Marzara del Vallo

We thought Marzara would only be a brief halt, one of the few places along this coast of Sicily with a good anchorage to avoid an overpriced marina.  Thanks to our new favorite web site, Navily, we could see that there was plenty of anchor room with good holding, although the harbor behind the jetty is so large that you feel exposed.  We anchored in front of the Mazara cathedral, and our first sunset was accompanied by the muezzin from the mosque calling the faithful to evening prayer in a strange duet with Celine Dion blarring from the bar across the harbor.  We are closer to Tunisia than Rome here, and Mazara is a crossroads city with multiple Mediterranean influences.  We were so charmed by the town with its kasbah district, labyrinth of narrow streets, fish markets, and ruins that we stayed 3 nights. 

This is what happens when a cathedral is built on top of a mosque built on top of a greek temple, etc etc.

The Dancing Satyr, circa 400 b.c., hauled up in a fishing net off the coast.  

Dinner... if they would just stop staring so balefully...

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Erice and Marsala

We had a fun sail from Trapani to Marsala with 16 knots winds on the beam and nearly 2 meter swells that announced the present gale blowing out over the islands.  We are in the Cantiere Nautico Polaris in Marsala, which is slightly more expensive than the neighboring marina but with excellent security, lots of space, and wireless internet good enough for videos from inside the boat !  Before leaving Trapani we finally made our way up to the medieval town of Erice to wander along the labyrinth of old stone streets in the pouring rain.  We are clearly winding down the season, with cooler temps, more humid weather, empty marinas, a slower pace, and more tourism. 

Trapani, salt flats, and Favignana island seen from Erice in the rain.

Theological library.

Florio winery, Marsala

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Encore Egadi

We are now back in the port of Trapani waiting for a gale to pass after another week in the islands.  We are ahead of schedule and still have almost 3 weeks to make our way down to Licata for our winter contract, but we may end up dodging weather more than we had expected.  Meanwhile, more eye candy from the islands.

poor stitching on the pano but click for larger view...

colorful reef with reflections off water above

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Egadi snorkeling

A few pics from down below the Egadi islands.

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Buongiorno Sicily !

We left Cagliari with a narrow weather window between the end of a 3-day mistral and impending dead calm.  The winds were excellent, 10 to 15 knots on a broad reach (with a few gusts to 18 during the night) but the sea was still a bit lumpy after the gale and the 1-2 meter swell hit us at such an angle that the autopilot had a hard time stearing a straight course, so we ended up hand steering for 30 hours in 2 hour shifts.  It was a very fast crossing (for us) averaging 6-7 knots for the last half.  We had a beautiful full moon and the dawn brought us an image of the Egadi Islands.  As I went forward to take a photo, I also discovered some gifts that Neptune deposited on the deck with the swell during the night: a flying fish and a small squid. A nice welcome gift (but those squid leave some nasty stains on the gelcoat...).

We picked up a mooring buoy in the Marasolo beach of south Favignana island.  The Egadi islands are the largest marine reserve in the Mediterranean and the park authorities have an excellent network of mooring buoys on the 3 main islands.  A 7-day permit allows you to tie up anywhere you like for only 17 euros per night.  We are thoroughly enjoying discovering these islands above and below the water.

Marasolo mooring field.

Favignana Port.

Phoenician stone quarries along the coast of Favignana.

Finocchio mooring field, Marettimo.

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Cagliari and the big hop

We pulled into Cagliari a few days ago to load up on food, do a little tourism, and prepare for the big hop from Sardinia to Sicily (150 miles). We were told that Marina del Sole was the cheapest marina in Cagliari and heard rumors that it was possible to negotiate the price for longer stays. We prepared our negotiation strategy and wrote out our phrases in italian, all for nothing. As soon as we asked about weekly discounts, we were given a price that was less than what we had planned to ask for, so for 35 euros / night (instead of 65), we decided to stay 7 days.

The weather is in transition and everyday we have an afternoon monsoon, with thunder, lightning, gusts up to 30 knots, and rain. It doesn’t last long and it has mercifully cooled the temperatures, but it is very unstable and not particularly suited to the sort of relaxing days at anchor we have enjoyed thus far. It’s too early to tell, but there may be a good weather window for heading to Sicily this weekend or early next week. We will leave Cagliari a few days before and position ourselves in the Porto Guinco area, a lovely protected anchorage at the southeast tip of Sardinia, well positioned for "take off ".

We took a day to visit the Phoenician-Punic-Roman-Vandal ruins in Nora, just south of Cagliari.  As with most of these archeological sites, the magic is in the imagination of what it must have looked like in its heyday, since what's left is mostly, well, um, ruins.  

And here are some creature features that I put on the Facebook page but that didn't make it into the last blog post.  The flatfish (sole) like tagging along with the rays because rays are sloppy eaters.  The flatfish also hang out around our anchor chain because the chain stirs up the sand and apparently uncovers tasty tidbits.

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