These Maltese fishing boats have been made the same way for a very long time, and they are so colourful I find it hard to walk past without taking dozens of photographs every time! Such a boat is called a “luzzu” (pron. lootsoo) in Maltese and they are designed for deep sea fishing. One old fisherman told me that all they use for navigation is a compass and dead-reckoning . The fishermen were encouraged to buy trawlers by the government some years ago. However they were unpopular owing to the expense of maintenance, the fact that the Mediterranean sea bottom is anything but flat and trawler nets are designed for a relatively flat seabed, and also because many fishermen are reluctant to spend too long at sea. The yellow band indicates that this boat comes from the port of Marsaxlokk. The eye is supposed to be the Phoenician eye of Osiris protecting against evil, but there is some controversy about this. Pentax K10D.