posters (they can be seen on our blog page). We have received quite a lot of media attention with our unique project. We have been part of at least two TV broadcasts (LineaBlu, MTV Italy), some newspaper articles (which I have lost) and we have been a topic in some sea-friendly conferences (one of which took place about a month ago in Daugavpils, Latvia). All of this has been important for us and other project related people in order to spread awareness on issues surrounding our lovely Sorrento peninsula.
In the middle of all this we still get to help our extravagant house owner with olive gathering, to plant some tree on a top of a mountain, to see and be part of a ship launching in the sea, encounter a dolphin or ten, to meet and get to visit other volunteers around the whole of Italy. To say it plainly: we are happy with what’s happening around us. The last half of the year has been full with new knowledge, lovely surprises and amazing experiences. Although I crave the frosty winter Latvia and the residents of it, I know beforehand that I will miss this place as a second home.
See you when I see you,
Kristaps
