Weekend in the North

The two day passage to Tunisia saw us navigating our way through a large fishing fleet of more than 25 trawlers, drastically losing speed from catching a fishing net around the keel - thankfully not the prop - and finally being buzzed by the Tunisian military at 4am who appeared out of nowhere with a blinding spotlight and no navigation lights. Having answered a few questions we were on our way again and they sloped off back into the darkness. We were given a warm welcome on our arrival in Monastir and we happily returned down the extremely narrow channel to our sheltered berth of last year.

Monastir marina

Sidi Bou Said

We spent a few days settling in, packing away the dinghy and sails and generally preparing ourselves for the winter months ahead. Mid November the weather was still glorious so we decided to catch up on some sightseeing and caught the train up to Tunis. Travel in Tunisia is relatively cheap and we treated ourselves to first class seats for the princely sum of 12 TD (£4) for the three hour journey. Supposedly the seats are more comfortable and the carriage was almost empty. The train didn't appear to have been cleaned in years. We were entertained by the cockroaches scuttling up and down the walls and the window blinds seemed to be stuck halfway but hey, we arrived in Tunis in one piece and only a half hour behind schedule. Our hotel was literally a short walk from the station and just off the bustling sixty metre wide Avenue Habib Bourguiba, the Champs-Élysée and central thoroughfare of Tunis. Our hotel was clean, modern and wonderfully located. There were plenty of restaurants nearby, surprisingly all selling alcohol, and a shopping mall which housed a huge Monoprix supermarket.

Roman mosaics, Bardo museum

Grinning mask, 6th century BC, Carthage

Roman mosaic, Bardo museum

Roman mosaic, Bardo museum

Porte de France, Tunis

Zitouna mosque, Tunis

Having studied our maps we set off early the next morning for our local tram station. Despite taxis being affordable we wanted to experience the local public transport which conveniently had a stop not far from our destination, the Bardo Museum, in the suburbs of Tunis. For the princely sum of .45 TD (15 pence) we clambered aboard the no. 4 tram. It soon became apparent that we would have to start counting stops if we were going to alight at the right one as there were no obvious station names visible. Thankfully we got it right and made our way to the luxurious 19th century former Bey's palace, now the Bardo Museum which houses a major collection of incredibly well preserved Roman mosaics. We spent a few hours along with only a handful of other tourists admiring the magnificent works. We managed to navigate ourselves back to Avenue Habib Bourguiba without incident and then made our way west to the Porte de France and the entrance to the Medina, yet another UNESCO world

Tunis

heritage site. We fought our way through the overcrowded narrow covered souks to the Zitouna mosque founded in 698 AD. We continued on through the colourful souks of the perfumers, clothing merchants, wool merchants and the noisy blacksmiths until we emerged in to the day light once again. We were happy to be back in the French new town and Avenue Habib Bourguiba with its cafés, hotels and shops.

Stelae, Tophet, Carthage

Stele, Tophet, Carthage

Stelae, Tophet, Carthage

Punic Ports, Carthage

Antonine Baths, Carthage

The following morning armed with yet more maps we set off in an eastward direction to Tunis Marine station. We caught the suburban TGM train out of the city and across the lake towards Carthage, originally founded in 814 BC and once the centre of the Phoenician (or Punic) civilisation. Sadly the original city was thoroughly destroyed by the Romans and most of what has been excavated is of Roman origin. We alighted at Carthage Salammbo station. From here we walked down to the Tophet, a Punic cemetery for young children. According to legend and believed by some experts, the Carthaginians brought their infants here to be ritually slaughtered. Having had our dose of the macabre we continued walking along rue Hannibal to the two ancient Punic Ports, once the basis of Carthage's power and prosperity. Today they appear as two salt water lakes surrounded by luxurious Tunisian villas. It seemed strange to be walking along the same roads as Hannibal, a son of Carthage, who probably walked here some 2,261 years earlier. We continued walking

Antonine Baths, Carthage

past guarded foreign Embassy buildings to the north eastern corner of ancient Carthage and the entrance to the Antonine Baths, once the largest in the Roman world. The baths themselves are situated in a stunning position right next to the sea but sadly only the foundations of this massive complex remain today. We were beginning to wilt but made our last stop the Villas Romaines. There wasn't really that much to see but the views alone over the coastline made it just about worth the visit. It was time to sit down so we staggered back to Carthage Hannibal station and continued on by train to Sidi Bou Said.

Antonine Baths, Carthage

Sidi Bou Said

The beautiful cliff top village of Sidi Bou Said has been a favourite haunt for many artists and writers over the years including Paul Klee, August Macke, Cervantes and Simone de Beauvoir. The village was discovered by wealthy French and other expats who bought houses at the beginning of the twentieth century. They wanted to preserve the town's character and in 1912 Baron Rodolphe d'Erlanger passed a bye-law stating that all houses had to be painted blue and white. Today it is a retreat for wealthy Tunisians and tourists alike but it is still enchantingly pretty. We collapsed in Café de Nattes, famously painted by August Macke, for a well earned drink and rest before finally catching the train back to Tunis.

Sidi Bou Said

Sidi Bou Said

Sidi Bou Said

Sidi Bou Said

Sidi Bou Said

Back to Africa

White cliffs of Ponza

Having said a fond farewell to Corsica it was time to slowly make our way south again. We retraced our steps back to the old harbour wall in Olbia, Sardinia, where we discovered we had two dead batteries. To make life easier we treated ourselves to a night in the marina. Conveniently we were lucky to find Bosch replacements at the local hypermarket of all places. With all systems go again and with a stocked up boat we had planned on sailing directly south to Trapani on Sicily but with nothing but southerly winds forecast we were forced to change plans.

Instead we sailed east across the Tyrhennian sea and dropped anchor on the south side of Ponza in one of the many dramatic bays. With strong winds from the wrong direction forecast sadly there was no time to hang around this lovely island and we set sail again the following morning. We only made it as far as the island of Ischia where we were forced to stay put for a few days waiting for favourable winds. Finally we were on the move again but this time with very little wind. Unfortunately with our diesel stocks now running low it

All alone in Vibo Valentia

was clear we weren't going to make Vibo Valentia and at 5 am we had to divert our course to Cetraro, a shorter distance away. It is not much of a town but it has a large marina with thankfully a diesel quay which saved a taxi ride in search of a petrol pump! We finally arrived at Vibo in the dark and dropped anchor just east of the harbour off a small sandy beach. We had the place to ourselves for the few days we waited for yet more favourable weather to send us south down the Messina Strait. Finally we set off at midnight and arrived at Messina in time for the southerly going tide along with some very nasty looking thunder clouds and water spouts. As we'd heard

Taormina

about a couple of yachts being heavily fined for not reporting to Messina control before entering the Strait we duly called up Messina VTS on the radio and were given permission  to proceed. Apart from the usual ferry dodging the passage was uneventful and we were happy to finally arrive in Taormina where we met up with our friends Rob and Amanda aboard Toi et Moi who were also on their way to Monastir for the winter. 

Ischia

                                                          Messina storm clouds 

Syracuse

Syracuse

The next day we all set off in breezy

Syracuse

conditions which increased as the passage progressed to gale force. With a handkerchief of gib out we had a sleigh ride down to Syracuse. We anchored in nice gooey mud in the large natural harbour and spent a week revisiting the wonderful old town. As we were interested in having a look at the relatively new port at Marina di Ragusa as a possible future wintering spot, we hired a car for the day rather than sail on round west. The car also enabled us to visit the beautiful Unesco listed baroque towns of Ragusa Ibla and Modica. Modica is also renowned

Syracuse

for its rather crunchy chocolate produced in a traditional method originally imported from the Mayans by Sicily's Spanish overlords. With the sky darkening by the minute we cut short our sightseeing and raced back to Syracuse and into Rob and Amanda's speedy tender before the heavens opened. It was time to move on and to our horror when lifting the dinghy and outboard back on the deck we discovered the bottom of both were covered in small barnacles. This was only after a week of being in the water and made us wonder what the state of the underside of the boat was....

Syracuse

Syracuse

Ragusa Ibla

Modica

Valletta from Marsamxett anchorage

After an uneventful night passage to Malta we dropped anchor off the yacht club in Marsamxett harbour. We had developed a problem in the cooling system of the engine and from the anchorage it was a short dinghy ride to "chandlery street" and all sorts of advice. After talking to various "experts" we decided to monitor the problem for the time being and moved on round to Rinella Creek where we spent the next few days in the water clearing the dreaded barnacles off the bottom of the boat. Our stay in Rinella coincided

Birgu by candlelight

with the Birgu festival. We dinghied round to Dockyard Creek on the Saturday night for the festival highlight, Birgu by candlelight. In the evening the historical streets were lit up by thousands of candles. We were also entertained by live music as we meandered through the atmospheric lanes. Sadly the glorious weather was due to take a turn for the worse. With a gale forecast early the following week there appeared to be a small window for the two day passage to Tunisia over the weekend. We stocked up with bacon and boat bits and set off north to St Paul's bay. The engine leak was back with a vengeance with a couple of inches of water now flooding the bilges. We had no choice but to turn back and seek expert advice and waved our goodbyes to Toi et Moi. After a couple of phone calls we had a Volvo mechanic turning up at 8am on the Monday morning. Msida marina

Varuna, a participant in the Rolex Middle Sea Race

was full but thankfully Kalkara marina had a spot for us. Edgar the mechanic tweaked the thingamyjig on the black bit and adjusted the doodarr....and we were ready for off again. Only problem was we now had the remnants of hurricane Gonzalo heading our way. We decided to stay in the marina where we were already tied up safe and sound and thought of the boats that were currently out there competing in the offshore Rolex Middle Sea Race around Sicily, Pantelleria, Lampedusa and back up to Malta. Of the 122 boats that started 71 retired as they were hit with storm force winds and 30 foot waves. 

        Large offshore supply ship squeezing sideways past Ride of a Lifetime in Rinella Creek

           Ride of a Lifetime gets involved in helping to lift Varuna, a Ker 50, out of the water

Kalkara Creek

Fishing boat in Kalkara Creek

Moored alongside the three master in Sliema

Once the storm started to abate we left the marina and motored round the corner to Sliema for yet another final shop before sailing on west. Anchoring was impossible for us due to depth and numerous boats on moorings so we tied up alongside a rusty three masted steel hulk. It is known amongst cruisers as a useful alongside mooring and its only a short dinghy ride to the shops. The next day with the sea state much calmer we set off on our two day passage to Monastir, Tunisia. Finally we were Africa bound.

Our migrant hitchhiker to Monastir

Dolphins keeping us entertained on our passage