Cruising in Sardinia

Another perfect anchorage

With 5,700NM now logged on Sabbaticus we are finding this season sailing more relaxing and enjoyable as we are now familiar with the systems on board and how to operate them - including reefing (reducing our sails when the wind gets up) earlier which makes it easier on the crew (no more seasickness so far) and Sabbaticus without reducing our speed. The last few weeks have been spent cruising up the east coast of Sardinia.This has meant day sails of about 4-6hrs as we move between the various anchorages.  

Ready and waiting ...

With our routine maintenance regime now in place the only breakages so far have been two broken springs in the cupboard doors. We are hoping this trend continues as we make our long trek back to Ipswich, UK this summer. While the daily routines continue to evolve the best mate is gaining skills as a barber to ensure the skipper retains his sharp look. Since being on Sabbaticus the most frequently used item in the medical kit are the plasters - we have used more on a boat than ever living on land. The most recent case was the Skipper cooking dinner and slicing his finger with the newly sharpened knife. The result was no cooking or washing dishes for the next few days for him - an accident or a cunning ploy? The next time he enters the galley will be under close supervision.

Cruise Ships in Olbia

On the trip up the coast there are numerous islands, low reefs and rocks extending to half a mile offshore. Sailing past a shipwreck is always sobering and a  reminder to keep a good lookout.  When coming into the port town of Olbia we were amazed to see miles and miles of ‘bouy farms’ - we can only surmise these will be removed in summer and placed around the numerous coastal bays. While it was enjoyable to spend a night on the town quay at Olbia and visit the local markets we were both keen to keep moving up the coast to reach a safe anchorage before the next blow came through. 

First swim for summer

After several picturesque anchorages and seeing the beautiful water colours of the Med it was finally warm enough for a swim. This weather was too good to last as the next three days at anchor were gusts of 35kts - a good test for the anchor which held firmly in the sand. Hopefully in the next week we will reach Bonificao in Corsica and then cruise back to Sardinia to position ourselves for the crossing to the Balearic Islands in Spain.

Shipwreck on the Island of Rosso

Bouy Farms in Olbia Channel

Olbia Town Quay

Sicily to Sardinia

Ragusa to Trapani

Is this the future?

After a leisurely start, doing the rounds of farewells to friends the engine was started, lines slipped and we left Ragusa with fond memories of our time there. For once the weather forecast was accurate and we had great down wind sailing conditions for the 24hrs sail to Trapani. So much for an easy trip to get our sea legs, most of the time it was F5/6 then increased to F7 (28-33kts) for the last few hours. Despite starting out in shorts and tee-shirts by sunset we were in full wet weather gear with rain from 0400hrs - so much for summer sailing! 

Sunday stroll ...

We arrived at Trapani and after being squeezed into a marina berth enjoyed a leisurely day to stroll around the town before departing for Sardinia. Of note (again) when completing the marina check in our flag was mistakenly identified as Australian, but when Leanne advised it was the NZ flag the friendly Maurizio quickly did the haka actions with a big smile and then proceeded to show her YouTube footage of the haka! 

Arrival in Sardinia

It was an early departure from Trapani, but the bonus was seeing the beautiful sunrise as we headed towards Sardinia, a passage of 155NM.  Again it was mixed weather from calm to near gale conditions and long-johns/full wet weather gear again. 30hrs later we arrived tired and pleased to be in Villasimius, Sardinia and away from the lumpy confused seas.

Best mate on her birthday

After a night to recover the wind was favourable so we departed up the east coast for a 6hr sail to Porto Corallo - a  local fishing harbour with only a few cruising yachts and not much else. With the best mate's birthday looming the Skipper decided to take her sailing for the day - up the coast to Santa Maria Navarrese.  It was then out for dinner in the #1 restaurant (only 15 listed on Trip Advisor).  The menu was certainly different and included 'ewe, donkey, horse, goat and pork'. We had enough adventure this far and opted for the safe choice of pizza and half litre of local wine - which was perfect way to end a good day.

Local fishermen - Porto Corallo

We had several days at Santa Maria waiting for suitable wind and enjoyed the coastal walks along the spectacular, rugged cliffs.  It was then a hard 10 hour sail up the coast to La Caletta in 30-35kts and challenging conditions with katabatic gusts rolling off the cliffs and mountains along the coast. This was the first trip where the autopilot "Tommy" was off watch for the entire passage - due to the gusty and highly changeable conditions.  We will now spend several weeks cruising around the top of Sardinia. 



Below are some photos from this trip and a short video clip from last year sailing in Greece in perfect conditions - which we finally got around to editing now! Please note it was the skipper's choice of music to accompany the video - next time the best mate is choosing!!

Santa Maria, Navarrese

Local harbour - Trapani

Access was via the 'neighbour' at Trapani

Marina di Ragusa, Sicily

Current Forecast

After a month on board the task list is completed, Sabbaticus is gleaming, baking completed, cupboards and freezer stocked and water tanks filled (890 ltrs) we are now ready to depart for either Malta or Sardinia and now just waiting for the right weather window. We have enjoyed our time in Marina di Ragusa (MdR), a sleepy off-season coastal town with a beautiful promenade with the local town piazza and shops within easy walking distance of the marina. Apparently the town and beaches area packed in summer with 60,000 tourists  - just as well we are leaving soon!  MdR is a large marina with 800 berths, with an active live-aboard community of about 150 boats from all over the world.  It has been absolutely fascinating meeting a diverse range of sailors and being inspired by their adventures and zest for life.  The daily cruising net radio schedules keeps everyone informed on local activities and is a good source of information and expertise.

MdR Beach

Sicily, with a population of 5 million, is the largest island in the Mediterranean. MdR is located on the Sth coast and is home to the 'baroque triangle' an area of UNESCO listed hilltop towns famous for their lavish baroque architecture. With so much history close by we hired a car and spent several enjoyable days driving the country roads between beautifully crafted stone fences, stunning landscape coasts, around hectares of glasshouses - avoiding the many crazy drivers who seem to overtake only when approaching a bend in the road and groups of cyclists (always men) decked out in colourful lycra suits. What was surprising to see was the amount of roadside rubbish everywhere.

 

Piazza Del Duomo

Our first stop was Syracuse, founded in 734BC, which was the dominant Greek city in the Med and is known as the most beautiful and largest city of the ancient world. Syracuse's main sights are the historic centre of Ortygia and the ancient ruins. Ortygia is on an island joined to the mainland and is jumbled maze of medieval lanes, palazzi, cafes and markets surrounded by the coast - perfect for meandering around. A devastating earthquake in 1693 destroyed most of the buildings in Syracuse with the replacements built in the Sicilian baroque style. With siesta time approaching and everything shutting down it was time to hop into the Fiesta and drive south to Noto.

Noto is regarded as being home to Sicily's most beautiful street - Vittoria Emanuele and is known as the baroque capital with the pedestrianised boulevard flanked by stunning baroque palazzi and churches. This was a visual feast and even better when viewed outside of the tourist season. Although the town of Noto has existed for centuries, the Noto of today was almost entirely rebuilt after the 1693 earthquake that destroyed most of eastern Sicily. A climb to the top of San Carlo Church was rewarded with picturesque views over the town and a perfect way to end the day.

Temple of Concord

The next day we headed west along the coast to Agrigento to visit the Valley of the Temples dating back to 581BC. The complex of temples and city walls were built on a ridge line spread over 2km, with temples dedicated to Olympian Zeus, Hercules, Concord and Hera. The sheer size of the temples and columns was spectacular and was hard to comprehend how such massive temples could be built in ancient times without all our modern equipment. No doubt slave labour and no human rights assisted with the physical labour. 

While we are keen to depart the marina and start sailing again we will miss the ease of living in the marina including the social activities with the live-aboard community,  local vegetable markets where we can buy huge eggplants, red peppers and 1 kg of tomatoes for NZ$1.50, olives, fresh cheeses and in the cafes cheap coffee, custard filled croissants and gelato! 

Marina di Ragusa

MdR - long walk down the pier to our berth

Noto - Cathedral San Nicolo

Temple of Hera

   

Cruising Prep

With 40kts of wind blowing outside this is a mandatory indoors day providing time to update the blog while John works on the passage planning for our departure. We have settled back into life on board with some minor adjustments and lifestyle changes. These adjustments include no ultra fast broadband, walking 7 mins to get to the showers/toilets, not flushing toilet paper down the toilets, using the laundromat, using pumps to drain water from the sinks, getting used to our days being planned around the weather and on the really windy days the boat motion of Sabbaticus straining on her mooring lines as she gets pushed around. We are enjoying the water views again which makes a change from seeing Parliament from the front door in Wellington.

Fuel Filter Change

Chain Plate Repairs

After three weeks on board the maintenance task list shows 35 jobs completed and only 7 to go - we are almost ready to start sailing again yahoo! The major job was repairing a leak caused by the chain plate, this was a job that had been unsuccessfully 'repaired' before (by a professional yard), prior to owning the boat. This job took three days, in tight spaces, to get the 12 bolts removed, the chain plate free, cleaned and then reinstalled with silaflex (caulking compound). Of note the hairdryer is used more for boat maintenance tasks in drying various compounds  than Leanne has ever used for drying her hair.  We then waited a couple of days for the real test of our work - the water test - hosing down the chain plate to see if it leaked. We were both relieved to see no water leaking into the salon and the leak successfully repaired at last - although in reality only time will tell if we have been truly successful when we get green water breaking across the deck and the rig is under load. 

After opening the salon windows we also noticed the rubber gaskets had perished. This was a two day job to remove the two large windows and scrape off the old gaskets and then replace with the new seals. Once again we waited several days to conduct the water test which was successful (again waiting for the green water test)!  The range of jobs included several trips for John up the mast to clean the rig and refit a deck light, fuel filter changes, running and testing all the systems, inflating the dinghy, polishing the fibreglass and stainless steel, removing all the mousing lines, fitting the halyards and sheets and then finally rigging the sails. John also spent a couple of days helping some Aussie friends put the rubbing strake back on their boat so it has been a busy but rewarding time.

Over the last few weeks you can see the work tempo increasing as the boats are all being prepared for summer cruising. With 250 boats in the marina there is quite a community of expertise to call upon and activities to participate in. While the skipper does not allow time for the writers group or craft classes we did attend the diesel engine presentation. At least the best mate is allowed time in the morning for pilates on the dock.

The marina is very social and the bi-weekly happy hours are an excellent way to meet fellow sailors, share ideas and learn about the best places to anchor and travel to.  Plus having an electrical engineer as a close neighbour helps when we have technical questions!  Our neighbourhood is very international with Americans, Italians, Brits, Swiss and Irish as our immediate neighbour's.

A happy skipper - phew!

As always the loggie tasks must be achieved, with the inventory updated and replenished. With many choices in the beer section, the mate brought back a selection to be scored each night to ensure the right beers are stocked before we depart - not surprisingly this course of action meet with the skippers approval! We have been enjoying listening to the local radio station which is a blast from the past with 80s music predominately played - surprisingly most of the songs are in English so we are able to sing along quite happily.

With our departure looming in the next week we are now taking a few days 'off work' and have a hired a car to sight see around the local area.

A few days in Rome

Infamous Trevi Fountain (1732)

Before we knew it our five months working in NZ was completed, having spent time with family and friends and with summer ending it was time to pack our bags to return 'home' to Sabbaticus in Sicily.  With our flights to Sicily being via Rome, and 20yrs since we had last visited, we decided on a short break to enjoy Rome.

Climbing into the airport bus in Rome we saw two vaguely familiar looking faces. After a tentative hello we realised it was the owners (from Auckland) of the only other NZ boat berthed in the same marina and pier as Sabbaticus - such a small world! The bus arrived at Roma Termini, the single largest train station in Europe with 600,000 passengers daily, 29 platforms, shopping centre and art gallery - impressive even when jet lagged. From there it was a short walk to our B&B, a shower (no combat nap allowed otherwise we would never have got up again) then out for a local pizza (what else!) before crashing out.

Oldest Roman Temple - 2 BC

With 2,500 years of history Rome has an ancient core that reflects its long history - the ancient times, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, and Modern Era which makes it a city of contrasts and absolutely fascinating with history reverberating all round you. For almost a thousand years, Rome was the largest, wealthiest, most powerful city in the Western world, with dominance over most of Europe and the Mediterranean Sea. Unfortunately today, possibly as a result of the economic climate, it looks run down, with broken footpaths and rubbish in almost every street.

The Colosseum

Rome's greatest amphitheater, the Colosseum was started in 72AD and built in only 8yrs! With 80 arched entrances allowing easy access for 55,000 spectators the deadly gladiatorial combats and wild animal fights were staged free of charge by the Emperor for public viewing. The tour guide advised the Colosseum was designed to allow spectators to be seated within 15mins of arriving at the Colosseum.  We also learned about the 'recycling' (aka plundering) of marble and stone during the Renaissance that was used to build several palaces, bridges and parts of St Peter's. 

Forum Ruins

Visiting the Roman Forum allowed us to stand in the political, legal and religious centre of the whole Roman Empire and attempt to visualise the power and glory of ancient Rome. Here we visited the site were Julius Caesar's body had been cremated, with a Temple erected in 29BC in his honour. In Palatine Hill we saw ancient Rome's most exclusive neighbourhood, covered in ruins from the 1st century Imperial Palaces. 

With more churches in Rome than there are days in the year there were plenty to view as we strolled around. The city of Rome surrounds the Vatican City which is the  world's smallest sovereign state and is home to the Pope and

Gruesome scenes

Interior St Peter's

St Peters Basilica, Italy's biggest and most spectacular church is located in Vatican City. The dome at 136m, designed by Michelangelo is the tallest in the world. With one of the world's greatest art collections in the Vatican Museum's it was stunning to see the statutes, massive tapestries and art depicting scenes from the times.  One of the highlights was the Sistine Chapel where Michelangelo spent 4 yrs (1508) decorating the entire 800 sq mtr ceiling with episodes from the book of Genesis. His grand finale was returning 22yrs later painting the Last Judgement on a 200 sq mtr wall - this is still powerful, vibrant and awe inspiring today. 

While Leanne could have spent another few days soaking up the atmosphere, John was keen to get going on our final flight to Sicily and return to Sabbaticus. 

Below are a few more photos from sightseeing in Rome.

Interior of the Colosseum

The Forum

St Peter's Basilica, Vatican City

 Vittorio Emanuele II (1885) and tomb of the unknown solider

From Crete to Sicily

Chaniá in Crete was an enjoyable place for an unplanned stopover of six days while waiting for a weather window.  Chaniá is steeped in history and has been fought over and controlled by Romans, Byzantines, Venetians, Genoese, Turks and Egyptians. Following unification with Greece in 1913, the island was then invaded by the Germans during World War II. The harbour is where most of the city’s interesting sights are, including the old Venetian quarter, the Venetian lighthouse and the Mosque of the Janissaries (1645) which is the oldest Ottoman building on the island. Sabbaticus was berthed in the town harbour, while a picturesque location and in the heart of the city to meander around it was also outside the bars and restaurants which quickly became tiresome in the early hours of every morning. Ear plugs were a must to ensure a quieting to the nightly noise.

With time available we decided on hiking the Samariá Gorge, the longest ravine in Europe.  The gorge is a well-trodden trail that leads down a 18km course to a seaside village. The Samariá Gorge is reached via a zigzag path which drops a staggering 1,000mtrs in the first 2km of the walk.  This hike was picturesque and included ancient ruins, donkeys, ranger huts and many fresh water springs to refresh at.  At the 12km point the route squeezed between two towering rock walls, only 3mtrs apart, forming the famous Iron Gates – the narrowest part of the Gorge.  At the end of the walk we rewarded ourselves with a swim in the sea to cool off before catching the ferry then bus back to Chaniá.  Not surprisingly we all felt the effects of the hike the next day – though this did not stop Sally going for her daily swim.

After six days of the noisy bars we were all ready to depart for Sicily and left late afternoon on 29 Sep.  Our departure was perfect with the motor off after  20mins and full sails up, with dolphins on the bow. Unfortunately these conditions did not last, with a twister sighted in the distance and then thunderstorms and lightning for 4-5hrs. Unfortunately the thunderstorms, lightning and squalls became the norm for the next few days which meant sails up / sails down and engine on. Thankfully we did not encounter any illegal immigrant boats but did follow on the radio a Man Overboard rescue that was 10 miles ahead of us which was eventually called off – hopefully due to a rescue. On our last night at sea we were visited by a huge pod of dolphins that enjoyed the bow wave and then a beautiful sunset.  After 384NM and four nights at sea, we arrived in Marina di Ragusa at 0130hrs in the morning and tied up at the fuel dock pleased to finally be in Sicily with no damage to Sabbaticus or her crew.  The last task that night was to raise the NZ flag before heading to bed for a long 5 hours sleep with no chance of being disturbed for a sail change!

 

After a hearty fried breakfast we then moved Sabbaticus to her berth for the next 7 months. Leanne must have been tired as we were asked if ‘we were in distress’ as our NZ flag was hoisted upside down – a tad embarrassing for an arrival! Sally and Bata kindly offered to assist us for few days before doing some sightseeing.  With extra hands to help we tackled the big jobs of removing the main and geona sails, all haylards, lines and sheets and then cleaning the mast. Sally was also able to assist with the never ending task of polishing the stainless. Sally and Bata were then finally able to relax, get off the boat and enjoy a few days sightseeing the local area before departing. After 27 days they left Sabbaticus tanned and with a greater awareness of offshore passage-making and the inevitable boat maintenance demands of live-aboard cruisers. 

Mosque of the Janissaries in Chaniá

Sabbaticus amongst the bars in Chaniá