April 2018

It's a strange feeling when you start planning to leave a place where you have been very happy. Where you’ve met truly wonderful people that are also embracing this wonderful way of life we have chosen.

Some of our friends have decided to stay for the whole year while others have booked up to return to Licata next winter.
 

Most though, like us are preparing to leave. Claire and I are not ready to stop this cruising life yet.
 

Red Rooster is in pretty good shape for a 28 year old boat. 
 

I went up the mast to check the rigging and clean the lights and radio antenna. I took a hose up there with me to wash off the very irritating red dust that is carried by the rain in these parts.
 

The next job was to get the sails back on. We had stored them on the boat and I believe that they are better for coming off during the winter.
 

Claire cleaned everything to within an inch of its life below decks while I did the same on deck. 
 

I bought the halyards back down from their winter location. At the beginning of winter, I tie thin line to the shackles before pulling them to the top of the mast. I then coil up all of the slack at the bottom of the mast before putting it all into a big plastic bag for protection. This way nothing is exposed to the elements as the halyards are either inside the mast or in the plastic bag.
 

We emptied our huge cockpit locker, folding up our trusty, rusty old bike before putting it in the bottom. We then packed everything back in with the stuff we use most while sailing near the top.
 

I checked over the engine once again.
 

We stocked the boat up with wine, water and food. We took our dirty washing to the launderette. Ruggiero took pity on us lending his car to ferry the bags to and from town.
 

We have one eye on the weather now but it's still very unsettled. For example, we saw 52 knots in the marina on the 14th April!! Not what you want to experience days before leaving.
 

Well we have had our final ‘Happy Hour’ our final ‘Licata BBQ’ it's time now to say goodbye to all of our friends.
 

It took nearly three hours to walk around the marina to say farewell to everyone. Maria, the office staff and marinaros were also sad to see us go.
 

So at 06.30 on the 19th April we motored quietly out of Marina di Cala del Sole which had been our home for very nearly 8 months.
 

The plan was to sail to Pozzello a small harbour about 45 miles away. The wind was light which was also part of the plan. This allowed us to get all of the sails out to check that they were rigged correctly. Reefing lines run. Furling lines free. 
 

We were both feeling quite sad but at the same time there was that sense of freedom that you really only feel when your standing on the deck of a boat looking out at the horizon. So many new places to visit, so many people to meet.
 

We were pleased to hear Toby Casley’s voice on the VHF radio not long after we left. Toby, his wife Karen with there three sons, Luka, Fergus and Liam are an Australian family sailing on a Cat called ‘All together’ we get on very well with them and they had been planning to leave Licata on the same day as us.
 

Toby told us that they would be leaving around 09.00 following us to Pozzallo. Good news.
 

Claire and I quickly slipped back into sailing mode. We were now beginning our 4th year of cruising on board Red Rooster.
 

We took some photo’s of ‘Montalbano’s’ house from the water. The house is just before Ragusa Marina. Montalbano is a fictional Sicilian detective that has been bought to life in a TV series. My parents really enjoy this programme and we visited ‘his’ house when they were with us last year.
 

Soon after we passed Ragusa marina the waters we were sailing on became very confused. As if there was a strong tide running against us. But of course, there is very little tide in the Med.
 

We had about 6 knots of wind from behind, our engine was on. Our main sail was out but the genoa was rolled away.
 

Far ahead I could see a lot of white water which was completely wrong as with what little wind we had there should have been none. 
 

After a few minutes of this I asked Claire to get all the loose items below, also to make sure that all was packed away below decks. 
 

When she came back up we put a reef in the main sail. Which must have looked crazy to anyone watching from the shore as we had no wind.
 

The white water ahead was getting closer and I could feel puffs of wind on my face now and then even though our flags and wind indicators were telling me that the wind was still from behind.
 

Then, like something out of a film, the wind hit us. We went from 6 knots from behind to 20 knots from dead ahead in the space of a minute or two!!
 

We pulled out some of the genoa and bore off out to sea filling the sails with wind, turning the engine off at the same time.
 

We were heeled right over now, there was a crash from below as something fell but we were sailing so I was happy.
 

It goes without saying that the wind was right on the nose but we had loads of time, so we tacked along the coast towards our destination.
 

The sailing was fantastic after being stationary for so long. The sun was shinning RR was going well and I had the biggest smile on my face.
 

We sent a message to ‘All Together’ who were a few hours behind us warning them of the sudden change in the weather.
 

They replied saying that they still had light winds from behind but would keep a good look out for the wind that was coming there way.
 

As we sailed into the bay at Pozzallo it was immediately clear that we would not be anchoring here. The wind had whipped up sizeable waves that were breaking against the wall behind the anchorage. Luckily there was a little marina inside the harbour wall and we made our way in, tying up stern to to the floating pontoon there.
 

We were kind of hoping that we were going to get away without paying as we had called the marina repeatedly as we came in with no reply. There was no one on the pontoon to take our lines so Claire had to back the boat up very close to the dock to allow me to jump off. 
 

After being there an hour or so we heard a shout and there was a marinaro asking for our documents as well as 35 Euro’s for the night. Oh well.
 

The wind started to drop as the sun light faded. We received a call from ‘All Together’ as they rounded the harbour wall.
 

We caught their lines and was surprised to hear that the wind we had never reached them and that they had only light winds from astern until they reached the harbour!!
 

Claire made a big pot of bolognese which we took onboard ‘All Together’ and we enjoyed a meal and a drink with Toby, Karen and the boys.

There was no rush in the morning as we were going to anchor for the night in Porto Palo which was a protected bay only 3 – 4 hours away.
 

We left Pozzallo at 12 noon waving goodbye to the Casley’s again.
 

We had the sails up before too long turning the engine off settling down for a very nice sail.
 

The wind was 10 -12 knots on the nose. 
 

‘All Together’ left Pozzallo around 2pm telling us over the VHF that they had light wind from astern!!!! What was going on.
 

We could clearly see ‘All Together’ through the monocular behind us, sails out running before the wind. Where as we were beating into 10 -12 knots.
 

We turned into the bay at Porto Palo between two break waters and dropped the anchor in 7m 
 

‘All Together’ decided to carry on to Syracuse so we had a quick chat on the VHF before settling down to a very peaceful night. We love being at anchor.
 

In the morning we also moved on to Syracuse deciding to stop in the large protected anchorage rather than take a berth on the town wall.
 

The wall is free of charge which is wonderful but open to the public and the public have a strange habit of stopping and staring at you as you go about your daily business which we don’t like. 
 

You quickly realise what it must feel like to be an animal in a zoo!!
 

‘All Together’ was on the wall which was perfect for them as it allowed the three boys to get on and off at will to play on the promenade.
 

We had to call the harbour master before we dropped anchor. We were told to anchor in the middle of the bay but the bay is huge, so we dropped near some other yachts, but he was not happy. So after two attempts we asked for a Lat, Long and dropped our anchor for the third and final time. 
 

We were a long way from the wall and couldn’t understand why we were so far away as there were other yachts a lot closer.
 

The following day a patrol boat visited all of the other yachts asking them to move to where we were which made us feel a little better and soon the reason became clear as a large cruise liner entered the bay spinning around right where we had all been before backing into it's berth.  
 

We were very happy to meet up with Beth, Keiran and baby Remy again. They were still trying to buy a property on Sicily, but the bureaucracy coupled with the language issues were making a hard task harder.
 

Still they both looked happy and Remy was a delight. Such a beautiful baby.
 

We really, really like Syracuse. We planned to be here for about a week to spend time with Beth, Keiran and Remy. Fergus also had his 10th birthday on the 25th April which we didn’t want to miss.
 

There were a few people here that we had wintered with in Licata and it was nice to see them all again.
 

The old town or Ortiga is beautiful. First settled in 734 BC it became the most powerful city state rivalling Athens and becoming the largest fortified city in the Greek world. 
 

They defeated the Athenians in 415BC by trapping their fleet in the large bay. The same bay that we are anchored in!!
 

Under Dionysius Syracuse controlled Sicily and the western Mediterranean.
 

This lasted for over two hundred years until they picked a fight with Rome.
 

The great Archimedes lived in Syracuse at the time and devised huge catapults to fire at the Roman ships. But the Romans prevailed and Archimedes was killed in the battle.
 

There is a very nice walk along a pavement close to the sea that skirts around the outside of Ortiga or you can lose yourselves in the narrow streets that are stuffed full of interesting shops, restaurants and bars.
 

We never tired of wandering around this place.
 

We went with the Casley’s to the Roman amphitheatre and a Greek theatre which is a 30 minute walk from the grand harbour.
 

We also saw the quarries / caves where Dionysius is reputed to have held the captured Athenians after the battle in 415BC.
 

I think Fergus enjoyed his Birthday. I know we did. Keiran arranged for us to be able to use the BBQ area at the marina where he is berthed.
 

Fergus and I went to the BBQ area in the RIB. It was fun going under the low bridges with the RIB laden with food and drink. 
There was about 16 of us. We were happy to find table football, nice chairs and tables at the BBQ area. The food was great topped off by a wonderful cake and we played silly games in the sun. Perfect.
 

The day before we left we had a nice walk around town with the Casley’s. We took the kids into the aquarium before finding a nice restaurant for pizza.
 

Keiran, Beth and Remy joined us in the evening on board ‘All Together’ for G&T’s.
 

We were sad to leave this lovely place also leaving these people was proving difficult too. I think the Casley’s will be going directly to Greece. 
 

Keiran, and Beth promised to keep us up to date with their foray into the Sicilian property market. We said our goodbyes and took the RIB back to RR for the last time.