We checked
out of Malta at Mjarr marina, Gozo, and anchored off for the night before
setting sail at 5 am the following morning for the 13 hour passage to Licata,
Sicily. We arrived early evening and decided not to pay for a marina berth and
instead dropped the hook in the commercial harbour. We went ashore and checked
out the marina for a possible future winter location. It’s right next door to a
shopping mall with a big supermarket which is definitely a plus. We then had a
stroll round the pleasant but tired looking town.
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| Sciacca |
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| Sciacca |
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| Sciacca |
Our next
destination, Sciacca, was a further 50 miles west along the coast. The
forecasts showed westerly winds for the foreseeable future so we stayed put for
a few days until a small weather window appeared. We set off early and for the
next few hours motor sailed along with hardly a breath of wind. Slowly but
surely we saw clouds building ahead of us and it wasn’t long before the skies
darkened. We quickly dropped the sails, checked the dinghy was secure and
battened down the hatches. Just in time. Suddenly the heavens opened, the
thunder clapped, the lightening flashed and the winds increased from 5 to 50
knots. As the storm passed over the wind blew from all points of the compass
and we were making almost no headway as we pounded into the short steep seas in
zero visibility. This continued for a couple of hours until the sun finally
started peeping through the dark clouds. We were happy to finally tie up in
marina Corollo, Sciacca, and pour ourselves a well deserved drink.
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| Sciacca ceramics |
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| Ride of a Lifetime on the quay in Pantelleria old harbour |
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| Lago di Venere, Pantelleria |
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| Flamingo enjoying the hot springs |
The following
day we walked up the steep steps to the delightful old town affording great
views down to the harbour below. We stocked up with all things Italian at the
local supermarket in readiness for our 4am start the following morning to
Pantelleria, a small volcanic island lying roughly midway between Sicily and
Tunisia. It was a lumpy crossing but we made good time and by early evening we
were tied up alongside the north wall in Porto Vecchio where we remained for
the next few days. We hired a car and explored the surprisingly lush island
characterised by the jagged lava stone, lots of healthy looking cacti and dwarf
vines. The country side is dotted with dammusi
- small houses made of the black lava rock with white painted domed roofs. Many
of them have been renovated and sold on as holiday homes to the likes of Gerard
Depardieu and Giorgio Armani. We dipped our toes in the Lago di Venere where
hot springs bubbled to the surface of the fresh water lake and paddled in more
hot springs in the rocky cove of Gadir.
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| Dammusi on Pantelleria |
The winds
picked up from the west and the harbour wall became untenable with big swells
causing the boat almost to leap on to the quay. We moved round to Porto Nuevo
where there was more shelter and rafted up alongside a couple of local fishing
trawlers. We stayed here for a further few days while we waited for the swell
to reduce and a favourable forecast to sail on to Tunisia.
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| The ever present black rock |
