Hello Russia.
One of the features of this blog site is that I can see where the readers are and I have noticed that, over the last month or so, many people in Russia are reading it (or a few people many times).
I am just curious to know why. Has it been set as a school project and you are preparing critiques? Is there a burning desire to sell the house and sail off into the blue and you are looking for the pitfalls to avoid? Or is it just a quirk of technology that is giving you this site when you are really looking for the latest music download for a band called LionelandElsie?
I would love to know, so please add a comment to this post.
Lionel
Sunday, July 31, 2016
July 2016
In which we continue round Sicily, pop down to Malta and back and head off towards Greece
On the evening of the 30th June, we saved
ourselves 5 minutes effort by not laying a second anchor. This worked well until the small hours when a
swell built up from the south and we started rolling enough to disturb our
sleep. There was forecast to be an
onshore wind the following night, so we elected to head for a marina at
Licata. This is in a huge harbour basin,
with only about 1/3 of the proposed pontoons in place. Our sensitivity to price is obviously
decreasing as I hardly flinched at the cost of E50 (and that was after a 15%
discount). All very pleasant and clean
and with an excellent shopping mall but a little soulless. They are also offering discounts for winter
stays but I think that it will be a few years before we are willing to spend 6
months in one spot.
We were looking ahead to our crossing to Malta, from where I
had a flight booked back to Scotland, and the following Friday looked promising
so we elected to continue slowly down the Sicilian coast. Our next stop was going to be in the lee of
the harbour at Scoglitti but we discovered, in time, that a huge area is
prohibited around a pipeline so continued few miles further south and anchored
about 500 metres off a tourist beach.
The wind was forecast to be light and along the coast and we anchored in
the lee of a shallow patch, this time being careful to lay 2 anchors to keep
our head pointing just a little offshore.
This worked well and, as there was no urgency, we took the next day off
and enjoyed doing not very much, only slightly irritated by the music from the
shore, the jet skis and power boats touting for custom. The stern anchor had dragged a little, so we
re-laid our mooring to ensure a quiet night.
This time, however, a swell caused by some distance disturbance grew
from the west, hitting us on the beam.
We slacked back the stern anchor, hoping that we would swing but this
failed and we had a very disturbed night.
On rising, we found that the forecast for the following week
now showed no prospect of sailing across to Malta so we decided to motor across
and spend a few days over there. This we
did, taking the opportunity to each get a little rest. With 15 miles to run, a beam wind sprang up
and Elsie was able to get a decent sail for a few hours. Malta is one of the few places in the EU
where one has to clear in with customs so, rather than head to anchor, we went
into Mgarr marina, Gozo, where Ruby was booked in for our trip back to the
UK. Our trip, as Elsie, with a newly
arrived grandson, had decided to also pay a visit. On the 5th, we set out for our
tour of Malta, behaving rather like a dog passing lamp-posts, popping to every
potential anchorage, of which there are many, on our way down to Valleta. The wind was building from the south-west and
after a tour of Grand Harbour, we looked forward to a downwind sail back to our
chosen spot. As we exited GH, the wind
did a 180 so we followed suit and headed down to Peter’s bay, a scenic spot
surrounded by sandstone cliffs. There
were about 10 other boats anchored as we arrived but, one-by-one, they left and
we had a very quiet night.
Valetta
Vince, Deborah and friend
We had arranged a rendezvous with an old work colleague,
Vince, who has settled here so were out the next morning to meet him and his
Dufour. The idea was to do a little sailing together but, as we met, the wind
died so, after a few photos, we went back to Peter’s bay and had a lazy
afternoon and quiet night. On the 7th,
we continued our circumnavigation of Malta, motor sailing and once again
popping into potential anchorages and finishing up in Mellieha bay, where we
had seen Paul Allen’s mega yacht Octopus earlier in the week. On the 8th, we motored back to
Gozo, pausing for a swim on the way and started preparing for our trip back to
Scotland.
Our flight on the 9th wasn’t until the evening
so, while Elsie did some shopping, I decided to change the engine oil. On opening up the engine compartment, I
discovered that the bilge had sea water in it.
Time for investigation, which required the engine running. I was very mindful of the two generator belts
but must have had a lapse of concentration as there was a sudden tug on my left
hand and a loud bang. I looked down to
see the auxiliary belt broken and my left ring finger tip hanging on by a
thread. Bugger. Shouted for help but none forthcoming so had
to put a temporary dressing on, restore the companionway steps, stop the
engine, call for an ambulance and message Elsie. It seemed most unlikely that we would make
our flight and I cursed my stupidity.
However, the medical services were very efficient. By the time I had done an initial mop-up
(Elsie hates blood) and walked to the end of the pontoon the ambulance was
arriving. I was seen immediately at
A&E and within about 90 minutes of the accident I was sewn together, topped
up with anti-tetanus, X-rayed and discharged.
I could have done without the additional complication of a wind
generator to hand carry but it had continued to make unpleasant noises and I
had dismounted it a couple of days before.
If I didn’t take it now, it would be another 3 months before the next
opportunity. So, with a 10 Kg back pack
we set of by ferry and bus to the airport.
Security were a bit bemused but let me take it on board and we were on
our way.
After a successful trip home (my medical checks, chandlery
shopping and catching up on admin stuff: Elsie bonding with 4 grandsons in a
rented cottage), we returned to Ruby a week later. A couple of ex-pats from the local sailing
club came round on Monday to assist on the investigation and repair of the leak
and we were ready to move on. Tuesday
looked like a promising day to make the crossing back to Sicily. It didn’t go as well as hoped. We first had a one hour delay while the local
immigration officials looked at our passports and graciously permitted us to
leave (within the Schengen area!). We
should have then abandoned plans to complete the circumnavigation of Gozo but
didn’t, which added a further hour. And
then the promised wind failed to appear so we had to motor most of the way
across, anchoring outside Pozzallo at 2035.
We decided to stay for a day, as there was no wind forecast and set off
next morning in the dinghy for a trip ashore.
After 200 metres, the engine coughed and died. The carburetor bowl had fallen off! My hand was still poorly so Elsie had to row
us back. As she did so, the local
coastguard boat arrived and instructed us to move a further 500 metres from the
Port entrance. We were already well
clear and, in the time we were there, there were only 3 movements of commercial
vessels so believe this was just a ‘jobsworth’.
He was in charge so we complied, only to see a French yacht occupy our
good spot and remain unmolested. We had
another trip ashore later, with more success, but were fairly unimpressed with
the grubby town and, especially, the grudging permission for us to park our
dinghy for no more than an hour.
On the 21st we picked up and sailed / motored 20
miles round the corner to Cape Passero.
Here, there was a choice of anchorage, either side of a sandbar running
to a small island. We elected to use the
northerly one and had another quiet night.
It was time to head on to bright lights.
We wanted to see Siracusa but there were horror stories about huge fines
to yachts who anchored in the wrong place so we researched carefully. Called on channel 16 – no reply, but
telephoning got us permission to enter and an approved anchorage spot which was
a long way from where we wanted to land with the dinghy. There was only one other yacht in the
approved area and about 10 in the convenient but illegal one. On the evening of
the 22nd, we dinghied ashore to canal separating the old and new
towns and, after a long trek, found a supermarket for provisions. We had heard a report of a dinghy being
vandalised here, but Rubette was safe on our return. The following morning, we went to the ‘Town
Quay’ of the old town for a good wander round and a Gelato.
Siracusa sunset
On the 24th we, mostly, sailed up to Catania
where I had booked us in for a couple of nights, not without some difficulty. No English was spoken, so I had to get a
spiel prepared from Google Translate.
The staff turned out to be very helpful and assisted us with changing
gas bottle and disposing of old oil which I eventually changed on the
engine. I had carefully separated the
filter and oily rags from the general waste but these were just dumped in the
skip. Tourist information was harder to
come by. There was an office in the port
building but it seems that it is only open when cruise ships were in. We wanted to go up Etna and it took a lot of
traipsing around before we found which bus to take and where to buy a ticket
etc. We got sorted and on the Monday
took the bus to the foot of the cable car.
Bus ticket very reasonable at E6.60.
Cable car, 4X4 bus and guide at the top less so at E63.00 but it was a one-off so up we went, only to
find that it was too windy to be allowed to the crater rim and too cloudy to
see much. Oh well.
We stayed an extra day for a little maintenance, shopping
and a look round the town. There are
some wonderful old buildings, mostly constructed of lava but, with a few
exceptions in the touristy areas it is all very scruffy and grubby.
Out on the 27th and alternately sailed and
motored up the coast to Taormina where there is a nice hook in the coast to
protect the anchorage from northerly swell. Despite the light winds, this was
considerable and we were concerned that it might work its way in but we were
very comfortable and had a fine view of superyacht Vava 2 which, on arrival,
opened up its stern to reveal a ‘beach bar’ with tasteful décor, mood lighting
and elegantly dressed guests. But their cocktails probably tasted no better
than our white port and tonic. Another
day of motorsailing took us back to mainland Italy and an anchorage picked
almost at random at Palizzi on the bottom of the toe. Although the day finished with a light
south-westerly wind, we had another very comfortable night.
Vava 2
The plan had been to do another coastal hop or 2 before
crossing to Greece, but looking at weather forecasts on Friday morning, it
seemed that we were unlikely to get sailing winds in the ‘instep’ of Italy for
the foreseeable future and for further on, there was no time like the present. We set
off with multiple plans, including just a day-sail (or motor), stopping off at
Sa Maria, on the ‘heel’ or crossing to Corfu.
The first few hours went well, if a little slowly, under just cruising
chute, then CC and main. We then had to
motor for 6 hours before the wind changed to north of west and gave us a broad
reach. There were many changes in wind,
and sailplan, through the night. A
little motoring, some good reaching and reefs going in and out with wind
changes. At 0900 with a NNW’ly 4 on the
beam and forecast for it to continue, I made the unilateral decision to head
for Othoni, an island just NW of Corfu.
We just had to average 6 knots to make it before dark. All went well for the first couple of hours
and we averaged 7 knots. At mid-day the
wind dropped to F3 and the current changed to head us. 6 knots through the water but 5 across the
ground. We held our nerve, with just a
couple of 20 minute motors when the wind dropped further and ended up with 2
reefs in main and genoa, achieving 7 knots with a NW’ly 5 gusting 6. We were still 4 miles short at sunset but
there was enough afterglow for us to weave into the anchorage and settle for a
welcome meal, drink and good night’s rest.
We reckoned that we had earned a break and spent the 31st
at anchor just amusing ourselves watching charter boats on their first day of
freedom manouvering round the anchorage and marveling how white skin could be
in the middle of summer.
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