Chapter One: A BUMPY START
Having left Spain on 5 July we had just enough wind for a pleasant sail. Ingrid had the first watch from 9.00pm to midnight and Cordelia was going along nicely in a North-Easterly force 4. When Peter took over we were doing 7 knots and so we put in the first reef. By 1.00am the wind had increased to a force 6, and it was time for a second reef. Eventually it eased off again and during Ingrid’s watch we sailed with full mainsail and genoa. There was no moon and it was pitch black. Then the wind dropped completely and changed direction. Ingrid wondered out loud what had happened to the wind, which had Peter put the deck lights on and come into the cockpit. The genoa was backed and while we were busy sorting it out – BANG! Out of nowhere we were hit with a 40 knot squall. The boat heeled right over. Nevertheless, Peter managed to release all the sheets which put Cordelia back on an even keel, and we furled in the genoa whilst being soaked with horizontal rain. Two reefs in the main later and we were back on course.
The wind kept changing direction and strength, and we had to frequently adapt our sail configuration to keep up with the conditions: one reef, two reefs, no reef, reefed mainsail only – you name it, we did it! At one stage we even considered heading downwind, but that would have taken us all the way back to Mallorca. All the same, we had a few good hours of sailing during the day. Towards evening the wind finally went behind the beam as forecast, and we could broad-reach which calmed things down a bit. We recharged the batteries and then took the mainsail down, so Ingrid could start her watch under engine and a double-reefed genoa. After an hour we stopped the engine and shook out the reefs and had a comparatively easy sail under the stars above and the bioluminescence below. Peter even managed to sleep during his off-watch. When he got into the cockpit at midnight, however, the wind had increased again to a force 6, so another reef was due. We kept this setting during the night as it would be easy to just roll the headsail in some more, if needed.
6.00am and change of shift, and it was time to charge the batteries which, due to George, the autopilot, working hard all night had run low. Peter started the engine, then, after a few minutes, something made him check the exhaust – no cooling water was coming out! He quickly turned off the engine, cleaned the strainer, tried to clear any potential blockage with the hosepipe and re-primed the system, but to no avail. So he opened the engine compartment and took off the cover for the water pump to find the impeller shredded. Parts had broken off and Peter expected to find them in the heat exchanger. To get to it and clean it out he would have to drain all the coolant and take off the hose. Although the wind had calmed down this was not an enterprise to be undertaken in these conditions. We had waves of two meters on the beam and frequently had to dodge a soaking. Better done at anchor, we agreed. So Peter picked out the broken bits and pieces he could reach and put the rest back together. He had caught the problem in time as although the engine was quite hot, it hadn’t gone into alarm. Thus reassured, Peter carried on with his watch under the genoa, and Ingrid went below for more sleep.
By 9.00am we shook out the reef and had a rolly and fast sail. We could see the island of San Pietro when the wind increased yet again, and we approached our anchorage at the Cala di Guidi with the mainsail still stacked away and two reefs in the genoa, doing 7.7 knots in 35 knots (force 8!) of wind.
We sailed into the anchorage as far as possible and then used the uncooled engine for five minutes only to manoeuvre and drop the anchor. We did so at 1.00pm just in time for lunch. We used the afternoon for clearing up, a swim and a shower off the back, and caught up with some well-needed Zs later on.
The next day Peter attended to the engine. He drained the coolant, took off the hose to the heat exchanger and end plate, then cleaned it out. After lunch the hose behind the exchanger was also taken off and cleared. It took all day to do this work, fiddling the hoses, removing shreds, cleaning all around and finally replacing the impeller. After adding more water to the strainer Peter’s handiwork was put to the test. Water once again spurted out of the exhaust like a cascade, and it had never sounded or looked so good before. We celebrated with the last English-bought bottle of champagne. It was delicious and right for the occasion: Arthur, the engine, was breathing happily again and we’d made it to a new country. We were ready to explore Sardinia.
Chapter Two: SARDINIA
Having nursed Arthur back to health we motored the one-hour trip to the marina at Carloforte. It was a charming town with good shops, bars, restaurants and even a chandlery where we got two spare impellers (you never know!) and a replacement for our empty gas bottle. We also took in the sights such as the Archiotto arch, the city walls and Lion’s Gate.
We even sampled the local coffee and went out for dinner at a pizzeria!
On one day we had a fantastic hike up to the hills past lovely smelling pine trees and back along a near-empty beach.
When we thought we’d done the place justice, had replenished our larder and water tanks and saw a weather opportunity we moved on to Porto Pino and dropped the anchor.
After a couple of days swimming in its crystal clear water we sailed past its sandy white beach and dunes, rounded Cape Teulada and anchored in a sandy patch at Malfantano.
We had a swim in amazingly clear water. We were in about ten meters and could see every frond of the seagrass below! What we didn’t see was the jellyfish that stung Ingrid. And they say there’s no life in the Med! Treating it with vinegar from the outside and a cool beer from the inside brought relief however, and she was soon in the water again. We also launched Buddy, our tender, and explored on land by walking to the watchtower and on water by motoring around the bay with its caves.
When the wind changed direction we moved to the other side of the bay to Cala Perdalonga, and after a couple of days Peter rowed us to the beach. From there we picked up a path that weaved in and out of coves and was covered left and right by shrubs. Some of them looked like juniper bushes and miniature conifers, and there was a hint of mint. The rest of the greenery shall remained unnamed, i.e. we had no idea what they were, but they all gave off a lovely scent.
We reached the lighthouse of Capo Spartivento and carried on up to the Belvedere, a derelict and disused signalling station. What a view! We could see out for miles to sea and along the coast, as well as our at times rather steep path back down to where we’d left Buddy.
We spent three days in this anchorage, then sailed towards Cagliari with a stop-over at Pola where we sat out 30 knots of wind and waited for the sea state to calm down.
The sailing to Poetto was uneventful and very pleasant, and there was plenty of space in the anchorage when we arrived. It was the weekend, and the music from the bars continued until 3.00am with the only interruption of a firework display. Despite all this, we slept well, Peter in the cabin and Ingrid in the cockpit under the starry sky and in plenty of fresh air. After a shopping trip the next morning we were looking forward to a windsurfing session when we saw gusts of 28 knots. However, by the time we had sorted the zips that had solidified with salt, found the right mast foot, unstuck the sailbag and remembered how to rig from the back the wind was on its last legs and we never got going properly.
With more wind forecast for the next few days we motored the five nautical miles around the corner to the Marina del Sole in Cagliari. This was an excellent base for sightseeing the Saint Remy Bastion, Santa Catarina Rampart, St Mary Cathedral and various other churches and a basilica, as well as the St Pancras and Elephant Towers, to name but a few.
We also visited the Archaeological Museum with its exhibits of tools, ceramics, lamps, figurines, statues, coins etc. from the Stone and Bronze Ages to Phoenician and Roman Times. Most impressive were the remnants of Noragic stone buildings and sacred stone giants. We also did some work like washing (clothes, ourselves, Cordelia), photo editing, write-ups and restocking our provisions at the Despar and Lidl supermarkets. Thus equipped and with the wind dropped we headed back to Poetto for the night before we continued our journey.
The wind was up and down, mainly up (30 knots!) during our sail to Cala Mari Pintau and going down from there the next day to our anchorage at Porto Giunco. The water there was, once again, warm and very clear, and we swam and snorkelled a lot during our stay. When we moved on it was only an hour’s sail away. This turned into two as we sailed slowly along beaches, cliffs, gently angled hills covered in trees and shrubs, little islands and many more beautiful sights.
We dropped the anchor at Cala Sinzias and explored the area over the next few days. We walked to the village of San Pedro where we found a little shop and several “Frutta e Verdura” (fruit and vegetable) stalls, and did our bit to support the local economy.
We also had a lovely walk over the hill to a watchtower and Cala Pira with yet more wonderful views.
We caught up with admin work, Peter baked tasty bread rolls, it was hot (33ºC in the shade), so we spent a lot of time in the warm (28ºC) and clear water. Before we left this pretty bay we packed the necessary equipment into our rucksacks and went ashore. Under some trees and away from prying eyes we unravelled the tools: comb, brush, scissors and hair clipper. The salon was opened! We took a seat on a little rock and soon Ingrid’s locks were on the ground and Peter’s curls were falling, too. We had cut each other’s hair and agreed we both looked dapper. Others may not share this view, but as we were not going to make a career out of it, let alone money, it suited us just fine and we were happy with our respective haircuts.
We’d loved Sardinia’s South which, in contrast to its North, was quiet and not overrun, and had fantastic anchorages with ample space. Now, after our coiffure experience, we were ready, though, to hit the towns and lights of Sicily.
Chapter Three: ANOTHER STEP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION
We upped anchor at 8.00am on 7 August and headed South. There was hardly any wind to start off with, so we motored for the first hour until we could see some ripples on the water. Both head- and mainsails came into use in a pleasant North-North-East, force 4. This was not the wind direction we had expected to find and soon enough just after lunch it turned more to the West but also decreased in strength. So, on came the engine while we went even further South to find more wind. We got a Westerly force 3 at around 4.00pm and set the gennaker in combination with the mainsail.
We weren’t breaking any records that way, instead it was more of the gentle, relaxing experience of gliding over the water. Then, just after 6.00pm the fishing rod twitched. Having had problems earlier with the red and white Rapala lure wrapping itself around the line, Peter reeled in to sort it out and to his surprise there was a fish on it! Small as it was (although still at an edible size) it didn’t even have the strength to put up a fight. Therefore we weren’t too sad when it came off the hook to live another day. We still had about half an hour before dinner, so Peter threw the lure back into the water. Suddenly the line was spinning off the reel with a very reassuring “trrrrrr” sound. Fish on! And he was heavy! We dragged him behind us for a while to tire him out, which worked. As it turned out, he was the weaker of the tug-of-war competitors when Peter pulled him in, inch by inch. It was only when he came close to the boat when we could see what a whopper tuna he was. He wouldn’t fit in neither the landing net nor the bucket. In the end Ingrid heaved him aboard with the gaff. She held him down while Peter got him drunk and dispatched him. The next two hours were spent cleaning the fish, the cockpit and ourselves.
All the while we were still sailing on the gennaker and it was getting dark. We took it down and motorsailed and finally ate a late dinner at 9.00pm. Peter came on deck at midnight to start his watch. We had a half-full (always the optimists!) moon and lots of stars. During Ingrid’s first watch she had only seen the other two yachts that had accompanied us all day, but Peter encountered a few pesky fishing boats that needed to be watched. He stayed up until 4.00am to make sure everything was okay, and Ingrid only had to deal with the rest of her shift on her own. Otherwise it was quite an uneventful night. We both caught some sleep, didn’t have to watch the sails and did watch the sunrise together.
At 9.00am we tried the genoa and mainsail and only occasionally helped it along with the engine. Peter finished filleting the fish and threw the offcuts overboard. All of a sudden a couple of dolphins swam past and hoovered up our jetsam. By lunchtime the wind had picked up enough to stop the engine completely, and it kept increasing to a North-North-West force 5 when we sailed past the Egadi Island and approached Trapani. Ingrid called the harbour master and we were allowed to proceed and anchor in the North-West corner of the harbour. We sat down for a cup of tea and biscuits at 4.30pm, showered, stowed some gear away and were at last able to enjoy our catch for dinner. It was, even if we say so ourselves, very delicious!
Chapter Four: SICILY
The next day we motored to the quay and left Buddy near the Coast Guard station at Trapani Harbour. We walked along the esplanade to the Torre de Ligny and entered the Prehistoric Museum with its replicas of stone tools and weapons, the Lucy skeleton, a Neanderthal, skulls, etc. We also visited the cathedral, saw the Torre dell’Orologio (clock tower), passed lots of churches, looked at the birds at Margherita Park and loaded up our rucksacks at the MD supermarket.
The night brought a thunderstorm with more rain forecast for the day. We nevertheless took a bus to the Funivia (cableway) and after an adventurous ride weaving in and out of narrows streets while avoiding pedestrians, cyclists, scooters and cars we arrived there in one piece. We paid our fare and went up the 750 meters in a gondola to Erice.
What a charming town this was! Cobbled alleys divided the stone houses with their pretty little gardens and led to numerous churches, towers, a small park, and of course the Venus Castle.
And these were just the sights! It was the views over Trapani, out to sea and over the salt pans that topped it all. We made it back onboard just before the next downpour and decided to stay another night.
It was still damp and the deck was wet when we left the next morning. There were thunderstorms in the vicinity and we could see lightning near Marsala on our way to Mazara del Valloto. Luckily we stayed dry until we were awoken the next morning by the rumble of thunder to the following scene: The day was dawning but the sky remained dark. Then the rain came hard, the sky was lit up constantly by lightning and the thunder was loud and immediate. We later found out that this storm had caused havoc and great damage in Corsica. We watched the spectacle for a while from the comfort of Cordelia’s saloon, then went back to bed. When we awoke the rain had stopped and it was clearing out.
We upped the anchor and had a lovely downwind sail on the genoa. We carried out a fly-past at Marinella di Selinunte where we admired the remnants of an ancient Greek city with reconstructions of various temples, amongst them the Temple of Hera.
Shortly afterwards we had another heavy shower but it stopped just before we dropped the anchor off Porto Palo di Menfi.
With no more tuna to eat it was time for re-provisioning, so the next afternoon we headed for Sciacca, and once again enjoyed a nice downwind sail on the genoa. We anchored outside the harbour by a cliff with an interesting hole in it! The following morning we motored to the marina.
We had a busy schedule with restocking our empty larder, admin work and laundry, but we did find the time for some sightseeing.
Sciacca was full of churches in all states of repair and disrepair, and we hung around St Michael’s church until the Luna Castle opened. The latter was built in 1380 and destroyed by an earthquake in 1740, and in-between had a rather chequered history with the legend of “The Case of Sciacca” when two noble medieval families had a hefty go at each other. Gory details can be found online, suffice to say that “Romeo and Juliet” is a fairy tale in comparison!
After three days we had an early start and motored for most of our journey to Licata. Once again we wondered who was to blame for the totally wrong weather forecast that had predicted a Southerly force 4 wind, when it actually was from the East, i.e. on the nose. We still had a pleasant voyage, though. Along the way we looked at the barren coast, the villages and their beaches, and the strange industrial settlement of Agrigento with its high-rise buildings nestled into the surrounding hills.
We finally checked in at the Marina di Cala del Sole and settled in. Over the next few days we explored Licata. We walked up the Monte Sant Angelo hill past the Cappuccini Cemetery and Archaeological Zone with seven excavated Roman villas and visited the very well preserved castle, saw an early Christian church in a cave, the cloister of Carmelo and the Chiesa Madre dome with its black Jesus. We went to the Archaeological Museum where amongst flint arrows and ceramics they exhibited a hoard of silver coins and gold jewellery that had been found in one of the Roman villas.
At one stage we had contemplated overwintering in Licata and although the marina was okay, the town was full of garbage and home to very hungry mossies (mosquitoes). We sat out winds with up to 40 knots of gusts and eventually left Licata after their patron’s day (with fireworks at 1.30am!).
After the initial motoring into the wind we set the mainsail and gennaker when the wind direction changed, and had a lovely downwind ride towards Marina di Ragusa. We toured the surroundings on our bikes and found a good supermarket and even a windsurfing beach. One day we took the bus up to Ragusa Ibla, situated at an altitude of around 450 meters. We were dropped off at the Giardini Iblei gardens where we wandered around a bit before making our way to the Duomo de San Giorgio (St George’s Dome). Apparently they’d filmed around this area for the Inspector Montalbano series, this being one of his hang-outs.
We carried on along the road and up the stairs to the upper part of the town past multiple chiese (churches) and palazzi (palaces) until we reached the Cattedrale San Giovanni Battista (Cathedral of St John the Baptist). We climbed up the stairs of the bell tower and admired the views which were excellent.
We really liked the place, up on the mountain and down at the beach, but the marina facilities put us off. On one occasion Ingrid even found an unwanted guest swimming in her shower tray (a salamander). While Marina di Ragusa is a popular overwintering spot we realised it was not for us. So we prepared for our onward journey and dropped our anchor at Capo Passero after an uneventful motorsail.
We had a fantastic time in this anchorage and filled our days with watching the sunrise, having breakfast, doing housework and admin, baking bread rolls, swimming around the boat in the clear warm water and cleaning the waterline, eating bread rolls, having a cuppa, sitting on deck, doing crosswords, watching other boats, going for another swim, relaxing, eating dinner, drinking more tea, having a snifter, watching YouTube, checking the weather forecast and going to bed. Thus the days passed until we saw a weather window and the opportunity to cross to Greece. But that story will be covered next time.
