My cruising and underwater adventures aboard Maruzza: a tiny sailboat bound for the African coast

My Story

I set sail to chase the wind and freedom, turning my passion for adventure and my desire to explore the world into a true way of life. The sea called me with its endless possibilities, offering a sense of challenge, discovery, and personal growth that no land-bound journey could match.

The Mark of Adventure

Giuseppe Bucciarelli, at one year old, sees the sea for the first time in 1970, in the arms of his mother Rosa.

My name is Giuseppe Bucciarelli, and I was born on a dark and stormy night aboard a cargo ship flying the Panamanian flag. Well, that’s not true, but I must have come into the world during some strange astral conjunction. In fact, only a few months after I was born, the fire of exploration was already burning in my belly, and I did nothing but escape from my cradle. And let’s not even mention the first time I saw the sea at one year old: it was a sort of Stendhal syndrome.

Giuseppe Bucciarelli at five years old, gathering seaweed while leaving a beach in Cilento, Italy.

And so, as soon as I stuck my head underwater at seven years old, I started catching things. Well, seaweed at first, then little fish. But that irreversible process had begun—one that would take me to the four corners of the globe on land and under sail at sea.

I’ve figured out what I want!

Giuseppe Bucciarelli in 1994, alone in the swampy forest of the Orinoco Delta, Venezuela, South America.

I spent the ’90s between Florence and Venezuela, between the Faculty of Biology and the tropical forests of the Amazon. In short, it felt like I was living in a dream. The adventure was deep and real, and my destinations were almost unreachable in their remoteness. The world was simply too beautiful and varied to let it slip away out of fear of the unknown. Travel was becoming my reason for living. And so, little by little, I began to understand that I wanted to spend my life chasing the wind, the dust of the roads, and the smell of the sea.

Yanomami girl from the Venezuelan Amazon.

The Call of the Sea

Giuseppe Bucciarelli in 1997, about to dive with scuba tanks in Alaska during an oceanographic mission for UCSC.

Anyway, my greatest love has always been the sea, and it was practically inevitable that I would become a marine biologist. So, as soon as I graduated, I went to California, where I worked between Alaska and Mexico as a scientific diver and molecular biologist. Basically, I caught fish to study their DNA. That went on for a while, until I moved to Naples. Those were fantastic years spent alongside great scientists at the Anton Dohrn Zoological Station. My lab was right in front of the sea. There was no way not to notice that powerful presence calling me from the other side of the window glass. What could I do? Well, I bought Maruzza. And after four years, I left everything behind and set off on a sea journey to the edges of the Mediterranean. It was 2002, and I was thirty-one.

Giuseppe Bucciarelli befriends a barn swallow in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea in 2003. The bird is perched on his head.

A Change of Course

On board Maruzza there was a small digital video camera that I had practically never used. But by then I had reached Syria with the boat, in the distant Middle East, and since I was already there, I tried making a documentary about an iconic, nearly extinct bird that roamed the desert on the border with Iraq—the Northern Bald Ibis. It could have been a beautiful story about people and nature. I had no idea how documentaries were made, but I figured it would be enough to do what I saw on TV. I didn’t know how to technically achieve that goal, but at least I had plenty of models to follow! I was a bit optimistic, but the idea wasn’t wrong. Somehow, I managed to make the documentary, and Ahmed and the Return of the Phoenix went much better than expected. It was even bought by National Geographic, and I realized that making films could actually become a profession.

Giuseppe Bucciarelli with Ahmed in Palmyra, in the Syrian desert, Middle East, in 2004.

Kenya

After three years sailing around the Mediterranean aboard Maruzza, I returned to Florence, and after one last stint in the lab, in 2009 I left for Africa with a backpack stuffed full of optimism. I’m not saying it was easy, but somehow I began making conservation films in the savanna for two Kenyan NGOs working in environmental protection. And there, an enchanted world opened up before me—one made of incredible wildlife, local communities that were nothing short of fascinating, solitary nights in my tent beneath tropical skies, and the sounds of hyenas and lions drifting through the air. In short, Africa had won me over. But one fine day, it also decided to take me out with a nasty little trick. But that’s another story…

The Big TV Productions

Anyway, little by little I learned the craft, set it aside, and became a professional cameraman, editor, and director of nature documentaries. This opened up the world of television and major international productions before me. Fantastic years spent between India, Africa, and South America. On this VIMEO link, you can see what I did during those years. But that world felt a bit confining. Making a living from television isn’t exactly a walk in the park—there are many compromises to make and plenty of frogs to swallow. So I decided to take new paths and return to the sea.

Giuseppe Bucciarelli in 2017 with his trusted Arri Amira camera in the crater of Mount Suswa, in the Rift Valley, Kenya.

Today, Sailing All the Way to Africa

Giuseppe Bucciarelli sailing toward Skiros, Greece, in 2023, aboard his sailboat Maruzza.

And here I am now. Back on Maruzza, back at sea, back under sail—but this time with a camera in hand. I’ve never forgotten Africa, and it’s there that I want to return with my boat. From now on, I’ll be sharing my stories with you—about the sea, sailing, travel, and adventure—on YouTube. These will be journeys full of twists and surprises, like all off-the-beaten-path trips. But through my videos, I especially want to show that life is beautiful, unique, and full of opportunities waiting to be explored. Anyone can set off and find themselves on the other side of the globe doing things they never imagined. You just need to take the first steps and try. Life is a road full of unexpected curves, there only to be discovered. So, what do you say—shall we go?