I followed a fisherman out on the sea before sunrise to retrieve the nets and lines he put down the night before. We were about 10 miles (16 kilometers) off the coast of Corsica. There was no wind, so the sea was as calm as a lake. It was the middle of August, but when the sun came up I could see that mountains on the island still had small patches of snow. Once in a while the fisherman caught a lobster or a big fish. It was so serene. Like paradise.
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Corsica is one of the most beautiful islands in the world. It's still unspoiled and has three nature parks, so it was hard to get permission to fly at low altitude. But I was finally cleared to go up in a small helicopter to do some aerial photography along the coast. As we were flying along, the engine cut off. Fortunately, the pilot was very good. We had been over a small mountain and he managed to crash on a beach just short of the water. It happened so fast that I didn't have time to get scared, unlike the people on the beach. But I realized that it's much better to fly in a large helicopter that has good autorotation and two engines, which this small Youk didn't have.
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Once a year in the fall, when female goats become pregnant, the shepherds have to separate them from the male goats. After taking pictures, I helped one shepherd catch the billies. It was a bit like a rodeo roundup. We finally caught eight males, tied up their legs, and loaded them in the back of a truck. Then we drove them about five miles (eight kilometers) away, far enough so that the billies couldn't harass the nannies.
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