We are hanging out in Siracusa, Sicily waiting to do our crossing to Greece. Greece has introduced a monthly cruising fee so we are timing our arrival so we don't have to pay for July. Siracusa is another very historic city that has been fought over and occupied by everyone and his mate. They have lots of ornate buildings for the tourists viewing pleasure. They even have a statue of Santa Claus. This is our next big hop. Two days and nights across to Greece, about 260 nautical miles by the time we get into the harbour. The forecast is looking good for tomorrow so hopefully our next blog will be Yassou from Greece.
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The sun is setting on our time in Malta and tomorrow we will sail back to Sicily. We have enjoyed our time here, it's been a different experience. The thing about Malta is it's very small. You could fit Malta into lake Taupo twice over, or once and still have room for fishing. They speak English which is handy, and they have great pie shops. The people are very friendly. Malta is one of the most densely populated countries on earth, there are about half a million inhabitants. There are very few beaches, but lots of opportunities to jump off rocks (into the sea). Here are a few last photos. Can you spot Amanda. Traditional Maltese fishing boats.
As I sit here writing this blog (10pm) the Malta party boat has just shown up and anchored nearby. Feels like a fitting goodbye to our visit to Malta. One of the popular things to do in Valletta is to do a harbour cruise to see all the historic stuff. As we happen to have our own boat we did our own tour and then anchored for the night near the harbour entrance. Very nice looking over the lights of the city. From there we went down to the eastern end of the island and parked in a lovely bay with no habitation. It was quite busy during the day with local boats coming and going. But about 6pm they all began to depart and we were soon left to enjoy the quiet, peaceful bay to ourselves, fabulous. Until about 9pm when these guys turned up. Introducing the Malta party boat. Full of drunk people and with very, very loud thumpy-thumpy music blasting away. Also featuring a very cool DJ who mostly invites you to "put your hands up in the air, put your hands up ..... in the air".
They stayed till about 11.30. It was great. Valletta is the capital city and main port of Malta. We are staying at the Royal Malta Yacht Club as befits our station. Valletta is a very historic place full of old fortifications and other grand buildings. Google "the great siege of Malta 1565" to get the full story. Lots and lots of churches. Apparently one church for every 1000 people. There have been fireworks every night we have been here. During the day ones that specialise in making a very loud bang and at night the more familiar light show variety. This is one if the famous forts from the great siege (have you done your homework yet?) We caught the little tourist train to see the sights. One always looks very cool riding around in these things. In the evenings all the locals come down to the harbour and sit around in groups and eat and talk. We have seen this everywhere, also on Gozo. So we did it too. A very pleasant social way to spend an evening, better than shut inside watching the telly.
It was a bit windy after we arrived in Malta so we spent a couple of days in the little harbour in Gozo. A good base from which to explore the island. Our next stop was still on Gozo, a small rocky bay. We anchored and tied on to the rocks to hold ourselves in position. A great place for swimming and relaxing, or both at the same time. This is the top end of the same bay with a small beach and a food truck which fortunately sold ice creams.
Well actually Gozo so far which is the smaller island next to Malta's main island. We had a 60nm sail across with little wind and lumpy seas, not our favourite combination. Due to a complicated set of circumstances we got complementary tickets on an open top bus for a tour of the island today. Like most Mediterranean islands Gozo has a long history of habitation and invasion dating back to ages ago. It has a strong catholic heritage and also a strong British influence. Prices are quite cheap and you can get meat pies and cornish pasties from the local bakeries. Lots of big churches on the island. Tomorrow we may go over to Malta itself.
Today's stop is Sciacca. The coast is quite exposed along here so we are in the harbour. The town is above the harbour, reachable by walking up 5000 hot sunny steps. This photo was half way up. At the top of the steps is the main square. A bit empty in the late afternoon. There are many old buildings built in the 14th and 15th century. Most have had very little maintenance since then and looking a bit rough. The town is renowned for ceramics and there are these ceramic murals and ceramic shops everywhere. Unfortunately too heavy and fragile to have on the boat. A very nice town to wander around for the afternoon, and they have good ice cream. Amanda's phone says 10,000 steps today (and quite a few up actual steps). Tomorrow we plan a big day of sailing in good wind which will take us to our departure point for Malta the following day.
We have just spent a very interesting day in Marsala. As we travel about we like to respect the local culture by drinking the local alcohol - Port in Portugal, Ouzo in Greece, warm flat beer in England, that sort of thing. Marsala the town is where Marsala the drink is made, a fortified wine like port. We went on a tour of the winery which was very informative. For you technically minded people here is a scientific diagram detailing the process. They say they have around 6 million litres of Marsala stored in these oak barrels, the oldest dating back to 1939. The smell in here was amazing. After the tour came the tasting which was also very informative, and yummy. In the evening we explored the town some more and the local eateries. Amanda's phone said we walked over 20,000 steps or 15km that day. This included some of the quieter back streets.
We have now moved on down the coast a bit, suitably loaded up with bottles of Marsala. We are heading for Malta, I wonder what they drink there? We have just sailed across from Sardinia to the Egadi Islands at the western tip of Sicily. This is the main harbour at Favignana. The 150 nautical mile crossing took us about 23 hours with good winds most of the way. A highlight was catching and passing a 40 foot catamaran going the same way. I took this photo from the back of the boat to show you how clear the water is. Just as well as I had to replace the anode on our propeller shaft which had come loose. Quite tricky underwater dealing with the little nuts and bolts, getting the old one off and the new one on. The local fish were quite interested. And after that a hearty breakfast to warm me up.
We are now at the bottom of Sardinia and shortly we will head off to Sicily. It is about 150 nautical miles so if the wind holds about 20 hours or if not about 26 or so. We are heading for the Egadi Islands which are off the western tip of Sicily. Not every day is spend lazing about in the sun. We went into a marina at Arbatax which means boat washing, laundry, supermarket, and other supplies to be purchased. There was a bit of lazing in between. We have really enjoyed our time in Sardinia especially the large bays with white sand bottoms and crystal clear water.
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October 2019
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