Philippine President Benigno Aquino said that the Huangyan Island dispute might soon be resolved as he gave assurances that discussions with China had taken a clearer direction.
"Our discussions with China have never stopped.

There is direction now, whereas before the talks were not as clear. Now there appears to be some clarity in the talks," the president told reporters on Monday. "It's too early to say the situation has already cleared, but at least we are now moving nearer toward resolving the situation using diplomatic means," he said, adding that Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario was given "terms of reference" by various legal consultants on how to resolve the issue. Aquino also implied that it might not bring the case before international courts on the Law of the Sea, Philippine media said.

Tensions in the South China Sea escalated on April 10 when a Philippine warship harassed 12 Chinese fishing vessels that had sailed near the island to seek shelter from inclement weather. Experts said Aquino's comments reflected that the Philippine side had softened its position. The Philippines is believed to have been under pressure from both the United States and its own people, said Ren Yuanzhe, a researcher at China Foreign Affairs University.

China, through Defense Minister Liang Guanglie's visit to the United States and the Sino-US strategic and economic dialogue that recently ended, has informed the United States of its position in the South China Sea, and the United States does not want to see the situation deteriorate, he said.

The Philippine people have also put pressure on their government out of fear that trade prospects would be negatively affected if tensions intensified, and it would be a disaster for ordinary citizens, Ren said.
China is the third-largest trade partner of the Philippines, and the Philippines is China's sixth-largest trade partner among ASEAN members. Bilateral trade grew fast over the past decade and reached $30 billion in 2011, according to the Chinese embassy in the Philippines.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei on Tuesday repeatedly stated that the Chinese government has sought to resolve the dispute through diplomatic negotiations and urged the Philippine side to respect China's territorial sovereignty over Huangyan Island and return to the right track.
Ren said each party should learn from this incident and consider establishing a crisis management mechanism for the South China Sea to avoid potential conflicts.

Also on Tuesday, China Southern Airlines, one of the three major Chinese airlines, announced that it is cutting flights to the Philippines as tourist numbers have shrunk amid tensions over Huangyan Island.
The company will reduce its flights between South China's Guangzhou city and Manila to just once a day on certain dates from May 26 to June 30. The airline normally operates two flights daily on the route.
A spokesman for the airline said the adjustment was made in accordance with the cancellation of "a large number of tourist groups" lately.

Major Chinese travel agencies canceled tours to the Philippines earlier this month after the Chinese Embassy in the Philippines warned Chinese citizens of "massive anti-China demonstrations". The Chinese tourism administration on Sunday said almost all Chinese mainlanders on group tours would leave the Philippines by Wednesday.

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As a coastal community the lighthouses of Prince Edward Island not only served the practical purpose of lighting the way home before the era of GPS navigation, they now offer a unique opportunity to those who visit. Prince Edward Island offers a variety of lighthouse tours ranging from the scenic to the informative.

As most are aware, lighthouses served as a navigational aid for sailors and the ships they captained. Lighthouses are towers that are positioned on sea shores, or even sometimes in harbours. They use a series of lamps and lenses to help guide navigating vessels on the high seas. Lighthouses are used to mark dangerous coastlines, steer ships away from hazards, mark safe entry points into harbours and assist in aerial navigation. With that in mind it is important to note how important lighthouses were to trade and commerce throughout human history.

PEI has a rich history and is the birthplace of confederation in Canada. It also has many historic lighthouses that were used to guide the ships delivering goods to and from Canada. PEI's lighthouses are classified in two ways "First Generation" (built before 1873) and "Second Generation" (those built following 1873). The difference between the two types is that first generation lighthouses have an octagonal shape and were constructed when timber was plentiful in the province. The second generation lighthouses are square shaped as by this point (post 1873) PEI's timber supply had been scarce because of the shipbuilding industry.

Lighthouse technology, although used less in modern times, employs a series of lamps and lenses to project light over large distances. This technology utilizes concentrated light from a single continuous source and magnifies and reflects it so that it can be beamed across open water. The first lighthouses were lit by candles, later by whale oil, then by the 1870's kerosene was typically used.

As an island PEI boasts over 40 historic lighthouses. Surrounded by both scenic red sand beaches and rugged cliffs touring the lighthouses provides wonderful insight into maritime life and well as a rich Canadian history. Since Prince Edward Island is surrounded by water you are never to far from the breathtaking views of the gentle island.

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It takes two ferries to get to Hornby Island, located off the East Coast of Vancouver Island about halfway between Parksville and Courtenay. The first ferry takes you to Denman, followed by a short island drive to the next terminal. $80.00 was the return fare for our car and two passengers and takes a total of less than an hour.

Hornby is typical of the Gulf and Discovery Islands, attracting an artistic and creative population. The island is dotted with artisan studios and organic farms, self-built houses and serene cottages. We stayed at the Ford's Cove Marina and Campground, essentially at the end of the main road after getting off the ferry. It's a small campground with perhaps a dozen sites and as many cabins for rent, while featuring flush toilets and pay showers. There's a store on-site that offers pretty much everything you could possibly need while camping, and an espresso machine to boot. There's also a small food-stand restaurant that we didn't have time to try and a scuba operation. It is a marina so there are plenty of boats to peruse.

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It takes two ferries to get to Hornby Island, located off the East Coast of Vancouver Island about halfway between Parksville and Courtenay. The first ferry takes you to Denman, followed by a short island drive to the next terminal. $80.00 was the return fare for our car and two passengers and takes a total of less than an hour. Hornby is typical of the Gulf and Discovery Islands, attracting an artistic and creative population. The island is dotted with artisan studios and organic farms, self-built houses and serene cottages.

We stayed at the Ford's Cove Marina and Campground, essentially at the end of the main road after getting off the ferry. It's a small campground with perhaps a dozen sites and as many cabins for rent, while featuring flush toilets and pay showers. There's a store on-site that offers pretty much everything you could possibly need while camping, and an espresso machine to boot. There's also a small food-stand restaurant that we didn't have time to try and a scuba operation. It is a marina so there are plenty of boats to peruse.

Some of the must-see attractions on Hornby include the Cardboard Bakery, a quaint little restaurant and artisan market that specializes in pizza and baked goods situated on the beautiful grounds of an orchard and garden. There is often live music in the garden on a Saturday afternoon, and other events can take place depending on your timing and good fortune.

The Co-Op, down the road is next to Tribune Bay Provincial Park, with its beautiful beach that attracts many tourists. The Co-op sells just about everything, including liquor, hardware, groceries and camp supplies. Outside the main building is a circle of markets, bookstores, bike rentals, cafes and restaurants, a true meeting place for the locals and tourists alike. There is a pub and restaurant by the ferry terminal.

Other services and attractions include Bradsdadsland Campbground, Whaling Station Bay, Helliwell Provincial Park, wineries, kayaking and scuba. The geology of the island is fascinating and a walk along the coast features many interesting sandstone formations carved by the force of the ocean. The island is a mecca for mountain bikers and the many trails are popular for all skill levels.

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Twenty euros ($A25.50) for a pair of flip-flops, 10 euros for a five-minute taxi ride and store prices that send even locals to Athens. Welcome to Santorini, the island that forgot Greece's economic crisis.
Voted the world's best island by Travel + Leisure magazine in 2011, the Cyclades tourism powerhouse continues to live in an inflation bubble as the rest of the country sees salaries and pensions plummet by up to 40 per cent.

The enduring boom is built on money spent by thousands of travellers who flock to Santorini by cruise ship, ferry and plane each day, drawn by the island's whitewashed villages, volcanic beaches and jaw-dropping sunset vistas. The island was home to a technologically advanced Bronze Age civilisation that was destroyed by a massive volcanic eruption in the 17th century BCE.

The eruption collapsed part of the island, shaping a deep caldera basin and etching steep cliffs that are Santorini's main attractions today, in addition to the quality wines grown on the island's volcanic soil.
The reopening of the archaeological site of Akrotiri, a Bronze Age urban centre that boasted multi-storeyed buildings, magnificent wall paintings and an elaborate drainage system, further boosts the island's appeal.

Nearly 180,000 foreign nationals flew into Santorini last year, up 10.5 per cent, and about 80 per cent of all visitors are non-Greek, many of them honeymoon travellers and retired couples. But even visitors with deeper pockets are now starting to chafe.

"I just paid 3.50 euros ($A4.50) for a can of Coca-Cola, it's the most expensive I've ever had in my life," protested Denise, a 59-year-old from Rio de Janeiro on a 40-day southern Europe tour with her husband.
The Brazilian couple were fortunate. With the help of a local car rental operator, they secured a small room with a splendid view of the caldera for just 60 euros a night, bargained down from a first asking price of 170 euros.

For most of their seven-day stay, they were the hotel's sole guests. Online, visitors question the island's luxury accommodation pedigree given the state of many rooms. "There is no question that the views here are amazing, but this is an unfortunate example of greedy, unprofessional hoteliers jumping on the 'luxury boutique' bandwagon and doing it on the cheap," one traveller wrote on the tripadvisor.com site.

Most of Santorini's hotels are currently near-empty but despite that, a double room with a caldera view can easily cost 300 euros ($395) a night, and suites are often priced at over 700 euros.
Many establishments arbitrarily claim five-star status.

"Santorini has a unique product but it's true that the cost should be linked to the level of service received," noted George Drakopoulos, general manager of the association of Greek tourism enterprises.
He stressed however that "the market has a way of correcting such issues," and added: "Nobody forces people to travel to Santorini."

A souvenir vendor in the island capital of Fira complained meanwhile that "we have to use binoculars to see tourists, they did not even come for the Catholic Easter holiday. "In previous years we were 60 per cent full at this time of year. Now it's down to 20-30 per cent," he said. As for local inhabitants, the minimum salary in Greece has been slashed to under 600 euros and many employees clear less than 1,000 euros a month as the government cuts spending to balance the strained public finances. Hotel and shop staff on Santorini earn similar wages. "I make 25 euros a day and I can't afford to give it away for a kilo of meat or a return taxi fare," says Despoina, a hotel worker.

"When I first arrived, I was asked to pay between 300 and 400 euros to rent a room," she said, the equivalent of monthly rent for a flat in Athens. "I've lived on Santorini for 10 years but I haven't shopped here in three," said a Moldovan shop worker. "I ask friends to bring me stuff from Athens."Challenged over Santorini's exorbitant prices, many locals shrug. "We also live in Greece and we too have trouble making ends meet," said a handicraft shop owner. "It's true that prices should be lower if we are to attract visitors during the crisis," a taxi driver admitted after trying to claim a double fare.

"But we only have five months to earn money for the entire year," she said. Yiannis Stournaras, general director of the Greek foundation for social and economic research, notes that tourist prices have not dropped as radically as costs for businesses. "It is a fact that wages go down but prices keep on the same level for the tourists," he said. "In the case of Santorini, it might be because it is a unique place and the hotel owners don't want to underestimate their product. But it is an issue here -- prices do not adapt and it is not normal," he said. The union of Santorini hoteliers was not immediately available for comment.

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LOS ANGELES — A yacht involved in a race off the coast of California and Mexico apparently collided at night with a much larger vessel, leaving three crew members dead and one missing, a sailing organization said early Sunday. It was the state's second ocean racing tragedy this month.

The 37-foot Aegean, carrying a crew of four, was reported missing Saturday during a 125-mile Newport Beach, Calif. to Ensenada, Mexico yacht race, the U.S. Coast Guard said. The Newport Ocean Sailing Association, the race organizer, said the accident occurred late Friday or early Saturday several miles off the coast near the ocean border of the two countries.

"It appeared the damage was not inflicted by an explosion but by a collision with a ship much larger than the 37-foot vessel," association spokesman Rich Roberts said in a news release early Sunday. Race officials believe there are few other possibilities for what caused the accident, Roberts later told The Associated Press, speaking by phone from Ensenada.

He said details were still scarce but it was possible that if the smaller boat was bobbing around in light wind, the crew might not have been able to get out of the way of a larger ship, perhaps a freighter. The race goes through shipping lanes and it's possible for a large ship to hit a sailboat and not even know it, especially at night, he said. Roberts said a race tracking system indicated that the boat disappeared about 1:30 a.m. PDT Saturday. A Coast Guard search turned up the boat's wreckage, including the rear transom with the boat's name on it, the association release said.

Three crew members of the sailboat were found dead and a search was under way early Sunday for the fourth. Coast Guard boats and two aircraft as well as Mexican navy and civilian vessels were involved.

Coast Guard Petty Officer Henry Dunphy said Sunday that searchers were focusing on an area about 10 miles off the Mexican coast and about 10 miles south of U.S. waters. The names of the dead were not released pending notification of next of kin.

The Aegean is registered to Theo Mavromatis, 49, of Redondo Beach. The race association didn't know if he was aboard the boat during the race. Marina Sailing in Redondo Beach lists a boat named Aegean, which matches the model and length of the missing vessel, among the boats it rents out for $325 a day.

A woman answering a call at a number listed for Mavromatis declined to speak Sunday morning. The Newport Beach Patch website posted a photo that shows the crew at the start of the race Friday. Four men in royal blue T-shirts are on the deck as the boat cuts through calm waters. One man is waving and another appears to be smiling.

Other yachts near the Coronado Islands in Mexico -- four small, mostly uninhabited islands -- reported seeing debris Saturday morning. Searchers in the afternoon found the bodies and debris from the Aegean, whose home port is Redondo Beach, Dunphy said Two of the dead were recovered by a civilian boat, while the third was found by a Coast Guard helicopter.

The Coast Guard said earlier that it hadn't determined what happened to the sailboat. Dunphy said conditions were fine for sailing, with good visibility and moderate ocean swells of 6-to-8 feet.

A total of 210 boats were registered in the 65th annual yacht race, according to the Newport Ocean Sailing Association's website. The race started off from Newport Beach on Friday and many boats finished in Ensenada Saturday.

About 50 people gathered in morning fog Sunday at the Ensenada marina to watch the final arrivals. A notice tacked to a bulletin board alongside the racing times informed spectators of the tragedy.

The association's commodore told the AP that he didn't know the members of the Aegean or how many people were aboard. "This has never happened in the entire 65 years of the race that I'm aware of," Chuck Iverson said. "We're all shocked by this whole event."

The deaths come two weeks after five sailors died in the waters off Northern California when their 38-foot yacht was hit by powerful waves, smashed into rocks and capsized during a race. Three sailors survived the wreck and the body of another was quickly recovered. Four remained missing until one body was recovered last Thursday.

The deadly accident near the Farallon Islands, about 27 miles west of San Francisco, prompted the Coast Guard to temporarily stop races in ocean waters outside San Francisco Bay. The Coast Guard said the suspension will allow it and the offshore racing community to study the accident and race procedures to determine whether changes are needed to improve safety. U.S. Sailing, the governing body of yacht racing, is leading the safety review, which is expected to be completed within the next month.

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It takes two ferries to get to Hornby Island, located off the East Coast of Vancouver Island about halfway between Parksville and Courtenay. The first ferry takes you to Denman, followed by a short island drive to the next terminal. $80.00 was the return fare for our car and two passengers and takes a total of less than an hour.

Hornby is typical of the Gulf and Discovery Islands, attracting an artistic and creative population. The island is dotted with artisan studios and organic farms, self-built houses and serene cottages.

We stayed at the Ford's Cove Marina and Campground, essentially at the end of the main road after getting off the ferry. It's a small campground with perhaps a dozen sites and as many cabins for rent, while featuring flush toilets and pay showers. There's a store on-site that offers pretty much everything you could possibly need while camping, and an espresso machine to boot. There's also a small food-stand restaurant that we didn't have time to try and a scuba operation. It is a marina so there are plenty of boats to peruse.

Some of the must-see attractions on Hornby include the Cardboard Bakery, a quaint little restaurant and artisan market that specializes in pizza and baked goods situated on the beautiful grounds of an orchard and garden. There is often live music in the garden on a Saturday afternoon, and other events can take place depending on your timing and good fortune.

The Co-Op, down the road is next to Tribune Bay Provincial Park, with its beautiful beach that attracts many tourists. The Co-op sells just about everything, including liquor, hardware, groceries and camp supplies. Outside the main building is a circle of markets, bookstores, bike rentals, cafes and restaurants, a true meeting place for the locals and tourists alike. There is a pub and restaurant by the ferry terminal.

Other services and attractions include Bradsdadsland Campbground, Whaling Station Bay, Helliwell Provincial Park, wineries, kayaking and scuba. The geology of the island is fascinating and a walk along the coast features many interesting sandstone formations carved by the force of the ocean. The island is a mecca for mountain bikers and the many trails are popular for all skill levels.

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ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) - A soccer ball that bobbed onto the shore of a remote Alaska island is likely the first salvageable debris from last year's Japanese tsunami that could be returned to its owner, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The ball, found on Alaska's Middleton Island, bears writing that identifies its place of origin, said Doug Helton, operations coordinator for NOAA's Office of Response and Restoration, which is tracking debris from the tsunami.

According to a translation provided by Tokyo-based journalists, the ball is from the Osabe School in the Iwate Prefecture, an area that was hit by the devastating tidal wave unleashed March 11 by the magnitude 9 earthquake off Japan's northeastern coast, Helton said Sunday.

Beachcombers and cleanup workers in Alaska and the Pacific Northwest have found debris, including sports equipment, that was likely set adrift by the tsunami, Helton said. But this soccer ball stood out because it had identifying information.

The ball was found by David Baxter, a technician at a radar station on Middleton Island, a remote site in the Gulf of Alaska. "We're working with the guy who found it and the State Department and the consulate in Seattle to set up a process" to return the ball, Helton said.

Middleton Island, once the site of a Cold War-era Air Force station, is located about 75 miles southwest of the Prince William Sound village of Cordova. The treeless island is largely uninhabited, except for the radar station, which is used by the Federal Aviation Administration, and as a seasonal research camp for federal biologists.

In Alaska, beach cleanup crews on the lookout for tsunami debris have found mostly floats and buoys from Japanese oyster farms. It can be difficult to determine whether Japanese items found washed up are from the tsunami or just part of the normal marine flotsam that accumulates every year, Helton said.
One other piece of tsunami debris with an owner positively identified by NOAA was an abandoned fishing vessel found adrift off Alaska earlier this month and sunk April 5 by the U.S. Coast Guard.

The 170-foot Ryou-Un Maru, which had been scheduled to be scrapped by its owner prior to the tsunami, was considered a navigational hazard after it meandered an estimated 4,500 miles (7,242 km) in the North Pacific from a port in Hokkaido, according to the Coast Guard. Salvage of the ship was considered too costly and difficult, and the owner did not want the vessel returned, the Coast Guard and NOAA said. A Coast Guard cutter crew scuttled the vessel in the Gulf of Alaska.

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KOMODO ISLAND, Indonesia (AP) — Coral gardens that were among Asia's most spectacular, teeming with colorful sea life just a few months ago, have been transformed into desolate gray moonscapes by illegal fishermen who use explosives or cyanide to kill or stun their prey.

The site is among several to have been hit inside Komodo National Park, a 500,000-acre reserve in eastern Indonesia that spans several dusty, tan-colored volcanic islands. The area is most famous for its Komodo dragons — the world's largest lizards — and its remote and hard-to-reach waters also burst with staggering levels of diversity, from corals in fluorescent reds and yellows to octopuses with lime-green banded eyes to black-and-blue sea snakes.

Dive operators and conservationists say Indonesia's government is not doing enough to keep illegal fishermen out of the boundaries of the national park, a U.N. World Heritage site. They say enforcement declined greatly following the exit two years ago of a U.S.-based environmental group that helped fight destructive fishing practices.

Local officials disagree, pointing to dozens of arrests and several deadly gunbattles with suspects.
Michael Ishak, a scuba instructor and professional underwater photographer who has made hundreds of trips to the area, said he's seen more illegal fishermen than ever this year.
The pictures, he said, speak for themselves.

When Ishak returned last month to one of his favorite spots, Tatawa Besar, known for its colorful clouds of damselfish, basslets and hawksbill sea turtles, he found that a 500-square-meter (600-square-yard) section of the reef had been obliterated. Many smaller patches were destroyed elsewhere at the site.

"At first I thought, 'This can't be right. I must have jumped in the wrong place,'" he said, adding he swam back and forth to make sure he hadn't made a mistake. "But it was true. All the hard coral had just been blasted, ripped off, turned upside down. Some of it was still alive. I've never seen anything like it."
The national park's corals are supposed to be protected, but fishermen are drawn there by locally popular fish like fusiliers and high-value export species like groupers and snappers.

Fishermen can be seen in small wooden boats, some using traditional nets or lines. Others are blasting sites with "bombs" — fertilizer and kerosene mixed in beer bottles. Breathing through tubes connected to air compressors at the surface, young men plunge to the bottom and use squeeze bottles to squirt cyanide into the coral to stun and capture fish.

Dive operators are increasingly seeing dead fish on the sea floor or floating on the surface.
"The biggest problem is that fishermen seem to be free to come into Komodo, completely ignoring the zoning and resource use regulations," said Jos Pet, a fisheries scientist who has worked with numerous marine conservation groups in the area in recent years.

He said they are "quite simply fishing empty this World Heritage Site."Sustyo Iriyono, the head of the park, said problems are being exaggerated and denied claims of lax enforcement. He said rangers have arrested more than 60 fishermen over the past two years, including a group of young men captured last month after they were seen bombing fish in waters in the western part of the park.

One of the suspects was shot and killed after the fishermen tried to escape by throwing fish bombs at the rangers, Iriyono said. Three others, including a 13-year-old, were slightly injured. "You see?" said Iriyono. "No one can say I'm not acting firmly against those who are destroying the dive spots!"

He added that the park is one of the few places where fish bombing is monitored with any regularity in Indonesia, a Southeast Asian nation of more than 17,000 islands. Divers, however, say enforcement has dropped dramatically since 2010, when the government reclaimed sole control of operations.

For two decades before that, The Nature Conservancy, a U.S.-based nonprofit, had helped the government confront destructive fishing practices there. "No-take zones" were created, protecting spawning areas, and coastal areas also were put off limits.

Patrols using park rangers, navy personnel and local police were key to enforcement. In 2005, the government gave a 30-year permit to Putri Naga Komodo, a nonprofit joint venture company partially funded by The Nature Conservancy and the World Bank to operate tourist facilities in hopes of eventually making the park financially self-sustaining.

Entrance and conservation fees — just a few dollars at the time — went up several tenfold for foreign tourists. With around 30,000 local and international visitors annually at the time, that would have given the park a budget of well over $1 million, but outraged government officials demanded that the funds go directly into the state budget. The deal collapsed in 2010, when Putri Naga Komodo's permit was yanked.
"They had no right to directly collect the entrance fees from the tourists," said Novianto Bambang, a Forestry Ministry official.

Dive operators and underwater photographers have asked The Nature Conservancy and similar organizations like WWF Indonesia, to return to Komodo and help with conservation efforts there.
Nature Conservancy representative Arwandridja Rukma did not address that possibility, saying even though it was heartwarming to see so much concern about this "national treasure," it only takes part in projects at the invitation of the government.

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GIGLIO, Italy — As the first tourists of the season cross the channel between the Tuscan mainland and the island of Giglio, the breathtaking view they are seeking is not of Giglio’s crystal-clear waters or its ochre and pink granite rocks.

The eye-catching attraction — and eyesore — is the capsized Costa Concordia, all 591 feet of it lying just outside the entrance to the port, an ever-present reminder of the disaster that took 32 lives three months ago.

The question for most people on this tourism-dependent island, which attracted 23,000 visitors last year, is whether the wreck will be good for business or bad. The answer will not be known for several months, but from early indications, it seems to be both. Early bookings for lodging show a 20 percent drop for the summer season, while day trips seem to be up considerably, though there is no official count.

“We live in total uncertainty this year,” said Paolo Fanciulli, owner of the Bahamas hotel in Giglio Porto. On the night of the accident, hundreds of passengers found refuge at the hotel, along with one contentious guest: the ship’s captain, Francesco Schettino, who is now under house arrest near Naples, accused of manslaughter, abandoning ship and causing a shipwreck.

“Bookings for the summer season are slow,” Mr. Fanciulli said. “We get e-mails from all over the world asking us about the relic, but these people do not make reservations. At first, some of us thought that this unexpected fame would have brought many tourists over, but for now curiosity has been only a one-day phenomenon.”

News reports beamed around the world after the cruise ship hit a submerged rock with 4,229 people aboard engendered misimpressions that are still lingering, tourism officials say. Even though salvage experts pumped out the vessel’s 500,000 gallons of fuel oil, many tourists seem to be concerned about the threat of pollution, and officials say people are also afraid of running into hundreds of emergency workers and officials, though only a few dozen remain.

Despite efforts to allay those fears, the only tourists who have shown increased interest in visiting the island are the day-trippers who come to be photographed with the half-sunken ship in the background. One of them, Virginie Breton, a 34-year-old Frenchwoman, decided during a long tour through Italy to stop there for a day. “It’s a bit weird, but don’t people go see the site of the World Trade Center?” she said. “Coming here is the same thing. This is part of history.”

As the ferry approached the Giglio harbor recently, passing right by the 114,500-ton luxury liner, Ms. Breton stood on a bench on the deck to get a better look. Other passengers leaned over the side with their iPhones or throwaway cameras, while others made the sign of the cross.

“We really just came to make the kids happy,” Debora Vano, 35, said while her two boys, 8 and 13, trotted around the deck to find the best angle to take a photograph of the ship, a souvenir to show their school friends in Milan. “We wanted to go to the thermal baths or to Pitigliano, but the kids wanted to see the ship.”

On a walkway near the rocks that affords the closest vantage point to the vessel, a steady stream of people with backpacks marched between the souvenir shops and the seafood restaurants. Few souvenir vendors have complained about that, but other people have.

“For now, the crowds of journalists and rescuers have helped our economy more than the one-day tourists,” said Rosalba Brizzi, 50, the manager of Bar Fausto, which sells items like sandwiches, espresso and ice cream. Day-trippers “do not buy much, and this year they have even less money to spend because of the crisis.”

One of the visitors, Marcelo Giorgetti, 49, a plumber from Grosseto, said, “We’ve been to Giglio before, but we came to see the monster this time.” He was lying on the smooth granite rocks facing the wreck with his wife, his sister and a couple of friends. “I keep on thinking that there might still be more bodies buried in there,” he said.

In the weeks after the accident, 17 bodies were recovered, and 13 more have been retrieved in the intervening months; the remains of five were identified on Tuesday. Two passengers are still unaccounted for and are presumed dead.

Some Giglio residents remain optimistic about the coming months, like the president of the local tourism bureau, Samantha Brizzi. She thinks that Giglio should find ways to take advantage of the period until the Costa Concordia is removed, which is expected to happen next year.

The tourism bureau is planning to enhance its holiday packages, adding stays and weekends over the winter — a potential revolution on an island that loses more than 500 of its almost 1,500 residents from November to Easter.

“We should take this as an opportunity,” she said. “After all, not even Coca-Cola could have afforded such worldwide publicity.”

Others remain skeptical. “I am very worried, even if the situation is more reassuring than it was in January,” said Fabio Mattera, the manager of Da Meino, one of the oldest restaurants in Giglio Porto. “I really can’t wait for October to come. We will then see if my business sinks like the Concordia.”

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