SAILING MAREDA

Tuesday, 23 October 2018

Winter Port, Licata

We left Mareda in Licata’s Cala del Sole marina yesterday, tied down (I think) for the winter. A few days before we left, a gale blew through the marina with 50 knot gusts and Mareda rode it out smoothly without touching either of the neighbouring boats or the dock, and without too much whining from the springs.

This is the first time we have left the boat in a marina that has a large winter live-aboard community and the atmosphere was friendly and festive. We were sad to leave (more so than usual) and I think I have convinced Patrick that, although Mareda seemed to be tied down well for the winter, we really should head back to check up on her in February.

The re-entry to home life has not been as bad as usual this year, since the Brittany drought mercifully stunted the grass and shrubs, making our hacking-through-the-jungle routine a bit easier. I still have ethical problems with weeding - racism in my opinion, punishing the evolutionary winners, etc. - but Patrick wasn’t buying my philosophical musings and told me to get back to work. I also have problems dislodging the spiders (some quite large and beautiful), since I happen to like spiders and, truth be told, they live here more than we do.

As ever, the mail was stuffed with flyers from real-estate agencies wanting to sell our abandoned house for us. We are still getting used to the house again, trying to remember where we put things and why (the kitchen baffles me for days). I was very happy to be reunited with my bike, unlimited internet, and flush toilets, and we are both thrilled to be eating french food again. We were very disappointed with the bread in Italy, so walking into our neighbourhood bakery this morning was a wonderful welcome home.

And before the dust settles, we are off to Paris at the end of the week and Bordeaux the following week to reintroduce ourselves to the kids. And I’m thrilled to be meeting up with Kiwi sailing friends Viki Moore and Andrew Herriott from Astrolabe Sailing who are passing through Paris at the same time.

Sciacca and Selinunte

We thoroughly enjoyed our stay in Sciacca at the Lega Navale marina, just across the harbour from one of the largest fishing ports in Italy. The town was picturesque (I got tired of photographing all the baroque churches) and is centrally located between two major archaeological sites, Selinunte and Agrigento. Here are some sights from Sciacca and Selinunte.

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...

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

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

Egadi snorkeling

A few pics from down below the Egadi islands.

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.